Play It By… Tongue

Trader Joes’ Joe-Joe’s cookies are perfect for balancing the tastebuds after a meal. A quick 2-bite dessert of non-hydrogenated, sweet vanilla bean speckled yum. But as a singleton who delves not into sugar excessiveness, a box can last for ages. My clear-the-cupboard countdown was closely coming to an end (alliteration points: 5), and still the indifferent Toucan begged to be broken down and placed in the recycling bin.

After deciding on making the Joe-Joe’s into a pie crust, I was anxious to beat them to a pulp. And what a more sophisticated tool to do so then the back end of a everyday fork. After the meditative pounding of the cookies, CandyPenny and I each had 1.5 cups of crumb per bowl. Then, each bowl received 3 tablespoons of softened Earth Balance. Upgrade your tool to a spoon and continue to mash to a smooth, spreadable consistency.

And voila! Vegan pie crust. A cushy, buttery and sweet home for whatever innards you so desire. While you’re deciding, throw the crust in the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees so it may begin to get its brown on.

I opted for a layer of thinly sliced banana, ripe mango and some blueberries. Resist the urge to sprinkle sweetener on the fruit. The Joe-Joe’s are sweet enough. Cook the pie for 20 minutes more or so. Keep your eye on the crust as I pulled these numbers out of the sky, between some unknown constellations and the street lamp.

Now comes the playing-it-by-tongue. To create the whip topping for the pie, experiment with blended tofu, sweetener of your choice, vanilla, lemon juice, etc. Taste your creation and learn to connect ingredient measurements to their strength and flavor, by eye and tongue. Sounds simple but this was an obstacle for me not too long ago. I tended to follow the written word too strictly and was impatient with uncontrolled variables. Cooking is the ultimate activity for the control freak!

Spread your whip atop the cooked fruit and put it in the fridge to set. Dig in when you cannot rest knowing such a sweet and delicious concoction sits idly in the refrigerator.