Desserts
Vegan Chocolate Pie
Description
This Vegan Chocolate Pie has a rich, no-bake chocolate mousse filling made from healthy ingredients like banana, almond butter, and tofu.
Ingredients
- 3 ½ cups whole mini pretzels or thin pretzel sticks, use gluten-free pretzels to make the pie gluten free
- ½ cup unsalted butter or vegan butter (1 stick)
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 12 ounces soft, extra soft, or silken tofu (1 package) (I used soft; do not use any variety of firm tofu, as it will not have the proper creamy texture)
- 1 cup frozen banana slices about 5 ounces
- ½ cup almond butter or other nut butter of choice
- ¼ cup unsweetened chocolate almondmilk
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 8 ounces good-quality chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips, about 1 1/3 cups (I used Trader Joe’s 72% dark chocolate bar), dairy free if needed
- Whipped coconut cream chopped chocolate, extra crushed pretzels
Directions
- Make the crust: Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, pulse the pretzels until they form mostly fine crumbs with a few more textured pieces remaining throughout. If you do not have or prefer not to use a food processor, place the pretzels in a ziptop bag and crush them with a rolling pin (you may need to double up the bag if it gets any small holes).
- Melt the butter in a large, heatproof bowl in the microwave. Add pretzel crumbs (you should have about 1 1/2 cups; make a few extra or subtract as needed) to the bowl with the melted butter. Add the sugar, and then stir until evenly moist and combined. The crumbs should hold together easily when pressed. If they do not, add 1 to 2 tablespoons additional melted butter. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sizes of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake for 8 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Set aside to cool slightly, and then place in the freezer or refrigerator to cool completely. Do not proceed with the recipe until your crust and pie dish are at or below room temperature.
- Make the filling: While the crust cools, place the tofu, frozen banana, almond butter, chocolate almondmilk, and cocoa powder in a blender. Blend until completely smooth. In a microwave-safe bowl or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate, and then add it to the blender and blend again until very smooth, stopping to scrape down the blender as needed. Try your very best not to eat the entire thing right then and there.
- Pour the filling into the cooled crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours or overnight. When ready to serve, top with whipped coconut cream, chocolate, and pretzels as desired. Slice and enjoy!
