Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie

By The New York Times

Updated Oct. 26, 2021

Vegan Chocolate Pudding Pie
Jim Wilson/The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes, plus chilling
Rating
5(1,376)
Comments
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This vegan pie pairs a thick, creamy, chile- and cinnamon-laced pudding from Mark Bittman with a graham cracker crust adapted from the cookbook "Vegan Pie in the Sky." The pudding, whose flavors recall Mexican hot chocolate, can also stand alone. It's made with silken tofu, and it comes together in 10 minutes in the blender, which whips in air for a mousse-like texture. The chocolate is of the utmost importance here; its flavor will be the one that dominates, so be sure to buy the highest quality you can. Top with shaved chocolate if you'd like.

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Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch pie

    For the Crust

    • 10whole graham crackers (approximately 5.5 ounces)
    • 3tablespoons sugar
    • 4tablespoons melted coconut oil
    • 1tablespoon plain soy milk or almond milk

    For the Filling

    • ¾cup sugar
    • 1pound silken tofu
    • 8ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted (at least 60 percent cacao)
    • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1½teaspoons ground cinnamon
    • ¼teaspoon chile powder, or more to taste
    • ⅛teaspoon salt
    • Chocolate shavings (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. For the Crust

    1. Step 1

      Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a 9-inch pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

    2. Step 2

      Place the graham crackers in a food processor and process until finely ground, about 30 seconds (you should have about 1¼ cups of crumbs). Add the sugar and salt, drizzle over the melted coconut oil and soy or almond milk, and pulse until the mixture begins to clump together.

    3. Step 3

      Pour the crumbs into the pie plate. Press crumbs into the sides of the plate first, then work your way down to the bottom. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until firm and slightly golden. Let the crust cool while you prepare the filling.

  2. For the Filling

    1. Step 4

      In a small pot, combine sugar with ¾ cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.

    2. Step 5

      Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a food processor or blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down the sides if necessary. Pour into the cooled crust, and press a piece of plastic wrap directly to the top of the pudding. Chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to overnight. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
1,376 user ratings
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Comments

Maggie

For people who are saying that the filling is too soft, I suspect the answer lies in draining the tofu. That's a step that this recipe omits, but that most similar recipes (Alton Brown's, for instance) include.

ck

Thanks to other commenters notes, I used only 1/2 cup sugar in the pie, and as the graham crackers had sugar in them already, I left out the 3 tablespoons of sugar in the crust. Drained the silken tofu on paper towels for 15 minutes and, combined with using only 1/2 cup of water in the simple syrup, the texture ended up being prefect...thick, firm yet creamy, it held its shape and the sweetness was perfect. A major hit at a small dinner party and was entirely demolished.

Sam

The key to this recipe is SILKEN FIRM tofu--this is generally in shelf-stable packaging, but there is zero reason to drain it. With regular silken tofu, your pie will already be much looser, and that can only get worse when you add more water....using Silken firm tofu, mine set up very firmly (moreso than the average cream pie) and was easy to slice cleanly.

Presley R.

This is such an easy, DELICIOUS dessert that's just a little bit different than the boring holiday desserts. I did end up decreased the cinnamon just by 1/8 tsp because it did over power the chocolate chips ever so slightly. I also found it didn't firm up as much as I'd like but I suspect decreasing the water and draining the silken tofu would fix that right up. Everybody and Christmas loved this! Will be a repeat for sure!

Rebekah

This came out beautifully. Agree with the comments to reduce the sugar, I used a scant 1/2 cup sugar (still 3/4 cup water) to make the sugar water. The pie came out surprisingly firm after reading the comments about not being firm enough. I agree with others who emphasized to make sure you get the shelf stable vacuum packed silken firm tofu (also this does not need draining). You can find it either in the baking section or near Asian foods. Mori-Nu is the popular brand I’ve always used. I may have used a bit more than 1lb too since it comes in 10.9oz packs. Hopefully the pie doesn’t firm up even more over the next few days of leftovers!

Aggie

We love this recipe. I’ve made it twice and both times I couldn’t get the crust to hold together. It crumbles apart when I serve the pie. Does anyone have advice?

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