It's Pi Day: Chocolate Silk Pie

It's Pi Day! It's Pi Day! That means it's time for 3.14159 pies, right? Ok, I know that was really cheesy, and I apologize. Please accept this amazing vegan chocolate silk pie recipe, as proof of my atonement. Also, be sure to stop back later today, when I'll have a savory pie recipe for you, too.

Let's talk pie crust. I hate making it. It makes me nervous, thinking that I'm going to overwork the dough. Then I get anxious and tense when I'm rolling out the dough. And as evidenced by the photos in this post, it's pretty clear that I'm not good at it.

I haven't found a way around rolling the pie crust dough, but I did find a crust recipe that is really easy to pull together. It's the Hot Water Pie Crust recipe in How it all Vegan. I made two tiny changes to the recipe: I added a tablespoon of granulated sugar and I halved the amount of baking powder. I blind baked the crust for 15 minutes at 375 degrees, but it probably should have baked closer to 20 minutes.

If you don't have the book, you should buy it. But if you're not going to, you can use whatever pie crust you like. Even a chocolate cookie or graham cracker crust will be just fine. Frankly, if you can find vegan pie crust in your grocery store, that's perfect, too.

As for the filling, it's pretty easy to make, and it is truly silky and chocolatey, but not too sweet. It's wonderful.

Chocolate Silk Pie
1 cup SoDelicious vanilla coconut milk creamer*
1 1/2 cups vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup mashed avocado
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 pre-baked pie crust

In the bowl of a double boiler (or a large stainless steel bowl over a pot of water), over barely simmering water, warm the creamer. You want to heat it to the point where very small bubbles are bursting around the edges of the creamer, but do not bring it to a boil. Add the chocolate chips and allow them to melt for a minute or two. Then begin to whisk the mixture, until the chocolate is completely incorporated into the creamer and the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, mash the avocado and beat it, until it's smooth. Whip in the powdered sugar. Slowly beat in the chocolate, until well mixed. Mixing the avocado, sugar and chocolate can be done using a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment.

If there are any small lumps of avocado in the mixture, you should pass the filling through a sieve, before pouring it into the pie crust. The avocados I used were slightly fibrous, so I used a sieve. The mixture goes through easily, and you'll end up with the silkiest pie filling, when you're done. It's worth the extra step.

Chill the filled pie for at least an hour, before serving, and refrigerate leftovers.

*If you can't find this creamer in your area, you can try another vanilla creamer, but I can't 100% guarantee that you will get exactly the same texture. The fat in soy creamer may set up differently than in coconut milk. The vanilla in SoDelicious is perfect, too. If you use another brand, you may want to add 1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract to the recipe.