Every Friday we have a cheat meal, usually at local vegetarian restaurant Fresca. I typically start with one of their amazing vegan cupcakes, because I love sweets and it’s the one sweet treat of the week, anticipated for days. As far as local vegan cupcakes go (there are quite a few options), it’s not so unhealthy because they’re small and have minimal frosting but my taste preferences are orienting more and more towards fruits and whole foods and away from flour and refined sugar. Fearing to make a whole pie and end up eating pie for days, I decided to make a mini pie for each of us instead. Hence this recipe!
Added bonus: after going out to Fresca and finishing our meal, instead of being disappointed that our cheat night was over I could look forward to my waiting mini-pie and an episode of Dexter from Netflix.
This recipe is a delicious marriage of recipes from the Forks Over Knives companion book and Unprocessed (reviewed here) with some additions of my own.
Crust
From Unprocessed. Will fill two small bowls; halve to serve one or double to fill a whole pie pan.
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- 1 cup raw nuts (I used half cashews, half pecans), or any 1 cup combo of nuts and seeds (hemp, pumpkin,etc)
- 1 cup pitted dates (you can substitute dried fruit for some or all of the dates to reduce the sugar – next time I’m going to do half dates, half prunes)
Pulse the nuts (and/or seeds) in a food processor until they’re the consistency of flour (be careful not to over-process or you’ll get nut butter).
Add dates (and/or dried fruit) a few at a time until the mixture clumps. It’s ready when you can roll it into a ball and it pretty much sticks together.
Divide between two small bowls for two portions (half of one of these is a good dessert for one sitting if you can stop yourself). Press into the bowl and up the sides, forming a no-bake crust!
You could fill this crust with simple sliced fresh fruit like strawberries, banana, kiwi…and it would make a decadent dessert.
Mexican Chocolate Pudding (filling)
From the Forks Over Knives companion book, with spices added
- 1.5 cups firm silken tofu (I use a whole package of Mori-Nu, it’s a little over 12 ounces)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (good quality is important – I use Rapunzel brand)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt, optional
- 1.5 tsp cinnamon
- 1.5 tsp mild chili powder (you may want to start with less and adjust to taste)
Blend everything up in a food processor.
Fill the pie crusts with the pudding and optionally top with sliced fresh fruit. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours before eating.
For more recipes from Unprocessed (one of new favorite cookbooks), check out therealchefaj’s YouTube channel of cooking videos from author Chef AJ and the Plant-Based Dietitian Julieanna Hever, MS, RD. Below is a recent episode demonstrating how to make cream topping (for a plain chocolate version of the above pudding perhaps?) using a jar of pears as the main ingredient!!
I haven’t seen any comments for this recipe – don’t no why it looks fantastic. Just one quick question though could you offer some suggestions for alternatives to dates. I always find them a bit too sweet?
Sure – next to dates in the ingredients list I suggest subbing any dried fruit. I would either pick a fairly sweet fruit, like cherries, or do half dates and half low sugar fruit, which is what I intend to try next time. Using dates exclusively does make the crust pretty sweet.