The official Vegan Pie in the Sky review thread (to be updated)!
Add reviews for Vegan Pie in the Sky: 75 Out-of-This-World Recipes for Pies, Tarts, Cobblers, and More by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero here, and they will be added to the compilation.
Pie Crusts
Buttery double crust
I've made this several times and it's delicious. I've had a bit of trouble rolling it out (it seems to stick pretty easily), but the end result has always been good. It stays flaky and buttery and delicious. The last time I made it, it had perfect flavor and texture (but I did have to attempt rolling out 1 of the crusts twice). I always made it with 6 tablespoons of each EB and shortening (instead of eight), because that was changed after testing. I'd try it with the 8, and definitely make this again. (AC)
A fine crust. It rolls out well, and didn't stick to anything. It's flaky enough, but I think it's worth a go with vodka. I'll have to try that next time. Despite the inclusion of eb, I think that the shortbread crust has much more of a buttery thing going on. (fb)
Vodka dough
Olive oil double crust
I had a bit more trouble with this dough. I think the recipe has been modified since testing, but it was difficult for me to work with. While mixing it together, the texture just became strangely flaky...weird flake pieces not coming together. The end result was good, and I was actually able to roll it out pretty well to make a lattice, so I would definitely try it again. (AC)
This is delicious. The dough smelt really vinegary before baking so I was a little worried about it, but it ended up being my favorite part of the (appleberry) pie. (sog)
Fantastic. I had always used a recipe here on vegweb that uses only oil for pie crust, because it comes out very flaky and just great. This is the same. I think one could easily sub with canola oil or the like, because there is still that olive oil flavor there (though I'm sure it depends on the olive oil, since mine is pretty strongly flavored). (fb)
I tried this again, using canola oil (also freezing it). It worked out great, just as flakey as the olive variation, with the benefit of no olive taste. I used it as a lattice crust for the sweet potato cobbler, and it browned and worked better that way than the buttery double crust. (fb)
Puffy pie dough
A little bit disappointed in this. I remember everyone raving about it during testing, but I didn't love it. I used So Delicious coconut milk yogurt, but my dough was quite sticky and not the easiest to work with. I didn't really find it all that puffy at all, either. I assume mine just didn't turn out quite right, but there was nothing really wrong with it..just didn't really deliver for the amount of work. Everyone else loved it in the blueberry handpies. (AC)
This stuff is pretty good. It turned out slightly lighter than your usual buttery crust but I don't know if I'd call it 'puffy' by any means. All in all, good stuff. Can't wait to make hand pies using this recipe. (sb)
Hm, this was fine, but my least favorite only because the others are so good. It's not really puffy, so there's that. But it functions fine. (fb)
Single (and loving it!) pastry crust
Good, basic crust. Pretty easy to work with; be sure to roll it thin enough. (AC)
did the job just fine. Worked well. (andini)
Very easy to make, and flakier than the buttery double crust. (fb)
Shortbread tart shell
Delicious! Very rich, but very good. Great that you can press it in. (AC)
Also very easy to make, and incredibly decadent. You could use this dough to make some awesome shortbread cookies, I think. If I was making a pie to impress (especially the more decadent omni-food inclined), I would absolutely choose this crust. (fb)
Good basic crust. Mine turned out wonderfully flaky! (lotus)
Chocolate shortbread tart shell
Yesssssss. It is everything that the shortbread crust is but very CHOCOLATY. If you do not care for your waistline and want tasty pies, the shortbread crusts are where it's at. Great texture, rolled out easily. (fb)
Yum! This came together quite easily when I mixed with my hands. It took a tiny bit of patience to make sure to evenly press it all into the sides, then bottom of shell, but it worked out very well. I actually used some dark cocoa powder, so it was definitely chocolaty! I messed up and baked it too many times for the pie recipe, but it was still great. Didn't puff up. Pretty darn easy. Great for the baked strawberry tart. I made this one as 1 big 9-10" tart. When I made the mini strawberry tarts with regular shortbread crust, I preferred those warmish, but this was much better later in the day. Will make again. (AC)
Graham cracker crust
I used a previous version of this as the "cookie crumb crust" using gingersnaps. It was good, but I preferred the actual gingersnap crust recipe. (AC)
Chocolate cookie crust
I used Late July brand chocolate sandwich cookies, which are kind of dry, but worked well here. I was just shy of all the crumbs I needed, so I used about a 1/2 cup ground almonds, and this was fantastic! I also tried the canola oil option, and I thought this was too greasy--I think I'll stick to EB or even the coconut oil in the future. (veganrun)
I probably shouldn't review this because I didn't really follow the recipe, but other people may make the same mistakes I did...so anyway. I used oreos instead of chocolate wafers. I reduced the amount of margarine because I figured the "cream" in the cookies would add some fat/oil. I don't think I reduced it enough because the crust was gooey instead of crumbly. After I baked it, it was kind of chewy. Just be aware of that if you're using oreos. I'm pretty sure that's where I went wrong. (lotus)
Made this with Annie's chocolate bunny grahams, and it was excellent. I had a bit less than 1 1/2 cups crumbs, but kept everything the same, and it was excellent. The flavor of the chocolate grahams was great. Texture was slightly moist, but baked well. Held together well, and not grainy. (AC)
Lemon cookie crust
Vanilla cookie crust
I used homemade vanilla wafers for the Boston creme cake pie, which worked well! I thought it could have used a little spice like cinnamon or nutmeg or something, but overall good. (sog)
I used the Mi-Del wafers (they seemed to be suggested?), and damn, those things seem awfully greasy. I didn't notice at first as I munched on a few, but I put those things in the food processor and I got oil out of them. Straight oil! Anyway, this worked well as a crust, and tastes like nilla wafers with the Mi-Del cookie. After this, I got pretty lazy and just used crushed cookies, but this is still an easy and quick recipe. (fb)
Made this using homemade vanilla wafers and it was pure heaven underneath the blueberry cheesecake. LOVE IT! (sb)
Black and white crust
Gingersnap crust
Super simple and very good. Loved it. (AC)
I used gingersnap crust in the pumpkin pies, which worked great. Man, I love gingersnaps, and this recipe like all the cookie crusts comes together pretty easily. Only inconvenience is it gets your food processor dirty. (fb)
Chocolate olive oil crust
I didn't like this so much. It's not too sweet, and doesn't actually come off that chocolatey. It's not bad, but the chocolate shortbread one is definitely better. (fb)
Buckwheat double crust
Press in almond crust
Very, very good. Super good in the pear tart. It's crisp with bite, but still tender. Delicious. (AC)
So good--like a “grown-up” graham cracker crust. I’m pretty lazy, so I like a good press-in pie crust. In the food processor, this took just a mere 2 or so minutes, start to finish. Fantastic. (veganrun)
Made it for Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME! Was the star of the pear tart! (schmige)
Pretty great. It crisps up really well, and yeah, kind of like a graham crust (to get more of that effect, I might use brown sugar and more cinnamon). It has a tiny bit of chewiness to it. I think it'd be a good alternative to a cookie crust. (fb)
Fruit pies
She's my cherry pie
Maple kissed blueberry pie
HELL YEA. The maple and lemon and blueberry go SO WELL together. I wasn't expecting to be crazy about this, but it's great and a pretty simple pie. Would make again. (fb)
frakking delicious. Bf seal of approval. Maple + blueberry=<3. (sog)
Blueberry thrill pie
Pucker up raspberry pie
Quite pleasant. I used frozen raspberries, and the amount of sugar called for was perfect. A simple pie. It didn't taste vinegary or anything, in case anyone's worried about the balsamic. Goes well with one of the creams (used the macadamia creme, but would go well with rad whip or coconut creme too). (fb)
Blackberry bramble pie
This came out more tart than I was expecting, but was still good. It was just a bit too tart, and too juicy. I used the blackberry liqueur. (AC)
I had some issues with this pie. I used frozen berries and upped the cornstarch to 4 T instead of 3 but it turned out like soup! After cutting the first slice, I scooped out as much juice as I could added another 2 T of cornstarch mixed with water and popped it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Thankfully that worked, but the pie was still very tart. I think next time I'll 86 the lemon juice altogether and up the sugar just a touch. I like that the natural tartness of the blackberries was able to shine through, but it was overkill to have lemon zest AND lemon juice. It was a just slightly too sour. I was going to bring this pie into work, but it's really not that good. If I made this again, I'd definitely adjust the recipe. (sb)
Strawberry rhubarb crumb pie
My favorite pie so far! I used frozen rhubarb and fresh strawberries. So good. I would even consider doing this as a crumble with just the fruit and topping. Definitely all balanced. I love the sweetness with the tart, and the tiny bit of cinnamon. I was thinking I might want more cinnamon, but I like as is. I think I baked it a little less. (AC)
Never used rhubarb before until this. My frozen strawberries were quite tart, so the rhubarb blended in well. I was afraid the rhubarb would retain some crispiness, but it didn't, it softened up. The crumb topping is GREAT, but I had trouble fitting everything (strawberries, rhubarb, topping) in my half pan thing (made half the recipe). Most of the time there's always a little extra filling with that type of pan, but this was a whole lot. To top it off, I was using scant measurements 'cause I didn't have that much rhubarb. Hm. Anyway, I don't think I would have liked the tart-ish filling as much without that crumb topping. It really made it. (fb)
Appleberry pie
P's favorite! My pie was golden and bubbling after about 52 minutes. I had some juices bubbling up on the side, but not bad. When I cut into the pie, there is a TON of liquid. Like...a good depth of the pie. I don't know why! I wasn't a huge fan of the still kinda crispish apples. I loved the berries. The crust came out tasting good and good texture. I guess the bottom crust is soggy because of the liquid, but that didn't really bother me. I liked the flavor, but it wasn't my favorite. (AC)
This is delicious. I used the olive oil crust recipe, and the dough smelt really vinegary before baking so I was a little worried about it, but it ended up being my favorite part of the pie. I read AC's review beforehand and since she said it was very liquidy, I added an extra T or two of cornstarch to the filling. I don't think this was necessary as mine was not very liquidy and the cornstarch seemed like too much.. next time I'll just stick to the recipe. But overall, this pie is very good. I used 3 medium granny smith apples and two cups of fresh black berries. I also used half WW pastry flour for the crust, and it came out wonderful! (sog)
Didn't enjoy this too much. We used a mixed berry thing and fuji apples, and it was just fine. Not amazing, not bad. I think that part of it were the apples, which didn't want to soften up too much. I think I might try this again with some apple i know will bake well, with blueberries or somethin. (fb)
Pearberry
Blueberry ginger handpies with lemon glaze
Pretty good. I didn't lovelove them, as others seemed to (including my family). I thought they were good, but missing something. I did an orange glaze instead of lemon. The crust wasn't puffy or flaky, and the filling was....good. Not worth the effort for me. I might be interested in trying the strawberry ones some time. My aunt really loved these, though. I was hoping for more for some reason, but did just come out with 8. Followed the recipe. (AC)
Pretty good, fairly plain. It's not super gingery, and has the advantage of being pretty simple. As a filling, I like the maple blueberry better. Assembly was a bit tricky, and would probably be much easier if I used fresh blueberries and not frozen. They oozed a bit, but nothing disastrous. (fb)
Strawberry field handpies
Also a little troublesome in making these (gooey-ness from frozen fruit). Still good, simple way to have pie. I think a variation like strawberry-ginger or strawberry-lime would be good. (fb)
Strawberries and cream tarts
Another favorite! So simple, but so flavorful. I liked the coconut cream, but prefer these with the rad whip. It's surprising how good it is, because it's basically just strawberries! The baked flavor is delicious. Shortbread crust is great in these, but just slightly tedious to press into mini pans. The cream here is pretty coconutty, and the whip is more balanced. I baked for 30, because my crust didn't look golden. Loved them. (AC)
YES. The strawberry layer solidified well, the crust was great, and the sweet coconut cream was great here. Coconut just goes great with the tartness of strawberries. Nice little fancy thing that isn't too too hard to make. (fb)
I made this again, but did 1 big 9-10" tart and used the chocolate shortbread. I also used orange juice instead of lemon. It could have used a tiny bit more juice, but was great. (AC)
Ginger peach pandowdy
Plummy pandowdy
Blueberry lemon corn biscuit cobbler
Very berry chocolate chip cobbler
Delicious! Totally exceeded my expectations. I figured it would be good, but I love the berries and the chocolate. We both really loved it. I really missed the vanilla ice cream that we didn't have. Juicy, but not too much for a cobbler. I was afraid the biscuits wouldn't be totally done, but they were nice and firm, with a little crisp, and not soggy on bottom. The chocolate is excellent! I had to add another splash of milk to get my biscuit dough to come together, and wasn't really able to "fold" my chips in..but it didn't matter. I just scooped them up with the plops of dough. My berries were blue, rasp, strawb, and black..all frozen. (AC)
Summer fruit buckle cake
Delicious! It really is just the perfect little snack/brunch/coffee/tea type cake. The hint of almond (not too strong) with the bits of fruit. Texture is great. It's slightly gummy (not really gummy...) right under the fruit, but that's not a negative. It has a crisp top, and the cake was fluffy. I did the apricots, and also added just a couple strawberries in the middle. I didn't need 10 apricots (maybe sliced 1/2 that, and didn't even use all those). My bag was 2 pounds, and I didn't use 1/2 the bag. I even put my slices pretty close together and all the way around the cake. It tested done right at 45 min., and I think it was perfect. No issues with any sticking or anything. (AC)
Blueberies
Cherries and berries
Peach melba
Manhattan mud pie
My parents thought this was really good. They said it tasted like a rich brownie and would be good with ice cream. I think I baked it too long because it did not have a sauce like the recipe said it would. It is still good though and was easier then I thought it would be. The only changes I made was using coffee for the coffee liquor and almond milk for the chocolate liquor. (monkey7)
Manhattan mud pie
None of it leaked out of your pan, or anything?
Manhattan mud pie
None of it leaked out of your pan, or anything?
No, I thought it was suppose to but it was not very gooey on top.
Banana cookie cream pudding - Holy crap! This pie is DELICIOUS! It tastes just like my absolute favorite dessert growing up, banana pudding with nila wafers. I found vegan vanilla cookies by Back to Nature at Berkeley Bowl and ended up using almost the whole box in the recipe. I also made a chocolate cookie pie shell to serve it in and the banana-chocolate-vanilla combo was killer. Gonna try it with the strawberry variation soon! In conclusion: I LOVE THIS RECIPE MORE THAN I LOVE MOST PEOPLE. (WML)
Ok I had such high hopes for the Maple Pecan Pie and the Pumpkin Pie. The pumpkin pie was ok texture wise but, the spices and sweetness were off. The Pecan Pie to me was just gross. The taste, texture, and color were off to me and I threw it away.
Banana cookie cream pudding - Holy crap! This pie is DELICIOUS! It tastes just like my absolute favorite dessert growing up, banana pudding with nila wafers. I found vegan vanilla cookies by Back to Nature at Berkeley Bowl and ended up using almost the whole box in the recipe. I also made a chocolate cookie pie shell to serve it in and the banana-chocolate-vanilla combo was killer. Gonna try it with the strawberry variation soon! In conclusion: I LOVE THIS RECIPE MORE THAN I LOVE MOST PEOPLE. (WML)
Yessssssssss!! I just got my copy from the library, and that is the first one I wanted to make!!! So glad to hear it came out well, WML!
Pumpkin cheesecake
This turned out nicely, but I didn't really think it was *all that* cheesecake-y. The texture was creamy and definitely got more stable overnight, but when I served it after about 5 hours in the fridge, it sliced more like regular pumpkin pie. I couldn't find vegan graham crackers, so I used gingersnaps, which made for a delicious crust! I thought it tasted/smelled overly banana-y, but no one else shared that opinion. After re-reading the recipe, I noticed that it calls for HALF of a banana. I used the whole thing. Oh well. I also omitted the orange zest and upped the ginger a bit. The topping was delicious! The vegans and omnis all loved this pie. It may be my new go-to pumpkin pie recipe.
Don't try to make the chai spiced rice pudding pie with brown rice.
Don't try to make the chai spiced rice pudding pie with brown rice.
I think I tried to make rice pudding with brown rice once, and it was disgusting!
lol I agree I've done it before and doesn't work
just gonna +1 that brown rice pudding ain't right
Don't try to make the chai spiced rice pudding pie with brown rice.
Why not? I tested for this book and I've made this recipe with brown rice and thought it was just fine. Of course, I don't eat white rice, so that might be it.
Don't try to make the chai spiced rice pudding pie with brown rice.
Why not? I tested for this book and I've made this recipe with brown rice and thought it was just fine. Of course, I don't eat white rice, so that might be it.
I don't keep white rice in the house, so I tried to make the pudding part with brown rice and it never completely cooked. Increased the cooking time to over an hour and it just never completely cooked. The flavor was great. The texture was gritty like half-cooked rice. Sad :(
I made the pear frangipane tart for Thanksgiving and it was AWESOME! I used the press in almond crust and that was the star! The tart itself was easy to make and was creamy goodness. I only needed two pears to make a pretty top.
I also made the Voluptuous Pumpkin Pie and loved it too. For me, the spices were a bit strong (but I think that probably varies based on the freshness and quality of the spices in the jar) but the texture was perfect. My entire dinnerwas vegan -- and everyone was commenting the whole meal on how good everything was (in the surprised omnivore tone that we all know:-)). But when I served the pumpkin pie, everyone said, "well, this tastes just like pumpkin pie." I took it as a big compliment!
I'm glad the pumpkin pie is working for others! I love that pear tart and crust.
Chocolate peanut butter tartlets
I made 1 big pie instead of tartlets. It was really good. The only thing I changed was mixing the crust into the filling. The crust was not baked long enough and it just crumbled into the filling. It adds a nice crunch to the pie though. It can be compared to a peanut butter cup but larger.
Appleberry pie
http://i42.tinypic.com/atklyo.jpg
This is delicious. I used the olive oil crust recipe, and the dough smelt really vinegary before baking so I was a little worried about it, but it ended up being my favorite part of the pie. I read AC's review beforehand and since she said it was very liquidy, I added an extra T or two of cornstarch to the filling. I don't think this was necessary as mine was not very liquidy and the cornstarch seemed like too much.. next time I'll just stick to the recipe. But overall, this pie is very good. I used 3 medium granny smith apples and two cups of fresh black berries. I also used half WW pastry flour for the crust, and it came out wonderful!
http://i44.tinypic.com/c1c7l.jpg
Graham cracker crust
Chocolate cookie crust variation
I used Late July brand chocolate sandwich cookies, which are kind of dry, but worked well here. I was just shy of all the crumbs I needed, so I used about a 1/2 cup ground almonds, and this was fantastic! I also tried the canola oil option, and I thought this was too greasy--I think I'll stick to EB or even the coconut oil in the future.
Chocolate galaxy banana cheesecake
Banana kahlua
This was incredible! So rich and creamy. I used a chocolate cookie crust, and it was just over the top outrageously delicious.
AC, I think I remember reviewing the Cafe Mocha Cheesecake and Rad whip. Did my post disappear or is my memory failing me?
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