Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

A friend, who has been getting to know more about plant based eating, put together a peanut butter pie. We communicate on another forum and sometimes she posts ideas for us to try. Here's my version of Peanut Butter Pie.  I used a coconut pecan crust, but you could use a flaky pie crust or a mixture of almonds, dates, and coconut since it's not a baked pie.  My husband chose the crust.  I asked him what he thought would be good and he wanted one of the nut-crusts. It's a very easy recipe with very few ingredients. 

Although mine is not gluten free, the crust recipe is from the Gluten Free Goddess Blog. The crust is from her gluten-free pumpkin pie with pralines.

First, make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1 cup flaked unsweetened organic coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend (I used spelt flour)
1/2 cup organic light brown sugar (I used organic sucanat)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)

Place all of the dry ingredients into a food processor bowl and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add in the vegan butter and pulse several times in short bursts until the crumbs are moist and begin to fall away from the sides of the bowl.

Dump the crumbs into the cake pan and spread them evenly. Using your fingers gently press the crumbs across the bottom and up the sides- about 2/3 of the way up.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 7 minutes- to set.

Remove the pan and set aside.

Then the pie. I found this very easy recipe for Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie:

    * 1 container tofu, silken or firm (approx 12 oz)
    * 1/2 cup chocolate chips (check the ingredients if you're vegan)
    * 1/2 cup freshly ground peanut butter
    * 2 tbsp non dairy milk
    * 1 pre-made pie crust

Preparation:

Melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring frequently to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn. You can use a double boiler if you have one.

Once the chocolate is melted, blend together the peanut butter, silken tofu, chocolate and soy milk in blender until smooth and creamy, adding a bit more soy milk if necessary. Pour into pie crust and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.

It set nicely.  Next time I will double the filling recipe, it didn't fill the 9" pie pan quite enough.  I added a top layer with some cashew coconut cream:  about a 1/3 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for an hour or more), 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar, the creme from a can of coconut milk, and the seeds from one vanilla bean blended until smooth and creamy.

I' guessing its probably a high calorie treat, but this is a whole grain, low sugar, high protein dessert.  The tofu and nuts give it healthy fats and protein.  I think I could eat a piece of this as lunch.