Seriously Simple Vegan Chocolate Pies (that you can show off with)

If you have picked up anything from my blog it's that I do love chocolate and baking. So it's a Saturday afternoon and I have some spare time to try out a couple recipes. I was in the middle of making brownies (will write about these too) when I noticed I had a pack of firm tofu in the fridge. I also noticed I had some chocolate and those pastry cases in the press were crying out to be used. The dream of combining all of these together turned out to be something incredible. To think I spent absolute hours cooking vegan silken tortes (vegan cheese cake) when these really just taste as good and take a fraction of the time.

Out came the handy food processer and in went the flour, icing sugar and margarine. After it delivered a solid pastry dough, out came the chocolate and tofu. In those went and out came a seriously silky and creamy chocolate ganache like mouse. All done within less than 10 minutes. The end result was some really impressive looking chocolate pies that didn't take that much effort. All that was missing were some raspberries topped with icing sugar to complete the look. These little pies would be great served individually at a dinner party or something fancy like that!

So if you're impressed, check out this REALLY easy recipe for vegan chocolate pies.

1. Preparing the Vegan Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

This was just enough for 2 small pastry cases but double it up if you're making one large pie.

• 125g/4½oz plain flour
• 55g/2oz icing sugar
• 55g/2oz soya margarine
• A drop of soya milk/water

1. Throw it all into a food processor until combined/Or work up a sweat and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour/sugar until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs. Then just bring it all together to form a dough.

2. Wrap it in cling film and place in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

2. Baking the Pastry

I used little pastry dishes to make mine but you can get creative and use something else. Or if you're making one large pie, use that pie dish!

1. Butter your pastry dish.

2. Roll out your pastry until flat. Don't worry if it breaks, I just mush it all into other pieces once in the dish.

3. Place into the pastry dishes.

4. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or just until done.

3. Making the Vegan Chocolate Ganache 

Now you can make the best part, the silkiest, smoothest vegan chocolate ganache. 

• 1 packet of film silken tofu (drained).
• As much chocolate as you want really!

1. Melt the chocolate
2. Pour into a food processor with the silken tofu and blend until smooth and silky.

Once your pasty cases have cooked and cooled, pour the chocolate mixture in and leave to set in a cool area.

Vegan chocolate chip cookies invade my kitchen!

For those who haven't heard of the vegan cookie bible (Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar), listen up!

This great little book is packed with vegan cookies recipes that never fails to deliver.They're quick, easy and most importantly SERIOUSLY delicious vegan cookies. I've said before that the easiness and quickness of the recipes are the both good and bad news. I end up wiping up batches within minutes of a cookie or chocolate craving.

I have previously posted about the Carrot Cake Cookie recipe. A recipe I always come back to. Make sure to check that one out too if you're a fan of carrot cake. Anyway, onto the more traditional vegan chocolate chip cookie (Vegan cookies invade your cookie jar - Isa Chandra). Luckily, the recipe is up on Isa's Post Punk Kitchen site.

The Vegan Cookie Recipe

1/2 brown sugar

1/4 white sugar

2/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)

1 tablespoon tapioca flour

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two large light metal baking sheets.

Mix together sugars, oil, milk and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, for about 2 minutes, until it resembles smooth caramel. There is a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collide, so it’s important that you don’t get lazy about that step. Mix in the vanilla.

Add 1 cup of the flour, the baking soda and salt. Mix until well incorporated. Mix in the rest of the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stuff so use your hands to really work them in.

For 3 inch cookies, roll the dough into about ping pong ball size balls. Flatten them out in your hands to about 2 1/2 inches. They will spread just a bit. Place on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes – no more than 9 – until they are just a little browned around the edges. I usually get 16 out of these so I do two rounds of eight cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

For 2 dozen two inch cookies roll dough into walnut sized balls and flatten to about 1 1/2 inches and bake for only six minutes.

My Tip: If you prefer yours with a bit of crunch add a table spoon or 2 of granulated sugar and leave them in the oven for just a couple minutes longer. Or if you like yours soft and chewy, keep a serious close eye on them. Make sure they don't brown too much!

Also if you're looking for cheap vegan chocolate, Tesco have Ryeland's 'Plain Chocolate', which are just over a euro!