Tag Archives: Pi Day

Peanut Butter Tart with Vegan Meringue Topping

peanut butter tart with vegan meringue
peanut butter tart with vegan meringue

About two years ago I discovered that I really enjoy making tarts. Not having made one for a year, a tart craving struck me. I was long overdue for baking a new tart.

Peanut butter and chocolate make a delicious combination, so with those tastes in mind for my tart I headed to the kitchen. I made a chocolate cookie crust then filled it with peanut butter mousse and added a dollop of whipped meringue. My favorite taster took one look and said, “Pie!”

While I appreciated his enthusiasm, I had to correct him and tell him it was a tart. He took a bite and said, “Peanut butter pie.” Seeing as tomorrow is Pi Day (3.14 or March 14), I conceded. So, I guess I made a pie (tart) for Pi Day.

Peanut Butter Tart with Vegan Meringue Topping

Chocolate Cookie Crust (adapted from Mini Chocolate Mousse Cakes for Mother’s Day)
20 vanilla cream filled chocolate wafer cookies (such as Oreos)
4 tablespoons vegan butter or margarine, melted
Vanilla Pastry Cream (from Pear-Raspberry Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream)
1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 3-4 hours then drained
3 ounces almond milk
1 ounce agave syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt
Vegan Meringue (from Star-Spangled Berry Parfait)
1/2 cup unsalted chickpea liquid, previously reduced and chilled *
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 ounces caster sugar
1 teaspoon non-alcoholic vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Peanut Butter Filling
1.25 cups smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup vegan powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon non-alcoholic vanilla extract
3/4 cup vanilla pastry cream (a portion of the recipe above)
3/4 cup vegan meringue (a portion of the recipe above)
Garnish
shaved chocolate

Chocolate cookie crust: Preheat oven to 350F. Place the cookies in a food processor and process until they are fine crumbs. Drizzle in the melted butter and process until the mixture is like moist sand, up to 1 minute. Press the mixture into a 4” x 14” tart pan. Tamp the mixture down using the bottom of a small glass. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. After it has chilled, bake the crust for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Vanilla pastry cream: Place the cashews, milk, agave, vanilla, and salt in a high speed blender. Process on high until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the jar as needed. Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the peanut butter filling. The leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for a week in an airtight container.

Vegan meringue: Place the chickpea liquid and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat the mixture on low speed until the cream of tartar is incorporated and the liquid is semi-opaque. You may need to stop the mixer and stir the contents at the bottom a few times to get it fully mixed. Increase the speed to high and beat for an additional minute, or until opaque.

Reduce the speed to low and begin adding the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. After the first addition, raise the speed to high, beating for 1 minute after each addition. After all of the sugar has been added, continue to beat for 10 minutes on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula once or twice. The meringue should be stiff, white, and glossy. If not, keep beating until it is.

Reduce the speed to medium and slowly add vanilla and lemon juice. Immediately raise the speed to high and beat for another 3 minutes, or until the meringue is stiff, white, and glossy and resembles marshmallow fluff.

* Heat the chickpea liquid on the stove to reduce it by 1/3, then chill it before making the meringue. It should be thick and resemble egg whites.

vegan meringue
luscious vegan meringue

Peanut butter filling: Put the peanut butter, milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and beat with a spoon until smooth. Add the pastry cream and mix until combined. Carefully fold 1/4 cup vegan meringue into the peanut butter mixture. Once blended, add the remaining 1/2 cup vegan meringue and gently fold in until just combined.

To assemble: Spoon the peanut butter filling into the cooled chocolate cookie crust. Garnish with dollops of vegan meringue and sprinkles of shaved chocolate.

Until next time, happy baking!

Coming Back From a Failed Kitchen Experiment

Coming Back From a Failed Kitchen Experiment
Coming Back From a Failed Kitchen Experiment

I love to fiddle with new ingredients or combinations in an attempt to make a recipe vegan. Sometimes I get a wacky baking idea in my head. Will a flax egg and extra oil work in place of a chicken egg? … it depends. Do all vegan butter substitutes work the same? … not really. Can I use chickpea liquid and soy creamer to get a whipped cream with stiff peaks? … definitely not.

That last concept popped into my head the other day while trying to make a raw cheesecake without coconut oil. While working towards a thickened batter I even went so far as to add melted cocoa butter. The entire project was a disaster. It deflated a bit, then got lumpy, then turned into something resembling a thin pudding.

Not one to waste expensive ingredients, I put my creation in the fridge hoping that a novel dessert image would pop into my head. Genius struck when I realized that it was Pi Day (March 14, a.k.a. 3.14). My glop would become a pie! Well, more of a tart, but at least I would have an edible treat. And, seeing as Saint Patrick’s Day was also looming, a bit of green was added in the form of matcha tea powder.

So, I went from a creative wreck to a celebration of Pi Day and St. Patrick’s Day. This meandering path often happens when I’m experimenting in the kitchen, although I won’t bore you with the countless steps and added ingredients I went through along the way. The above photo shows that some baking catastrophes can be averted, even edible, but others are not as lucky. Those failures never make it to a photo shoot.

Until next time, happy experimenting!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pi Day Pie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pi Day Pie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pi Day Pie

Pi Day, celebrated on March 14th (3/14), is upon us. And, because I like math and puns, I am making Pie. If you read my Pi Day post last year, you know that I’m not a fan of traditional pie crust. So, I searched for a different type of pie recipe. The one I found sounded too good to pass up because it highlighted peanut butter and chocolate.

This unbaked pie didn’t need any high altitude tricks, and it was vegan so it didn’t require any of those conversions. My additional of milk did make it easier to blend and pour into the pie shell. I may have taken the easy route, but, c’mon – chocolate and peanut butter … in a pie. So here is a simple, albeit time-consuming in the fridge, pie recipe to help you celebrate Pi Day.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pi Day Pie based on Velvety Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
for the Crust
10 graham cracker sheets
5 TBS melted coconut oil
for the Filling
2 cups vegan chocolate chips
1.25 cups smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup almond milk
12 oz silken tofu
banana slices for decoration
Pulse graham crackers in a food processor until they are completely ground up. In a bowl, combine ground graham crackers with melted coconut oil and stir well. Pour mixture into an 8” pie pan and firmly press the crust onto the bottom and sides of pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in a double boiler. Combine melted chocolate, peanut butter, milk, and tofu in the bowl of a stand mixer and blend until smooth. Pour filling into crust and decorate with banana slices. Chill for 4 hours before serving.

Until next time, happy un-baking!

Key Lime Pie Tarts

key lime pie tarts

key lime pie tarts

Pi day is tomorrow (3.14) and I wanted to celebrate with pie. The problem is that I don’t like crust so I’m not fond of pie. There is just one that I adore – Key Lime Pie. By making it I also thought that I could sneak in a nod to St. Patty’s Day with a “green” pie, although I ended up not adding food color. But the lime still evokes green, and I made crust!

The recipe I found was already vegan, so that part was easy. With the simple tart crusts I did not need to make high altitude changes. The adaptations I made were for other reasons. To start, I was going to visit a gluten-free friend so I found gluten-free, vegan cookies for the crust. It took some searching but Enjoy Life brand fit the requirements.

The other major change was to make a chocolate crust. When I was a kid I used to make a Key Lime Pie from packaged ingredients with a premade chocolate crust. The flavor combo of deep chocolate with tart lime was heaven. I recreated those tastes here and bumped up the chocolate by garnishing the mini pies with shaved chocolate. Memory lane can have some tasty moments.

Key Lime Pie Tarts adapted from Minimalist Baker
Crust:
1 1/4 cups gluten-free chocolate cookie crumbs (from about 5 oz of cookies)
2 1/2 TBS canola oil
Filling:
1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours (or overnight), then drained
3/4 cup full fat coconut milk, well shaken
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
3-4 large limes or 6-7 key limes (1 Tbsp zest, 1/2 cup juice)
1/3 cup agave nectar
Garnish:
shaved dark chocolate
Preheat oven to 375 F and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners. Add cookie crumbs to a food processor and process until you achieve a fine meal. Add oil and pulse to combine; you should get a consistency like wet sand. Distribute evenly among muffin tins and press down with the bottom of a shot glass to flatten. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
Add filling ingredients to a blender and blend on high until creamy and smooth. Taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more lime juice for more tart, or more agave for added sweetness. Pour filling into muffin tins and tap on counter to release air bubbles. Cover loosely. Freeze for 1/2 hour, then garnish with shaved chocolate. Return to freezer for 1-3 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer for 10-15 minutes to thaw before serving. Store in refrigerator.

Until next time, happy baking!