A Pie By Any Other Name Tastes Just As Sweet

So here’s the deal. In Kentucky, my official homestate, there’s a Derby. A horse race. A gathering of people in large hats holding mint juleps. This all goes down at Churchill Downs in Louisville. There are several recipes originating from Kentucky, including the Kentucky Hot Brown, Burgoo, and Kentucky Bourbon Balls. None of these recipes hold a candle (at least in my mind) to the gooey, rich, sticky mess that is Derby Pie.

BUT WAIT!

I am not allowed to call this recipe Derby Pie. No one is. No one except for the sweet people at Kern’s Kitchen in Louisville. These clever folks managed to PATENT the recipe originating at the Melrose Inn of Prospect, Kentucky. They have a pie, yes a PIE, registered with the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It’s really kind of incredible. So thanks to the creators of this pie, I bring you a veganized version of:

Chocolate Pecan Bourbon Pie

Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 batch of Pate Brisee or your favorite pie crust

2 C chopped pecans

1 1/2 C vegan chocolate chip

1/4 C soy milk

2 eggs worth of egg replacer (I just used corn starch since I was away from home and my kitchen full o’ goodies)

1/4 C bourbon

3/4 C maple syrup

1/2 t salt

Directions

• Prepare your pie crust and let cool for several hours.
• Preheat your oven for 350 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together soymilk and egg replacer.
• Throw into the soymilk mixture the bourbon, syrup, and salt, and mix thoroughly.
• Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts and pour into your pie crust.
• Bake until pie sets. It should take 40-45 minutes.

I am used to traditional recipe for this pie, and damned if this wasn’t as good or better than that! I might be cruisin’ for a bruisin’ with that statement, but California is a long flight from Kentucky and I doubt anyone is going to hop on a plane to come ‘git’ me. I did learn some valuable information from making this pie:

• I don’t need eggs
• I don’t need butter
• I don’t need sugar
• I don’t need milk
• … to put myself into a sweet pie induced coma.

Luckily I got to serve this thang to a bunch of vegans in Olympia at a wonderful potluck hosted by the generous Jayne. I had a really rough couple of weeks, work-wise, and was invited to spend some chill time at my parents home in Washington – so I flew up for a long weekend. I had the pleasure of forcing my way into a PPK Potluck while there! I have come to the broad generalization that vegans are great people. Period. Everyone brought food that was SO GOOD and I somehow managed to sample almost everything, as is made obvious by this red handed moment:

Cake! Donuts! Twix! Peanut butter chocolate chip bars! Tofu scramble! Mac n cheeze! Shortly after this picture was taken, I developed a massive headache from indulgance – so worth it. Apparently, I missed out on a Scrabble game by leaving early which means the day was not AS awesome as it could have possibly been, but it was up there. Meeting everyone was great – it’s good to know other West Coast-y vegans are out there.

I’ve got a stockpile of photos and recipes I need to post so expect to be bombarded in the coming week.