Creamy Black Forest Pie – GF,CF,EF,Vegan

cherryChocPieA creamy, light chocolate mousse and a surprising layer of cherry preserves  in a graham cracker crust make this allergy-friendly pie a showstopper for all!

My friend, Aleesha, challenged me to invent an allergy-friendly pie worthy of Thanksgiving dinner (and I’m just getting around to telling you about it now). I went through several rounds of trying to make a version of a sweet potato/pecan pie. It turns out that, while I love sweet potatoes and pecans, I hate them in pies. I wanted something decadent but not heavy. What I created turned into the perfect light dessert after heavy Thanksgiving meal.

The Genesis of a New Pie

Graham cracker pie crustSo I took Aleesha’s graham cracker recipe, a present to me on my birthday, and made it into a crust. It was her suggestion. Seriously, why make the crackers just to bust them up to make a crust? I just eliminated a step. 🙂

Sliced Black Forest PieI coated the baked crust with melted chocolate with a pastry brush to protect it from getting soggy. Then, I added a layer of cherry preserves for a sweet tangy surprise! Finally, I mounded lots of chocolate coconut whipped cream flecked with grated chocolate for a light yet still satisfying treat.

Hint: I’ve since made chocolate graham crackers by substituting 50 grams of cocoa powder for the gluten-free flour mix. A chocolate crust would be fabulous in this recipe!

I can report the pie was a great success! These pictures of the sliced pie and the pie slice from the actual Thanksgiving pie are from my cellphone because I forgot my digital camera. Sadly, I think my cellphone takes better pix and my digital camera!

5.0 from 2 reviews
Cherry Chocolate Pie - GF,CF,EF,Vegan
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A creamy, light chocolate mousse and a surprising layer of cherry preserves in a graham cracker crust make this allergy-friendly pie a showstopper for all!
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • ¾ cup (170g) butter or coconut oil
  • ¼ cup (115g) honey
  • 1 cup (200g) coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp orange extract (optional)
  • 1½ cups (210g) brown rice flour
  • 1½ cups (336g) gluten-free flour blend (I use my version of the America's Test Kitchen blend)
  • 2 tbps tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp psyllium husk powder
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp gluten-free, corn-free baking powder
  • ½ to ¾ cup water
  • 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, grated
  • 1 cup cherry preserves
  • 2 batches of chocolate whipped cream
Instructions
  1. For the crust: Preheat oven to 325°
  2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, sugar, orange extract, and vanilla.
  3. In another bowl, whisk together the flours, psyllium husk powder, sea salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Mix with the creamed mixture and add only enough water to form the dough into a ball. Refrigerate the dough for one hour, minimum.
  4. Roll the dough out to ⅛" thick. Transfer to a greased glass 9" pie pan. If the dough tears, you can just piece it back together. Prick the unbaked crust. Bake for 25 minutes. Watch the edges and cover with foil if the rim starts getting brown too fast. Let the crust cool completely before moving to the next step.
  5. Melt one ounce of unsweetened chocolate and brush over the cooled crust.
  6. Spread the cherry preserves evenly over the bottom of the crust. You can used store bought or home-made. Use whatever you got!
  7. Make the chocolate coconut milk whip cream according to the recipe from the cream puff recipe, then stir in one ounce of grated chocolate.
  8. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Whipped cream topping on this pie would be superfluous, but do what you gotta do!
Notes
Bonus! There will be leftover dough for making actually graham crackers. Roll the remaining dough out to ⅛", cut into squares, and prick with a fork. Bake for 30 minutes.

This is a great recipe to make in stages. You can make the dough ahead, the crust ahead, and the chocolate whipped cream ahead. Everything can be assembled on the day you serve!

 

Tip: I finally found a use for the watery leftover liquid after you find in the coconut milk can after removing the solid mass for whipped cream. I make chia pudding! It’s a great way to get the protein and fiber of chia seeds. I don’t really have a recipe or even measure for this. There are many recipes online, if you need one. I just add chia seeds, any sweetener I have on hand and flavoring, usually cocoa powder. Stir into the leftover coconut liquid and let thicken in the refrigerator. It makes a great mid-day snack the next day. 🙂

I shared this recipe with Allergy free Wednesday, WNWNW, WFMW, Recipe Roundup, Full PlateMostly Homemade, Hearth & Soul, Fat Tuesday, Made by You, Inspire Me Tuesday, What’d You Do This Weekend, Marvelous Monday, Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Mad Skills, Try A New Recipe, Mouthwatering Mondays, Simple SupperTurn It UpHappiness is Homemade, Round Tuit, WeeklyMeal Plan, Clever Chicks, Munching Monday, Sew Darn Crafty, Mix It Up, Frugal Crafty Home, What to Do, Much Ado About MondaySee Ya in Gumbo and Creative Mondays.
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