Vegan Cook-a-Long

pumpkin eater

Alright -- I made the pumpkin pie last night. I'd just eaten loads of pumpkin pie on the weekend at my parents' place but I don't usually eat it any other time of year, so I went at it again to max out my seasonal pumpkin enjoyment!

I'd spent part of the evening with my AACR2 study group. The AACR2 is a supremely nit-picky "reality" filled with Rules. About 700 pages of rules, about cataloguing and describing books and anything else that might be held in libraries and archives. After that desperately futile pursuit of perfection, I didn't feel like following any rules, and that included a recipe...so of course I messed up a few times in my rebellion!

For example, I plopped the pumpkin puree + spices in the blender, but I was supposed to blend the silken tofu first. And I didn't blend the tofu long enough, so there were a few little flecks of tofu that hadn't pureed. I didn't get specific pumpkin pie spice, I just used cinnamon and allspice.

The recipe is for 2 pies, I used Keebler Readycrust, one shortbread and the other graham crumb. They're accidentally vegan. My Mom made hers with graham crust plus she used a banana in the filling to replace the egg, it was a really, really sweet combination. The cookalong recipe didn't call for any egg replacer.

There was a 45 minute wait while baking the pies, so I made whipped tofu topping. It wasn’t fluffy, it was liquidy, even after an hour chilling out in the fridge.

Then I decided to jazz it up with candied pecans, used soy milk of course instead of cow milk.

When I added the vanilla to the boiling syrup and sugar, it smelled so good!!!

Here're the crystalized pecans drying out on waxed paper. They turned out really sweet, probably too sweet.

Whoops! Burnt the crust a bit, just the exposed edges. Clipped off the burnt bits with a spoon and all was well again.

Assembled the super-sweet toppings:

I brought 2 slices to work, to share with Stagflation for brunch. Here they are in my Hello Kitty stacking lunch containers on my desk, waiting for him. If you can spot the spelling mistake, I'll give you the second pumpkin pie!

We ate the pie while talking about The Current and Megacity Mel. The whipped tofu looked funny, it was crackly. I guess the oil separated? It tasted alright though. And the candied pecans still tasted good, a little too sweet but they didn’t get soggy in transit.

posted by Carla @ 11:03 AM