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.
Oh wow! This is a pie absolutely for me! I love rich chocolate! Yuuuuuuuuuuuum! Thank you!
This looks good
OMG this was my absolute favorite in the world when I was a little girl! I can remember my excitement when my mommy would pull one of those bad boys out of the refrigerator like it was yesterday. Can’t wait to try this!
yum! I can’t wait to try this and all the pies! The names of the pies in the table of contents all sound so good!
Looks deeeeelish! Two questions: 1. Would substituting rice, soy or hemp milk for the almond milk affect the flavor or texture? 2. Do you recommend regular or dutch processed cocoa powder for this?
Looking forward to 10/25!
That sounds so good! And easy. 🙂
This is beautiful, and the recipe looks so easy!
I love you.
Thank you! Thank you! A recipe with out soy…HOORAY!! 😀
The blogworld has been buzzing with pie lately, and this one looks awesome. I checked out the Amazon preview and I’m so excited for the book!
OOOOOO! Just looking at that makes me feel good!
chomp!
Officially sanctioned by Georgie Porgie
What a coincidence! Just yesterday night I saw the preview of this book and immediately ordered it. Now, can’t wait to get my copy!! 🙂
OOOOOOH! Vegan chocolate pie with no margarine!!! I can actually make this!!! YAY!
What is the percentage of pies with no margarine in the book (this is the only thing keeping me from ordering it)?
I’d say that 90% of the fillings have no margarine. None of the cheesecakes or creamy things use margarine, they use cashews, coconut oil, tofu, coconut, etc. The buttery crust has margarine, but we also have olive oil, coconut and canola crusts.
Oh that looks amazing!!
That looks amazing! I’m so excited to get a hold of the pie book!
Yum! Thanks for making a vegan pudding recipe that doesn’t have tofu in it!
fabulous! I’m having friends over on Saturday for a vegan dinner and was wishing I had the pie book (I’ve pre-ordered it) – this is the perfect dessert. Thanks for the sneak preview!
Like I can wait three hours for it to set. I will straight up DRINK that pie.
Love this! It sounds super scrumptious.
I made this a couple of days ago and it was delicious. Plus, it’s not super-high in calories. Win-win!
When’s my book gonna be here anyway? Thanks for the preview!
“How to create the Universe” – Carl Sagan references make me love you guys even more.
This is the kind of thing I DREAM about on lonely nights devoid of pie
Yes! Just like my grandma used to make. Thanks…and love your website/blog. I’ve copied two recipes in about three minutes.
Oh man. This looks AMAZING. I must try this. <3 Well done PPK. =)
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Made this and even the skeptical omnivore husband ate it. Thanks =)
Made it last night and it was super! I had way more pudding than would fit in my crust, but it didn’t go to waste. I just put it in a ramekin and ate it on the down low when my kids weren’t looking.
Simply gorgeous!
This turned out amazing! 🙂 This recipe is a keeper! I made it with soy instead of almond milk since someone is allergic to nuts and it turned out great!
This looks too good to be true. I CANNOT wait for this book!!
It’s true. Everything is better with pie. And Bruce Campbell.
this looks amazing, I made this on tuesday, and it was perfect.
Very excited for the pie book!
It was awesome, my non-vegan family loved it and so did I!!!
I burned it…I suck. I’m gonna try again soon though.
This summer, we made a similar pie based on the filling from your mocha hazelnut cupcakes. It was devoured in record time!
I love that there is no soy in it! 🙂
This looks amazing. So glad I’ve found this site. One question though. What is a cookie crust/how do I make a vegan one? I’ve never heard of it in the UK.
Made extra filling and froze it into fudgcicles. Fabulous.
@Sav:
You basically make a cookie crust the same way you’d make a Graham-cracker style crust… just substitute cookies:
2 cups crushed vanilla wafer crumbs or crushed chocolate cookies (like the shells of Oreo-style cookies)
1/2 cup melted butter (like Earthbalance)
1/3 cup vegan sugar
Mix together, press into a pie plate, add your filling!
This was absolutely perfect! The pudding was so tasty. I found I preferred it with just a plain short crust to balance the flavors between the rich pudding and whipped cream so it wasn’t too sweet. And if you aren’t planning on adding the strawberry garnish, I’m begging you to reconsider. The strawberries really completed the flavor profile, making it very round and full. It’s great without, but totally PERFECT with! I’m gluten free and soy free as well as vegan so this is a miracle 🙂
I’m nervous the parchment paper will stick to the pie top when it’s done cooling. does it just slide right off or do you need to spray it with some oil first?
It slides right off! Just be careful to place the parchment, as opposed to pressing it, and you won’t have a problem.
Isa, you’re the best. Considerate stuff like helping with recipes makes me happy to buy your books. Thank you for answering that!
Hey, it’s no problem at all! But thanks are always appreciated so THANK YOU!
So happy to find this recipe today! My milk allergic 7 yo is turning 8 next week and your cookbooks have been our go-to’s for years now (the first being cupcakes – I couldn’t let him be the kid in preschool who brought in the crappy cupcakes. You just don’t live that down). So much that in the past 3 years, we’ve gone to eating meat on occasion, to being lacto-ovo, to 3 of the 6 of us are now vegan with the otehrs pretty close (even if they didn’t actually make the choice – I just sort of snuck it in). I’ve already pre-ordered the book. Just waiting for it to take it’s place in the kitchen.