Wednesday was a pretty good day for me and An Unrefined Vegan. After a long absence, I recently re-created my BlogHer account, updated my profile and photo, and added a few posts – a recipe and a couple of short, non-recipe posts that I’d previously published here on my blog. So I was delighted when I was contacted by BlogHer to let me know they’d featured my article, We Have A Beehive. We Just Don’t Use It for Honey (originally titled Honey is For Bees) in their Work/Life section. It almost makes me feel like a bonafide writer!
But even more exciting (for me, anyway!) was being interviewed by Ms. Laura Theodore – a.k.a. The Jazzy Vegetarian – on her BlogTalkRadio show of the same name. Laura is the consummate hostess and despite the swarm of butterflies in my stomach, she put me at ease as we chatted on the phone to record the interview. We talked about food photography, the Virtual Vegan Potluck, my terminal illness primer, and my upcoming cookbook (she’s contributing a luscious truffle recipe!) and I shared a super-simple pasta dish that utilizes the abundance of garden-fresh tomatoes, zucchini, and basil. Thank you so much, Laura, and BIG congratulations to her on signing on for her 4th season of her PBS show and for her upcoming cookbook.
A fun aside: When I was doing a little research for my review of Laura’s Jazzy Vegetarian Classics, I was amazed and thrilled to learn that she is a Cleveland girl like myself. I later learned that we grew up only a few streets apart in the same part of Cleveland and she has family connections to the suburban town to which my family eventually moved. I knew there was a reason I immediately liked her!
You can listen to the show here or click here:
Today I’m still floating around on a cloud, but I’m not too out of it to share a very easy, summery, and yummy pie recipe that is a great excuse to pick up a basket of beautiful apricots.
Vegan Roasted Apricot Custard Pie
- Prep Time: 20
- Total Time: 200
Description
Roasting sweet apricots adds complexity to their flavor and brings out their juiciness. Stirred into cool, creamy custard, they make for the quintessential summer pie.
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pre-baked gluten-free, whole wheat pie crust, or raw crust
- 4 fresh apricots, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup raw cashew pieces, soaked for an hour or so, rinsed and drained
- 4 medjool dates, soaked with the cashews, roughly chopped
- 1 1/4 cups coconut milk
- 1 Tbsp. arrowroot powder
- 1 tsp. agar powder
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425-degrees. Put the apricot chunks in a baking dish and toss with the maple syrup and cinnamon. Bake, stirring once or twice, for about 15 minutes. The apricots should be soft and just starting to brown. Set aside to cool.
- Once cool, put the apricots in the prepared pie crust. Set aside.
- In a high-speed blender, process the cashews, dates, coconut milk, arrowroot powder and agar powder until very smooth. You don’t want any cashew or dates pieces left. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan and whisk constantly over medium heat for about 5 minutes. The mixture will thicken and turn glossy. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the custard over the apricots in the pie crust, smoothing so that it reaches the edges of the pie. Tap on the counter a few times to remove bubbles, then place the pie in the refrigerator to set – about 3 hours.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 289
- Sugar: 12
- Sodium: 129
- Fat: 19
- Saturated Fat: 9
- Unsaturated Fat: 9
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 27
- Protein: 4
- Cholesterol: 0
Yum, that looks beautiful! Do you think I could use normal soy milk instead of coconut milk, or is it because it’s a bit thicker?
Soy milk should work just fine!
This looks so amazing! Have to get in all the apricots we can before summer’s over!
Absolutely! Sadly, my local market didn’t have the last time I went – – hoping that doesn’t mark the season’s end!
This looks really tasty. Looking forward to the time when apricots and the likes come our way. Congrats on the Blog Her success. Keep shining Annie!
Thank you, my dear!
I’m loving this pie. I am a pie-o-holic as you know but this one really hits my taste spot! I love the fruit creamy combo. And I like how you used a baked crust to contrast the creaminess of the filling, very tasty!
What a cool interview my friend. Very JAZZY! The Potluck Rocks……and it’s just around the corner again eh? Well, that gives you something to do with all you time this fall right? Congrats and well deserved ♥♥
Thanks, girl <3! It was scary, but mostly fun.
I know!! Need to start planning for the Potluck!! Yippee!
EEEP so exciting about your BlogHer news!! Way to go. Please don’t hate me for still using raw and local honey in my diet. It’s just a fantastic super food! Anyway…this pie is gorgeous, absolutely GORGEOUS. Also, so fun about your interview. I listened to about 5 minutes of it (because I wanted to see what your voice sounded like, total creep move.) and it was so fun!
How could I hate you?! Never! I’m all about the freedom and personal choice :-).
Ugh – – my voice sounds TERRIBLE! I’m afraid my northeast Ohio roots show…
Congrats on the interview Annie, how exciting! And the pie looks so beautiful and so summery!
Thank you, Brandi! xo
Congrats my friend, you definitely deserve it 😀
Love your wonderful custard pie as well, great way to celebrate!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks, sweetie!
I made it & loved it too, sweet Anne! It was like heaven on my tongue! xx
You are the best, Sophie!
xxx My pleasure! x
OMG that pie looks amazing!!! Gorgeous photos! Congrats on the interview and the article- I’m headed over to BlogHer to read it! 🙂
Thanks, Alex 🙂
Playing catchup on blog posts!! Congrats on the interview Annie! The pie looks so perfect for summer too…which is ending too quickly, I might add!
Great news! And such a dreamy pie recipe too. I love apricots and they look wonderful in this dessert 🙂
Gosh you have been super busy Annie! What fun, I’m looking forward to listening to the interview. And that tart……
Do you know the calories?
Hi Tim – no, I’m sorry, I don’t. I tend not to keep track of calories and instead “save” treats like these for the weekends :-).
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maybe I’m late, but I’m just now listening to your interview with the Jazzy Vegetarian…. she’s a hoot, haha! love your story…
Laura is great – she has such style! Coincidentally, I’m going to be back on her show TODAY :-)!
Oh this is just sheer perfection! My mum always used to make me apricot and custard tarts, and it’s so lovely to see you have made an amazing vegan version; I can’t wait to try it! And congratulations on being featured on BlogHer; that is fabulous news, and very well deserved!