Vegan Dirt Pie: help!
Has anyone ever made vegan dirt pie? every recipe i've found is basically this:
1 large bag oreo cookies
1 c. 10x sugar
1/2 stick softened butter
1 (8 oz.) pkg. softened cream cheese
2 boxes instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 c. milk
1 (12 oz.) container cool whip
Chop Oreo cookies in food processor until cookies look like dirt.
Mix butter, cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
Blend pudding, milk and Cool Whip together.
Combine pudding and cream cheese mixture together until lumps are smooth.
n 9 X 13 pan, layer cookie mixture then pudding mixture, leaving enough cookie mixture for the top. Decorate with gummy worms on top.
My two areas of concern are the pudding and cool whip. if i just left the cool whip out, would it make that much of a difference? i don't have much time to put into this and there are no health food stores within an hour of me. i don't really want to try to make a vegan whipped cream unless it's a really simple recipe with only a couple ingredients.
and also, if i use an instant pudding with no gelatin, will it turn out okay using soy milk? i've done that once before a long time ago and i think it turned out kinda of runny and not fluffy.
thank you!
I think you might be able to use veggie gel for the gelatin in the Cool Whip-- agar, you know? Perhaps soy milk (even with an added stabilizer, such as arrowroot or agar) would stiffen up into a decent foam if it were whipped with a stick blender (as skim milk does).
Otherwise, you might use any tasty-looking vegan recipe for creamy topping (they're everywhere--Google "vegan whip" and you'll be amazed) but simply accept that it won't stand up in peaks.
Hip Whip is a commercially available vegan whipped "creme" that has a really good reputation. I haven't tried it, personally.
I've only made instant pudding once with soymilk, and it turned out okay-- but it's easy to make pudding from pureed silken tofu. Or do a cooked pudding from soymilk and cornstarch, and give it time to cool!
Far more difficult, IMO, is the gummi worms. Those suckers are heavily laced with gelatin, which is definitely non-vegan. And if you've found vegan gummi worms, wherewherewhere?!?
:) Sounds like a fun project, and moreover, like one that can put up with a bit of adaptation. Best of luck!
thank you for replying!
i wish i could get some hip whip, but i don't know of anywhere i could get it that isn't an hour away. :( i think i am going to just try a simple tofu based whipped cream and just experiment. with the pudding and the cookies i think it will be delicious no matter what, i think the worst that will happen is the texture will be off. possibly it will taste tofu-y, but i can deal with that.
i've found vegan gummie bears before, and i think the same company makes worms. i got them at either kroger or farmer jack. usually there's a small section where they have a lot of sweets for diabetic people that are sugar-free or have weird sugar substitutes....i think that's where i found them. but even if i can't find gummie worms, i'm not that worried about having them because when you eat dirt cake i think most people pull out the worms and eat em seperate, so it's just an added bonus i can do without for now.
oh nevermind...
i was thinking of these: http://www.edwardandsons.com/let_do_organic.html
and they don't make worms. oh well :(
hmmm... what about some form of smooth, un-grooved licorice whip-- like Red Laces? If they're red, they're wormier looking than gummi worms, too... and although there's lots of food coloring, licorice is generally vegan.
Or maybe another somewhat creepy looking dirt-themed treat?
I'm sure it'll turn out to be a fun, entertaining cake, regardless!
licorice- brilliant! thanks!
is agar hard to find?
It's one of those eccentric items-- sometimes my market carries it (in the Asian foods section) and sometimes they don't. But for what it's worth, I think it'll come together brilliantly without, too.
I know it'd clash violently with the licorice, but I'm betting peanut butter would help give the filling a little structure...