Veganizing “Friends”: Monica’s Kiwi Lime Pie

• 8 oz. vegan cream cheese
• 8 oz. vegan butter (I know)
• 2C flour
• 1/2t salt
• 1/2C sugar
• 1t vanilla extract

For the FILLING: 

• 10 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/4C vegan butter
• 2t cinnamon 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix your dry dough ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Drop dollops of the cream cheese and butter into the dry mixture.
3. Cut the mix together with a pastry cutter. (You can also pulse it all in a food processor, but yikes more shite to clean up.)
4. While you are using the pastry cutter, drip your vanilla across the bowl.
5. The mixture will look somewhat pebbly, but much more moist (sorry) than when making pie crust. When you are done cutting in the fat, the dough should easily come into a moist (sorry!) ball with your hands. 
6. Knead several times. 
7. Break the dough into 2 balls, flatten into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

While the dough is in the fridge: 
For the filling: 

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together over low heat.
2. Once it is nearly all melted, turn off heat, stir in the cinnamon, and continue stirring slowly until all the chocolate is melted.
3. Cover a big baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
4. Pour the chocolate over the paper and spread into as thin a layer as possible. 
5. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

1. Take the dough disks out of the fridge and let thaw for about 45 minutes. 
2. Preheat the oven to 350°.
3. Roll out each disk to about 1/4 inch thickness, rolling it not into a square but into a rectangle, about 2x as long as it is wide.  
4. Break the sheet of chocolate in half and place directly on top of the rolled-out dough. Break it into whatever pieces and shapes necessary to cover the dough. 
5. Roll it up from the long side over, so you are making an extra long log (not a super-thick one, as you’d make if you roll the wrong way). 
6. Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust looks golden. 
7. Remove from the oven, and let cool for about 30 minutes before cutting.
8. Cut into pieces about an inch thick. 
9. Enjoy !

• 2/3C sugar
• 1/3C + 1T brown sugar
• 1/2C canola oil
• 1t vanilla
• 1/3C almond milk
• 3T molasses
• 1t cinnamon
• 1t ginger
• 1/2t nutmeg
• 1t baking powder
• 1/2t baking soda
• 1/2t salt
• 2C flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix your sugars, oil, molasses, milk, and vanilla for a few minutes, until it is thick and caramel-like. 
3. Add the rest of your ingredients and mix well. 
4. Press the mixture into a pie dish, and bake for 15-17 minutes. 
5. Let cool (seriously, let it cool). It will puff up like whoa but we like that! And it’ll fall as it cools. 

For the pumpkin mousse:
Ingredients: 

• 1 can (15 oz.) pureed pumpkin 
• 16 oz. silken tofu (I used one container of the water-packed variety)
• 1t cinnamon
• 1t vanilla extract
• 1T coconut oil
• 1/2C sugar
• 1/4C maple syrup, agave, or mixture of the two

Directions:

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Taste for sweetener. (It makes more than will probably fit in your crust, so save the rest as a separate mousse. Or an ice cream base!) 

Assembly:

1. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the cooled pie crust. It’ll be thin, so let it set in the fridge for several hours or until, well, until tomorrow!