Bittersweet Chocolate Silken Pie
The only tedious aspect of making this pie is extracting every last delicious blob from the bottom of the blender because you don’t want to waste it. Bittersweet chocolate, not semisweet or milk chocolate, is used to minimize sugar grams (the darker the chocolate, the less sugar it contains). Added sweeteners include a mere 3 tablespoons of maple syrup in the filling and only 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar in the crust.
Makes 8 pieces Piecrust:
1 1⁄2 cups unbleached flour (whole-wheat flour can be substituted for about 1⁄4 cup)
1⁄2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick) cold butter, cut into small chunks
1⁄ cup coconut oil or solid 4 vegetable shortening
1⁄4 cup cold water (about)
Filling:
12 ounces silken tofu
8 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons maple syrup 1 tablespoon milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1⁄2 teaspoon coffee extract 1⁄8 teaspoon salt Make crust: Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large bowl, lightly mix flour, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and coconut oil until dough resembles coarse sand. Pour in cold water and mix with hands, then form into a disc. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and place into 8-inch pie plate. Prick bottom and side of crust with a fork.
Bake in preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool.
Make filling: Process all ingredients in a blender until completely smooth. Pour into cooled, baked piecrust. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.