Tuesday 13 December 2016

Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Pie ft Indigo Herbs* [VEGAN].



When it comes to winter food I'm all about foods that offer warmth and comfort, you know, basically like a hug from the inside. I'm thinking soups, stews, pies - basically carbs. Anyway, something I've been enjoying this autumn/winter that I feel offers the winter warmer factor in dessert form is a good old pumpkin pie. 


Now, when my boyfriend first suggested making a pumpkin pie out of the gargantuan pumpkin that was delivered with our weekly veg box, I must admit that I was a little hesitant. Maybe it's just me being fussy, but I sometimes just cannot get my head around a savoury food in a sweet dish (or the other way around - strawberries on a salad for example). But, I conceded and decided to try it out and what do you know, I was pleasantly surprised.

When Indigo Herbs got in touch and asked if I could put together a winter recipe using some of their products, I knew that I wanted to put together a slightly festive take on the pumpkin pie - which basically requires good ol' chocolate (amongst other things) and boy did it turn out tasty. 

My General Life - Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Pie [VEGAN]

DARK CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN PIE
serves: 8-10

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

♥ 425g pureed pumpkin (I found tinned pumpkin in Tesco which is just 100% pumpkin)
♥ 150g silken tofu
♥ 50g coconut sugar (I used Indigo Herbs Organic Coconut Palm Sugar*)
♥ 50g maple syrup (I used Indigo Herbs Organic Dark Maple Syrup*)
♥ 2 tbsp cornflour
♥ 4 tbsp cocoa/cacao powder (I used Indigo Herbs Organic Raw Cacao Powder*)
♥ 1 tsp cinnamon powder
♥ 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
♥ 1 tsp vanilla extract
♥ shortcrust pastry (you could make your own, however, I used Jus-Rol)

WHAT TO DO:

♥ Preheat your oven to 180°c.
♥ To make your dark chocolate pumpkin filling add all the above ingredients except the shortcrust pastry to a blender and whizz up good and proper (my blender had an unfortunate run in with a jug of smoothie and so I had to use a stick blender which, although a little more effort, did work out ok!). It may be worth tasting at this point - feel free to add extra coconut sugar or maple syrup to sweeten the pie mix to your liking.
♥ Place the shortcrust pasty into a pie dish (mine was approx. 9"). Leave a little overhang to account for shrinkage (technical term) but then trim off the excess. Prick the bottom a few times with a fork and blind bake (a.k.a put greaseproof over the top and add either baking beans or uncooked rice to the pie dish to weigh down the pastry, this helps get it nice and crisp) for about 15 minutes.
♥ After 15 minutes, carefully remove the greaseproof and baking beans/rice and put the pastry back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
♥ After 10 minutes add the dark chocolate pumpkin mixture to the pie crust, smooth out and place back in the oven to cook for a further 30-40 minutes or until the pie mixture has firmed up. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before enjoying!

My General Life - Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Pie [VEGAN]


I find that this amount of pie mixture does result in a some left overs, both in the pie mix itself and the pastry if you've used shop bought. For me this is the perfect amount for making some mini pumpkin pies - use a biscuit cutter to make circles and place these in a cupcake tin. Add 1 tsp of dark chocolate pumpkin pie mix to the centre and then place a little pastry star on top. A little brush of dairy free milk helps colour these babies up, but it isn't essential. Bake for approx 35 minutes or until golden brown. I managed to make 5 of these little bitesized beauties from the left overs.

My General Life - Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Pie [VEGAN]

Just a final heads up that this isn't a sickly sweet pie, I've called it dark chocolate because the cacao does add a bitterness which I think works really well with the sweet, spicy pumpkin mix and stops it from being too overpowering. It's delicious served up with a drizzle of maple syrup and a blob of Oatly Creamy Oat Fraiche (found in Tesco), which with it's savoury taste again stops the pie from becoming too sickly sweet.

My General Life - Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Pie [VEGAN]


Let's start a conversation:
What are your thoughts on pumpkin pie? Is it something you enjoy or would like to bake? I'd love to hear your thoughts either in the comments below, or drop me a tweet @_hellojordan


* these products were kindly sent to me by Indigo Herbs.