Pecan Pie (... but with walnuts)

Let me start by saying that I almost never make desserts. I really don't have a sweet tooth and well, as an intuitive cook who cooks by sight, smell and taste, I have a lot of problems with the exact measurements needed for baked goods (except bread). I am terrible with pastry and have no patience for it. However, over the holidays I decided that I was going to practice making pie crusts for both sweet and savoury pies and ended up buying a dough blender, perforated pie pan and a silicone pie crust guard thingy. All three sat there unused until today.

Even though I don't have a sweet tooth, I did previously enjoy a butter tart or two pre-vegan. Basically it's like a pecan pie, but without the pecans and you can find it in a package of two at most convenience stores in the great white north. I had a craving for them so I thought, hey, why don't I try the Pecan Pie (page 462) from the book?

The pie crust is pretty much like any standard pie crust — the kind that I am terrible with. Flour, fat, salt, sugar and water. I readied myself to struggle with it but it came together fairly easily with the dough blender. So much easier than a damn fork or two butter knives. If you don't have a dough blender, GET ONE. I substituted vegetable shortening for the margarine and upped the salt to almost 1 tsp.

While the dough was chilling in the fridge, I made the filling. As the liquid was simmering in the saucepan, I realised that I didn't have any pecans (doh!) but I did have walnuts which I thought was a worthy substitute.

Now on to the taste. The crust? I thought it was great! Flaky and rich, just like a pie crust is supposed to be. The filling was gooey and sweet but not sickly sweet and I can see it working with lots of different types of nuts, not just pecans (or walnuts). Colour me impressed — I made a pie with a great flaky crust! I do need to work on my crust shaping but who cares, it was good! Now I still don't like making pie crust, but now I know I can actually make a decent one.

This is one delicious pie that I can see myself making again. Maybe next time I'll make them into little tarts, without pecans and a sprinkle of raisins. ;)

— Ms. Veganorama

Peanut Butter-Ice Cream Pie

Okay, really now. When you look at the title of this dessert, how can you go wrong? It's peanut butter, and it's ice cream, and it's PIE. What's not to love? Well I am delighted to inform you that the Peanut Butter-Ice Cream Pie (p468) is a little round chunk of luscious peanut buttery ice creamy love.

Despite its simplicity, I did end up with a few changes. One by design, the other two by necessity. The recipe calls for "vegan chocolate cookie crumbs," but when I went to purchase these I realized I didn't exactly know what that was. Graham cracker crumbs, even vegan ones, are widely available, but I've never seen chocolate cookie crumbs. Can't exactly say I've ever sought them out, but this time I did, and there were none. I considered getting some plain chocolate cookies (such as Cat Cookies from Trader Joe's) and processing them into crumbs, but I wasn't at TJ's and couldn't find a comparable substitute. Then I came across a Wholly Wholesome Chocolate Pie Crust and decided to go with that. The other changes came about because the store was out of plain vanilla ice cream, so I went with one pint of Turtle Mountain/Purely Decadent's Dulce de Leche and one pint of their coconut milk vanilla bean. This worked out fine and did not impart a coconut flavor that I could detect. But even if it had, that wouldn't have been a bad thing.

I cannot adequately explain how easy this is to put together. No one could mess it up! And imagine how impressed your friends and family will be when you serve them ICE CREAM PIE. You've baked nothing, you've mixed a few things, and you have an impressive decadent dessert that your guests will think took far more time and effort. So take a few minutes to make it, serve, enjoy your accolades, and figure out whether a spoon or fork works best.

--The Divine Miss V