Chocolate Pie

This is a vegan classic--everybody has a recipe. But, since we're all special little snowflakes, here's mine.

Makes: one 8 inch pie

Crust:
1/3 c shortening OR vegan margarine OR oil (But not olive oil. Crazy.)
1 c flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 tbsp. cold water
1 tsp. baking powder (optional; see notes)

Filling:
1 pkg. silken tofu (room temperature and thoroughly drained is best. You can also sub any similarly firm soy product, like sour "cream", "cream cheese", etc.)
10-12 oz. chocolate (depending on whether you used a 14 or 16 oz pkg of tofu)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (or any extract flavor you have)
1 tbsp. vegan margarine (optional and room temperature)

Tools:
two bowls (at least one must be glass/ceramic)
a rolling pin OR cylindrical alcohol bottle
a sauce pan

Set your oven to something pretty hot (450 F/230 C). Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Mix in fat of choice. Mix in water until dough is sticky enough to hold together but not sticky enough to stick to you. DO NOT OVER MIX. Flour a (clean) surface, roll the dough into a circle bigger than your pan on all sides by 2 inches, roll the circle onto the pin/bottle, unroll the dough into your pan. Poke a bunch of holes in the bottom of the crust (to let air out). Bake until golden at edges.

While you're waiting for the crust to bake, melt chocolate chips in a double boiler (aka ceramic bowl on top of a sauce pan with a little water in it). Blend tofu, melted chocolate, margarine, and extract. Pour into pre-baked pie shell immediately.

Let this chill out in your fridge for a couple hours. It will firm up and be more like fudge than pudding.



Notes for keeners:
The baking powder in the crust is a cheat to sneaky make your crust fluffier without doing all that "cold shortening, cold water, don't touch your dough, don't mix it too much" crap. That stuff works, because it creates cold layers of fat and water within the dough that then evaporate during cooking, lifting the sheets of flour apart. I can't be bothered.

The margarine in the filling is to make it fattier and so tastier. If you don't have it, you can leave it out, but what makes cream pies like this so appealing usually is the fact that they have, well, cream and eggs, both of which are quite calorific.

You can try variations on this pie by adding different extracts, liqueurs, and additions. Some common favorites are raspberry, mint, and peanut-butter, which you can achieve by mixing a little of anything flavored those ways in. Keep in mind that the more you add the more it will change the final texture of the pie.