Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Ground Cherry Custard Pie with Crumbly Topping

Yum! We had a bunch of pineapple tomatillos (also called ground cherries, because they are sweet and non-tomatatillo-ey), and didn't know what to do with them. I just received Vegan Yum Yum (the cookbook by Lauren Ulm) as a present. In it, she has a recipe for a berry tart. Her cream/berries are uncooked, but I figured, really these little guys need cooking, they are too firm uncooked. I wasn't sure how the tofu/coconut milk based cream would come out baked, but it turned out very much like an egg custard. First I made a pie crust and pre-baked for 10 mins (please use a pie crust edge cover, I didn't and mine burned as a result), then I added the blended up silken tofu/coconut milk cream concoction (full recipe in Vegan YumYum) to which I added about 8-10 basil leaves. I then added the peeled pineapple tomatillos (ground cherries) and mixed them around (probably should have mixed those together in advance). For the crumbly topping, I pastry-cuttered together about 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 6 TBS margarine, 8 finely minced basil leaves, and 1/2 tsp salt, and a wee bit of soymilk till it was moist looking but not wet. That made extra though, so I had about 1/4 cup leftover. The basil was in there to compliment the pineapple flavor of the tomatillos. I baked for maybe 40 mins? Just till the center started puffing up. It rocked, except the crust edges which I burned. I think I'll make flan using the cream recipe for the cream tarts in Vegan yum yum, I think it might work well. I really have a problem making a decent pie crust without the use of shortening. Yet I don't stock shortening because I hardly ever make a pie crust. Also I always try to add a little ww pastry flour to my crusts, and my crusts end up a bit tough. Not sure if that's why, or I overmix and activate the gluten. Future research will be helpful. I can't post the recipe because its in the cookbook so I figure there is likely some type of copyright protection there. Sorry folks! At least my postings about the cookbook might help you deicide to purchase it or not.