• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

3. In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs, unbleached cane sugar, and vegan margarine. Depending on the recipe, firmly press crumbs on the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.

4. Bake 9-inch piecrust for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely before filling.

DOUGH-NOT

If you’re using the springform pan version for cheesecake, prebake crust in 350°F oven for 5 minutes.

Graham Cracker Crust

This traditional crust made with homemade Sweet Graham Crackers or store-bought cookies is an excellent crust for Strawberry Cheesecake.

Yield:

1 (9-inch) cookie crust or

1 (9-inch) cheesecake crust

Prep time:

20 to 30 minutes

Bake time:

10 to 12 minutes

1½ cups finely ground Sweet

Graham Cracker crumbs (recipe

in Chapter 9) or store-bought

crackers

¼ cup unbleached cane sugar

¼ cup nonhydrogenated vegan

margarine, melted

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon or nut-

meg (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch pie pan or a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable spray, or follow directions for your favorite pie that calls for a 9-inch graham cracker crust.

2. In a medium bowl, combine Sweet Graham Cracker crumbs, unbleached cane sugar, vegan margarine, and ground cinnamon (if using). Depending on the recipe, firmly press crumbs on the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.

3. Bake 9-inch piecrust for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely before filling. If using for cheesecake recipes, using the springform pan, prebake crust in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes.

BAKER’S BONUS

Don’t have a food processor? Place the cookies in a doubled plastic bag and roll over them with a rolling pin until they’re finely ground.

Chocolate Cookie Crust

This delightful chocolaty crust, made with vegan chocolate sandwich or wafer cookies, can be used for Chocolate Cheesecake or piled high with Chocolate Mousse Filling. Chocoholics rejoice!

Yield:

1 (9-inch) cookie crust or

1 (9-inch) cheesecake crust

Prep time:

20 to 30 minutes

Bake time:

10 to 12 minutes

1½ cups finely ground chocolate

cookie crumbs

2 TB. unbleached cane sugar

¼ cup nonhydrogenated vegan margarine, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9-inch pie pan or a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable spray, or follow directions for your favorite pie that calls for a 9-inch chocolate cookie crust.

2. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate cookie crumbs, unbleached cane sugar, and vegan margarine. Depending on the recipe, firmly press crumbs on the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.

3. Bake 9-inch piecrust for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely before filling. If using for cheesecake recipes, using the springform pan, prebake crust in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes.

DOUGH-NOT

If you’re using vegan cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, remove the cream filling first. Use only the chocolate wafers for this recipe.

Chapter 14

Favorite Fruit and Nutty Pies

In This Chapter

• Pies, pies, and more pies

• Fresh fruit pies

• Fantastic nut pies

Apple pie—the most beloved of all pies—is an indulgence that just can’t be beat. After all, it’s “as American as apple pie”! Our love affair with pie goes way back to the dark ages, when man (or woman) wrapped a piece of crude dough around a hunk of meat, cooked it, ate it, and called it good. Pie has come a long way since then, eventually evolving into glorious pastries, tarts, and turnovers.

Our grandmothers, and their grandmothers before them, baked everything they could think of into pastry dough. In the best of times, they made apple pie, and when money was tight, they made Ritz mock apple pie with Ritz Crackers in a crust made with lard. Yuck! They made meat pies, pot pies, fruit pies, nut pies, and cream pies, and they lovingly made them by hand for their families. If you’re lucky, maybe you even have some of their favorite pie recipes, passed down on small scraps of paper, or in dog-eared journals that were