Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Pie

It’s Pi(e) Day, so I’m sharing this chocolate peanut butter mousse pie from Minimalist Baker. It was a big hit! We all love those flavors, and the fact that it’s dairy-free and not overly sweet is just a bonus.

For the crust, I started out with 5 tablespoons of melted vegan butter, but I felt like the graham cracker crumbs weren’t sticking together enough, so I added 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil. In the end, since the pie is kept in the fridge, the crust ended up being a bit too hard for my liking, so next time I would either stick to the amounts in the recipe and hope it doesn’t crumble, or I’d use only vegan butter instead of any coconut oil. As for the coconut cream, I could swear I’ve seen it before in smaller cans (which would be more convenient because it would avoid leftovers), but I couldn’t find any in stores this time. For the record, I got a total of about 1 ½ cups of coconut cream from the top of 1 ½ cans (I froze the rest, we’ll see if I can use it for something else – I should have made coconut whipped cream with it to top the pie, but I already had CocoWhip on hand at that point).

To make the date paste, soak 1 cup of pitted dates in warm water for 10 minutes, then drain and process into a paste.

For the crust
7 oz. graham crackers (7 oz. yield ~1 2/3 cups crumbs)
¼ tsp. sea salt
5 Tbsp. vegan butter, melted (see note above)

For the filling
1 ½ 14-oz. cans coconut cream (chilled overnight or for at least 6 hours)
½ cup date paste
1 cup dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup salted natural peanut butter (creamy or crunchy both work)

For the toppings (optional)
coconut whipped cream or CocoWhip
crushed salted roasted peanuts
dairy-free dark chocolate shavings

Preheat oven to 350 °F and place a large mixing bowl in the freezer to chill.

In a separate small mixing bowl, melt chocolate chips over a double boiler or in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.

For the crust, add graham crackers to a food processor (or a bag and use a rolling pin to crush) and mix into a fine meal. Add salt and melted butter and pulse to combine.

Press firmly into a standard 9 or 9.5 inch pie dish and use your fingers to press it up the sides. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until fragrant and lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

To prepare the filling, scoop out chilled coconut cream, leaving behind any liquid in the bottom of the can, and place in your pre-chilled large mixing bowl. Use a mixer to beat until creamy.

Next, add date paste and mix again. Add slightly cooled melted chocolate and mix once more to combine. Lastly, add peanut butter and mix again.

Transfer filling to cooled crust and loosely cover with plastic wrap to set in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours, ideally overnight.

To serve, slice and gently plate. Top with coconut whipped cream, additional peanut butter, crushed roasted peanuts and/or dairy-free chocolate shavings (optional).