But tonight's an off night - the World Series doesn't start until tomorrow - so I'll sneak in some writing before I'm MIA until the whole baseball shebang is said and done.
So back to a week ago, a Sunday spent puttering in the kitchen. I mentioned that my oven and stove top were going nonstop all day, but guess what I didn't do? Bake. (If you know me and this blog, that's no surprise.) Despite not baking, guess what I DID make? A pie!
A pie? Me? What is this - a midlife crisis? (Well yes, but the pie doesn't have anything to do with my turning-40 mind games.... that's a different post for a different blog!). But no - I haven't suddenly gained a sweet tooth and hankering for pastries (even though if I had to choose my poison, pie would be it - it's in the Angell family DNA to require pie at regular intervals, right dad?). I just was curious to try out a no-bake coconut cream pie recipe I saw on some TV show or another, the reason being that the filling was made from tofu.
Tofu pie filling? A semblance of a healthy treat? An almost guilt-free indulgence? I had to give it a whirl. Apparently I'm completely behind the times about tofu pies - turns out hippies, vegetarians and raw foodists have holding out on me. I blame my mom - there was not a lot of tofu experiments at our house growing up. (Now watch - she'll comment that of course she made us tofu pies as kids - she just was clever enough not to tell us! I wouldn't put it past her.) At any rate, unbeknownst to me, when you give a block of firm tofu a whirl in your food processor, it takes on a smooth, creamy consistency ready to take on the flavors of whatever you'd like to add to it. In this case, it was coconut, but I see experiments in my future with berries, citrus, or even savory ingredients. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities in my head.
The other reason I love this recipe? It only requires eyeballed measurements. I made the entire pie without busting out a single measuring implement - ahh. So, there's only some general instructions included below on how to make the pie - you just have to taste as you go along and adjust the ingredients to your liking. That's my kind of non-baking!
So, I whipped up this pie in literally a matter of minutes, and helped myself to a sliver. Success! It really does work, and it really is good. But it still was a pie - in my house (ack!) - so I had to say goodbye. I took my lovely pie to work on Monday morning, placed it in the coffee room for all to enjoy, and it was gone within minutes. Tofu? No one had a clue.
And on that note - GO GIANTS!
No-Bake Tofu Coconut Cream Pie
For the crust:
- 1 package of graham crackers (I don't know how many crackers constitute a package, but each and every brand of graham crackers packages its crackers in the same fashion - it's just one of those wax-paper wrapped packages in the box - all of them)
- 1/2 a cube of butter (I think that's about 2-3 tablespoons), melted
Note: the even easier option is to use a pre-made graham cracker crust. I won't tell.
For the filling:
- 1 1-pound block of firm or extra firm tofu (I used Lite extra firm)
- 1/2 cup +/- of coconut milk (I used light coconut milk and it was fine)
- 1/2 cup +/- sugar
- 1 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 package of shredded coconut (I used unsweetened) - approximately 4 cups. Toast 1 cup for sprinkling on top of the pie.
No comments:
Post a Comment