When contemplating dessert plans at this time of year, one’s
mind naturally turns to thoughts of pie. Just like cookies at Christmas and
cake for birthdays, pie is the dessert most associated with Thanksgiving, and
with autumn in general.
Pie is often considered a little bit intimidating,
though. And that’s a shame because it’s
actually one of the most forgiving desserts as far as dietary modifications are
considered. It’s no harder to make a
vegan pie than a regular one, and the same goes for a sugar free one. Even gluten free is pretty doable.
Pie is also amazingly versatile. Different fillings can make for a very wide variety of desserts.
And when you make your own pie from scratch, you can widen the pool even further
by designing some truly unusual (even unique) pies.
Here are a few unusual pies I’ve made lately that might make
an interesting addition to your holiday meal.
Ground Cherry and Rhubarb Pie |
Ground Cherry and Rhubarb Pie
Ground Cherries |
Ground cherries are supposedly common on the east coast, but
this was the first time I’d ever seen them available locally, so I couldn’t
resist pie-ing them up. Ground cherries are a funny little fruit that looks
like a miniature tomatillo and tastes like a gooseberry. Combined with rhubarb
they made for a very distinctive, tangy pie.
Filling:
1 ½ cups ground cherries, husks removed and rinsed
4 ½ cups rhubarb, chopped
1 ½ - 2 cups sweetener or sugar
¼ cup flour
1 Tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp almond extract
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cardamom
Topping:
1/3 cup flour
2 ½ Tbsp ground almonds or other nuts
½ cup oats
1/3 cup sugar or sweetener
½ tsp cinnamon
dash each nutmeg and cardamom
1 or 2 dashes salt
3 ½ Tbsp oil
1 pie crust
Ground Cherry Rhubarb Filling |
Prepare fruit and mix with other filling ingredients. If the
mixture looks overly dry, drizzle in a couple tablespoons of water.
Prepare topping by whisking together dry ingredients, then
mix oil in with your fingers until it looks like clumpy wet sand.
Pour fruit filling into pie shell, then sprinkle topping
over top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25
minutes, then cover with foil and bake 25 minutes more.
Zucchini Cream Pie (Mock Coconut)
Zucchini Cream Pie |
This one was really interesting. It tastes quite a bit like
a coconut cream pie, only very light and refreshing. Some people like to use a
light golden zucchini or summer squash in order to be sneakier, but I don’t
mind people knowing they’re eating zucchini, and the little flecks of green are
pretty.
2 cups grated zucchini (a little more or less is ok)
1 12 oz box form silken tofu
1/3 cup soymilk (or coconut milk, if you like)
½ cup flour
1 cup sweetener
1 tsp coconut extract
½ tsp vanilla
¼ tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg (plus dash)
¼ tsp salt
1 Tbsp shredded coconut
1 pie crust (graham cracker/ginger snap crust is fine)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Puree tofu with all ingredients
down to salt in a food processor. Pour into a bowl and stir in half of the
zucchini. Pour into pie crust. Sprinkle
rest of zucchini on top and press down lightly to submerge. Sprinkle coconut on
top and top with a dash of nutmeg.
Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden brown.
Easy Hand Pies/Turnovers
Turnover, filled with gooseberry jam and dried cranberries |
These are an awful lot of fun for how simple they are. The
playing with dough part might be good for kids to try.
1 can ready to bake vegan biscuits (any homemade rolled
biscuit dough recipe works too)
about 2/3 cup jam or preserves (any flavor—sugar free works
too but will ooze a bit)
about 1/3 cup raisins, dried cranberries or other bite sized
dried fruit
Flour for rolling
Soymilk for brushing
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling
Directions:
Pop the can of biscuits. After flouring your board and
rolling pin, roll each biscuit out until it is an approximately 5-inch diameter
disc. Place about 1 tbsp of jam in one half of the center of each dough disc
and sprinkle with a few pieces of dried fruit. Wet the inside edges of the disc
and fold over. Crimp edge with a fork
to seal. Poke a few holes in each
turnover with a fork or knives. Place turnovers on a cookie
sheet (parchment lined would probably be best). Brush them lightly with soymilk and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20- 30 minutes, until golden
brown.
Easy Hand Pies/Turnovers |
No comments:
Post a Comment