Vegan Chocolate Silk Pie

This pie is so dreamy, if I didn’t tell you it was dairy-free you would have no idea! In fact, this pie got about 20 compliments from non-vegans on Thanksgiving. They couldn’t believe it was such a simple recipe! The ingredient list may shock you here, but trust me, this tastes like fluffy chocolate heaven 😄

First, let me tell you about this crust! It only has 3 INGREDIENTS! THAT’S IT!

Crazy, right? All this amazing crust consists of is: raw walnuts, cacao powder, and pitted dates.

Notice the difference between CACAO powder and COCOA powder. Cacao is a superfood that is mostly unprocessed, and very bitter to taste. Blending it with the pitted dates is what makes this crust so sweet and delicious. Cacao originated from a tree in the amazon region, and grows in the form of pods. Each pod contains beans, which can be crushed into cacao “nibs”, and furthermore into cacao powder. It is the most pure form of chocolate, with 0 total sugars and a whopping 8g of dietary fiber per serving. It is also extremely high in anti-oxidants (flavanols), magnesium (for heart and brain health), and even has 4g of protein per 3tbsp serving. Protein in chocolate?!?!? As if I needed a reason to love cacao even more..

Recipe:

Prep time: 20 minutes | Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups raw walnuts
1/3 cup unsweetened cacao powder
1 heaping cup of pitted dates, soaked for 10 minutes in warm water and drained

Filling:

12 ounces soft, silken tofu, drained and patted dry
1 3/4 cups dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup light or full fat coconut milk (can sub another dairy free milk if allergic to coconut)

Directions

Prepare crust by pulsing walnuts and cacao powder in a food processor until it reaches a fine powder.
Place soaked dates in the food processor and process until small bits remain and is sticky. Add back in the walnut-cacao meal and process until well combined.
Transfer to a glass pie pan lightly oiled with coconut oil. Using a piece of plastic wrap, press the mixture with your hands and fingers to form a uniform crust that goes up the sides as picture above. Set in the freezer for ~10 minutes.
Melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler. Once melted, work quickly to add to a blender with the silken tofu and coconut milk. Blend until smooth (~1 minute), scraping down the sides as needed.
Pour the filling over the crust and smooth. Cover and freeze until set. It is best to cut this pie while frozen, and let thaw for 15-20 minutes before serving. Serve and top with coconut whipped cream!

Don’t freak out because there is tofu in the filling! Tofu is pretty much flavorless until seasoned or marinated. Blending it with chocolate makes the creamiest filling!

*Recipe adapted from The Minimalist Baker