My grocery store has a lot of "buy something get something free" deals, and the latest one was buy a pack of K-cups and get a free pint of So Delicious brand non-dairy coconut milk creamer. I honestly would have never bought that given that we drink our coffee black, but since it was free and I figured I could do something with it, I took advantage of the offer. This pie was the result.
A Basic Dairy Free Chocolate Pie
It’s a basic chocolate pie (you can use regular butter and whole milk if you’re okay with dairy) or you can make it with the SO Delicious coconut milk creamer. Normally, I like my chocolate pies with whipped cream on top, but since this one is non-dairy I used meringue. If you don’t like meringue, you could use a non-dairy whipped topping instead. The filling is delicious and does not taste like coconut, though it is on the sweet side.
King Arthur's No-Roll, No-Dairy Pie Crust
As for the crust, I tried King Arthur’s No-Roll No Dairy Pie crust and it worked perfectly. I haven't been that impressed with oil-based pie crust recipes in the past, but the KA crust was pretty good even though it was on the tough side (I might have been a little rough with it). So even if you're not interested in this pie, you might want to hop on over to the King Arthur site and take a look at the no-roll oil crust recipe. They used to call it oil crust but they changed the name to a snappier sounding "No Roll Pie Crust".
Recipe
Dairy Free Chocolate Pie
Ingredients
- One homemade or nondairy pie crust see notes
Filling:
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons flour
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 scant cup sugar
- 2 cups Dairy Free Coconut Milk Creamer I used So Delicious brand regular flavor coconut
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy vegan butter Earth Balance or butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Meringue Topping:
- 3 large egg whites
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and have all your meringue ingredients measured out and ready to go so you can make the meringue quickly and put it on the hot filling.
- Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, cocoa, sugar and egg yolks in a 3 quart metal saucepan and stir with a heavy duty heat proof scraper or a spoon. Gradually stir in the coconut creamer until smooth. Put the mixture over medium heat and stir constantly until large bubbles form on the surface. Boil and stir for another minute at the lowest temperature at which you can still maintain the boil.
- Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Set aside and make meringue.
- Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy, then gradually add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks start to form. Quickly beat in the vanilla.
- Transfer the hot chocolate filling from the saucepan to the pie shell, then put the meringue on the hot filling. I like to drop blobs of meringue around the edges first to seal, then drop gobs of meringue into the middle part, gently spreading to cover filling.
- Bake pie at 350 for about 15 minutes or until meringue starts to brown. Let it cool at room temperature for about an hour, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill.
Anna says
Sue and Jennifer, I have never watched that show so I'm not sure what he was using.
I will admit, I have hard time watching baking shows. Not sure why. Too close to home, maybe? Kind of stressful? Makes me feel like I have to go to the kitchen and get to work? Not sure. We have it on HGTV about 90% of the time.
We do watch Downtown Abbey, though!
Jennifer J-W says
Sue,
I have been watching that show pre-Downton Abbey and I LOVE it. It's so much better than American reality tv shows. The contestants are really nice (and not picked because they are camera-friendly) and they actually help each other out.
It's really entertaining.
I've also learned so much. I bake quite a bit, so I am a bit surprised by that.
In this week's episode they made "hot water pastry crust," which I had never even heard of, but now I'm determined to make. 🙂
-J
The pie looks delicious. I actually love meringue, but not quite as much as whipped cream.
Sue says
Speaking of pie crusts, have you seen the PBS show The British Baking Show? I saw it last night for the second time and the theme was pastry. In the first round they were to make a custard tart. One of the contestants blind baked his pastry shell by lining it with some kind of plastic wrap and then filling it with small beans. I've never seen a heat resistant plastic wrap have you? There was no drama about melted plastic so it must have been fine?
I wish I would remember to watch the show more often. It is much kinder than the typical American food competition show.
Lisa McGovern Faes says
My daughter recently became lactose intolerant so this will be perfect.
Sonya says
Very creative and it looks delicious!