I’ve made Chocolate Covered Katie’s (CCK) Chocolate Fudge Pie twice now. The first time I had a graham cracker crust that I needed to put to use but the second time I craved this chocolaty treat I improvised and made my own crust. I’m glad I did because the ingredients in the pre-made crust scared me a little, there were a few octo-syllabic ones that were probably chemicals. It was an experiment that definitely paid off; my mom has been talking about the pie ever since! CCK does not like pie crust, her recipe is really for chocolate mousse but she put it in a pie filling for her pictures. I, on the other hand, LOVE pie crust, it’s always such a nice crunchy/salty addition to smoother/sweeter fillings of most pies. I got to work thinking of ratios for the ingredients and what I wanted the crust to taste like, resulting in my Peanut Cashew Pie crust, the perfect combo for chocolate. I would recommend this crust with sweet pies that require a precooked crust because I only baked the crust for a few minutes and I cannot vouch for the outcome if it were baked longer with a filling (also peanuts take on a burnt smell so quickly, even when they aren’t burnt). The crust might work a little better without the peanut butter for other recipes, that addition was really just to accompany the chocolate mousse.

Debbie’s Peanut Cashew Pie Crust

Tools: oven, food processor, spatula, pie tin

½ C Flour of Choice (I use unbleached)

2/3 C Raw Cashews

1 Tbsp Flaxseed Meal

1 Tbsp Sugar

4 Tbsp Vegan Butter (I use Earth Balance)

2 Tbsp Peanut Butter (I use chunky)

1 Tbsp Nondairy Milk (I use almond milk)

Preheat oven to 350º F. Combine flour, cashews, flaxseed meal, and sugar in food processor. Blend until ingredients are fine with no chunks. Add vegan butter and peanut butter to dry mix and pulse until incorporated. I turned the processor off a few times and used a spatula to help things along since the goal is to creates a solid mass. Finally, add the nondairy milk since ingredients will be dry. Turn off the processor and use spatula to ensure the mass of dough is balled up. With clean hands, take the dough mass and press and spread it into the pie tin so that it is in an even layer and covers the entire tin, including the sides . You could probably use a rolling pin and roll out the dough on a clean surface (or plastic wrap), then carefully flip it onto the pie tin, but seriously… that’s a lot of nonsense that can be avoided. Put the crust in the oven for 5-8 minutes, remove and let cool for ten minutes before adding your delicious filling. My crust continued cooling in the fridge in order for the chocolate filling to set so the cooling time can vary based on your needs!