Makes one 9 inch pie
You know how vegan recipes are always like “This ain’t your grandma’s puddin’ pie!” Well, this is your grandma’s puddin’ pie, only it’s vegan! Smooth, cool and creamy pudding in a classic graham cracker shell.
Because of its classic simplicity, this is a great recipe for the pie making n00b. To make life even easier, you have our permission to use storebought crust here. For added grandma love, serve with vegan whipped cream and shaved chocolate. You can make your own whip, but there are also two brands that I can recommend. There’s Healthy Top, which is nut-based and shelf stable, so it’s perfect if you need to have it shipped. And there’s also soy-based Soyatoo, which you can find in the dairy case at most Whole Foods stores. I recommend the boxed kind, though, not the bottle. The nozzle sometimes doesn’t work and there’s nothing more disappointing than a bottle of whipped topping that doesn’t work.
You can use a pastry bag fit with a wide tip to pipe perfect little swirls around the perimeter of the pie, or simply top each slice with a dollop. Strawberries or raspberries make the perfect sweet garnish.
If you’re making your own crust, use 1 3/4 cups cookie crumbs (chocolate, vanilla or graham), add 4 tablespoons oil or melted margarine, 3 tablespoons sugar and 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk of your choice. Press into a shallow 9-inch metal pie tin and proceed with the recipe.
This recipe is in Vegan Pie In The Sky. Amazon just put up a preview, so click to look inside!
1 prepared 9 inch cookie crust, storebought or homemade
3 cups almond milk, divided
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let cool.
In a small (2 quart) sauce pan, combine 1 cup of almond milk and the cornstarch. Use a fork to whisk until the cornstarch is good and dissolved. Whisk in the remaining milk, the sugar, cocoa powder and salt. It’s okay if the cocoa is a bit clumpy at first, it will dissolve eventually.
Bring mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally. Keep a close eye because once boiling, you want to lower the heat and bring to a slow rolling boil. Whisk consistently until mixture is thickened, which should be about 7 minutes.
Add chocolate chips and mix to melt. Stir in vanilla. Pour the pudding into the prepared pie shell and let cool for about 15 minutes on the counter, just until it stops steaming like mad. To keep a skin from forming, place a circle of parchment paper over the filling. Refrigerate and let set for at least 3 hours.
Do you recommend Almond milk as best for this? Can I use another plant based milk or does it alter the flavour too much?
Delicious. I made this for some family members and it came out perfect. I used dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet chips and it was lovely. Thanks so much.
This is so beautiful!!! I would love to make this for Christmas!!! BUT, I can’t have cornstarch… IS there any other replacements? What about tapioca starch? Thank you for your help 🙂
This is awesome! Made this for Christmas dinner tonight and definitely think everyone will be pleased.
I used the Chai Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies as the cookie crumb crust, as my first batch of these cookies came out as little crunchers in the first place. Can’t wait to see how it all tastes together.
Right on Isa – Your recipes always rock mah socks!
This recipe needs more sugar or chocolate chips or something. It tastes way vegan, which is OK for me, but I can’t serve this for company.
That is odd! I don’t know what in it would taste “vegan.” What kind of milk are you using?
I have allergies to almonds. Can I use soy milk instead?
Yep! Any non-dairy milk will do. 🙂
I made this last night as part of my 2 year anniversary celebration with my boyfriend. It was inhaled in about 2 hours. I have been looking for a good replacement for the chocolate pie my mother makes, and I just found it! Thank you so much for giving me back one of my all time favorite childhood deserts.
OMG, this was absolutely delicious! I did have to substitute soy milk for almond milk due to nut allergy child. Used an oreo cookie crust. Instead of 3 tablespoons of chocolate chips, put in about 3 handfuls (I think I am pms-ing). Will definitely make again. Thanks for easy, yummy recipe.
What a great recipe. Looks nice and easy and I have the prefect pecan crust recipe for it.
My toddler is allergic to dairy and eggs. She’s never had pudding. I think this will be a great recipe to add to my DF/EF notebook. Thanks!!
So yummy! I made it with the almond crust from the frangipan tart.
I made this today and I have to say this was the best chocolate pie I have ever eaten! Hubby ate 2 pieces and commented that the pie was good! He rarely compliments my attempts at healthy recipes so that compliment was HUGE! I used cornstarch and not arrowroot after reading reviews. I will definitely be making this again during the holidays!!! Thank you for this most AWESOME recipe!!
I made just the pudding and substituted beet juice (believe it or not!) for 1 cup of the almond milk. I also added a few squirts of agave at the end. Tasted great!
Ok soooo yummy!!
Hi Isa! Im very eager to make this lovely recipe, but I have a question about the crust. I want to make it from scratch without buying premade vanilla wafer cookies or graham crackers. What cookie recipe would you recommend making to use for the cookie crumbs in the crust? snicker doodle maybe? I want to make the same curst for the coconut cream pie too, so a batch that is big enough to make 2 crusts would be great:) Thanks Isa
I made this last night using a graham cracker crust and it turned out great. I used a mixture of soy and almond milk because that’s what was in the fridge and it didn’t taste “vegan” at all to me. It tasted like pudding pie! The parchment paper really did work like magic too.
I’ve made this pie three times and it still blows my mind. I saw the recipe on NY Times and I’m so grateful. It’s perfect. I make it with a standard white pie crust and it’s heaven! I love it most on day 2 once it’s really set. No one believes me when I tell them it’s vegan. So good. Thank you!
I just made this and it’s yummy (I liked the pan). Except I used coconut milk from the cans which makes it richer, but on the downside more calories. I also threw in a couple of more tablespoons of chocolate chips and 1 extra tablespoon of cocoa powder. Instead of a cookie crust, I made a vegan pie crust from the Moosewood Restaurant recipe book.
Can you use cacao powder instead of the cocoa powder?
I honestly cried a little bit yesterday when I realized I can no longer have dairy or egg product. Your website along with my awesome friends that gave me your website actually have me super excited! Thank you!!!
No seriously. How do you nail it every. single. time, Isa? It’s ridiculous. This is absolute vegan genius.
Had all the equipment–was perfect–thanks!
This was delicious! I used a pre-made crust and then topped the chocolate pudding with a graham cracker/thin mint crumble. I also added a tablespoon of mint tea to the pudding mixture- as I love mint/chocolate together 🙂 I will definitely make it again, it was so easy!
I made this for pi day! I used gluten free chocolate chip cookies and food processed them then made them into crust instead of graham cracker crust. I used coconut oil and the crust tasted like a samoa girl scout cookie. In combination with the pudding filling it was amazing.
Is this really Vegan though? The chocolate chips have milkfat in them. Is there a substitute for this?
There’s vegan chocolate chips, I use the Chatfields brand
My life will never be the same 🙂 This is the best tasting chocolate cream pie! I used a Wholly Gluten-Free, vegan pie shell and our favorite chocolate chips by Enjoy Life! Simple and Delicious. I couldn’t ask for more.
Just wondering if the pie needs to cool off completely before putting it in the refrigerator ? The filling tastes so good !