Vegan Triple Layer Thanksgiving Pie

I am thankful for so much: wonderful Robert (boyfriend), energetic Bruce (puppy), and my awesome family at the top of the list. A great job, a hobby that de-stresses and keeps me fed, and friends around the globe. And let's not forget the little things: all the Christmas shopping is done, I have a day off, and I have a winning new recipe! Here's a pic of the Thanksgiving plate:

That's maple glazed baked tofu, vegan cornbread stuffing, vegan mashed potatoes and gravy, vegan green bean casserole, and vegan cranberry sauce. You know I am going to make this recipe with the leftover cranberry sauce!

But the pièce de résistance was without a doubt my triple later Thanksgiving pie!

Cheesecake

Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Three layers of goodness. In one pie.

Warning, it's not your usual quick and easy recipe that you'll find here, but your hard work and patience will be rewarded!

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 cu graham cracker crumbs (I made mine by putting 10 graham crackers in the food processor)
1 T vegan butter (or oil)
2 T cold water

Cheesecake layer:
1 cup soaked cashews (soak in water for 4 hours)

4 oz. firm tofu (you will need a 1 lb package total for this recipe - 4 oz for the cheese cake and the remaining 12 for the pumpkin pie)
8 oz. vegan cream cheese
2/3 cu maple syrup
1 t lemon juice
1 t vanilla extract

Pumpkin Pie Layer:
12 oz firm tofu

1 - 15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 T pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cu oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cu brown sugar
1 1/2 t molasses

Chocolate Pecan Pie Layer:
2 T ground flax seed
6 T water
1/3 cu melted vegan butter
2/3 cu brown sugar
1/3 cu whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cu pecan pieces, toasted in 350 oven for 10 min
 cu semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons bourbon

Let's do it!
Step one: Preheat oven to 350° F. Make a simple pie crust by combining 1 cu graham cracker crumbs with 2 T vegan butter (or oil) and 2 T cold water. Press into a spring form pan (cheesecake pan) and prick with a fork. Blind bake for 8 minutes.

Step Two: Make the cheesecake layer by blending ingredients in a food processor. You'll have to blend awhile until the cashews are nice and creamy. Top pie crust with cheesecake layer and put in freezer for about 15 minutes while you make the next layer.

Step Three: Blend pumpkin pie ingredients in food processor and add to cheesecake layer. It should be cold enough to keep from separating the layers. Replace in freezer for another 15 minutes while you make the next layer.

Step Four: Make the pecan pie layer. This pie is good enough to serve on its own - it's delicious! Whisk the water and ground flax and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir in other ingredients and add to pie to make top layer. Bake at 350 for 1 hour to 1.5 hours. Test with a toothpick. Pie will still be a little jiggly, but noticeably firmer than when you put it in. Let cool on counter top and then refrigerate overnight. Warm every so slightly in microwave before serving!
Enjoy!

Credit where it's due. My sister, Kimberly gave me the idea when she made a non-vegan version for her boyfriend's birthday!

And I used these recipes as inspiration for this masterpiece:

Cheesecake - Hungry Hungry Hippie
Pumpkin Pie - Vegetarian.com
Chocolate Pecan Pie - Your Vegan Mom

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Seriously. You wouldn't know unless I told you!

Fall is in the air! Some of my favorite foods are associated with this weather. One of Robert's favorites is Pumpkin Pie. Now, I'm not going to tell you that by veganizing this pie it becomes healthy; rest assured, it's still loaded with fat and sugar! And taste!

NOTE: You could certainly take a lot of time and effort out of this pie by using store bought crust and canned pumpkin, and I'm not going to tell you not to. But from scratch cooking is my thing, and at 99 cents for a pie pumpkin, it certainly was less expensive to do so. 

Step One:Assemble your Ingredients

For the crust, you will need:

1 cup whole wheat flour (you can go with the regular stuff if you like, but the whole wheat adds a nuttiness to the pie that I am fond of)

1/3 cup vegetable shortening (see? unhealthy!)

1/2 t salt

2 - 3 T ice water

For the pie, you will need:

1 medium pie pumpkin (or 1-16 oz can of pumpkin)

1 - 16 oz package of silken tofu

1 cu brown sugar

1/2 t salt

1 T pumpkin pie seasoning (Robert brought this home for me, otherwise, I would've used cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, in whatever increments you like!)

 Step Two:Roast your Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Quarter your pie pumpkin and remove seeds. (I doubled this recipe to freeze half of the pumpkin puree for Thanksgiving!) Save those seeds for roasting! (Sort and wash seeds. Mix with 2 T olive oil and roast at 375 for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Delish!)

Place your pumpkin cut side down on a lined baking sheet and bake for 1 hour.

When cooled, remove skins and puree in food processor. While this is roasting, you may want to move on to step three.

Step Three:Make your Crust

In a food processor, add whole wheat flour, salt, and shortening. Pulse until the mixture forms pea sized balls:

Turn on processor and slowly add ice water until mixture just comes together. Form into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. 

Store in fridge for 30 minutes. Place a metal baking sheet in the freezer. In the meantime, you can skip to step four and press your tofu.

Once your 30 minutes are up, place your chilled disc into a gallon sized zip lock back. Use scissors to open the bag all around so you have the dough between two separate sheets., as shown.

 Roll out with rolling pin until it is just bigger than the bag, like this:

 Take the baking sheet out of the freezer and place it on top of the flattened crust. This will help to absorb any heat you gave it while rolling and make for easier transfer. Flip the crust over (still on the baking sheet) and peel off the bottom layer of plastic. Take your pie tin (that you sprayed with non-stick spray, right?) and place it face down on the crust. Flip this contraption over and remove the baking sheet and the final layer of plastic. While you don't have to, I'd recommend that you blind bake your pie crust for at 350° F20 minutes. So, it goes from looking like this:

To this:

Make sure you poke it with a fork and anchor it with something (I used dry black eyed peas) to keep it from bubbling.

Step Four:Press your tofu

Silken tofu is perfect for this recipe, but if you don't press it, you won't get a firm pumpkin pie. Pressing is easy. Just remove tofu from package:

And build a contraption like this:

Press for 15 minutes. Time to:

Step Five:Assemble Your Pie!

In a food processor, combine pumpkin puree, pressed tofu, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar. Puree until smooth and pour into prepared pie crust. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes at 350° F until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and it goes from looking like this:

To this:

Robert ate a quarter of this pie last night! I supposed for all of the unhealthy comments, you can at least feel good about getting your veggies, whole wheat, and protein from tofu! :) Enjoy!