Post Punk Kitchen Forum

The chocolate galaxy banana cheesecake thing was to die for. It's sooooo good.
I'm gonna buy this book as soon as i return this copy to the library.
Might be trying out something peanuty next. :)

Just made the key lime pie which has now been in the fridge for about an hour. Time seems to be moving soooo slowly until I get a taste. :)

I hope it works out alright because when I bought the ingredients I bought only 1 can of coconut milk. The recipe calls for 1 x 16oz can (about 470 grams) but our standard cans in Australia are 400-410 grams.

Fingers crossed.

The Peach Pie was amazing, but slicing peaches is such a pain in the asparagus that I cant imagine ever making it again.

Is there some trick to it?

Make sure you have freestone peaches and boil them for a few seconds before cutting so you can slide the skins off easily.

Peeling was no problem--slicing them without ending up with mush was.

Very disappointed with my first attempt at a vegan pie. After six hours in the fridge it looked on the top as thought it was set however when I cut it it all just ran out onto the plate. The flavour was delicious though.

Except for the coconut milk mentioned above I followed the recipe exactly. Would the coconut milk have made the difference? If not, any thoughts on how I can get it to set better?

your peaches were mushy? (when you sliced, I mean?)
It could be that they were just a touch too ripe.

i usually get mine when they are hard as a rock, and pop thhem in the fridge and then cut towards the pit (do the twist), and slice. if mine are slushy it's because it's too ripe.

I don't think using less coconut milk would cause it not to set. If it didn't set, my guess is that it was an agar issue. What type of agar did you use? maybe it didn't boil enough to fully dissolve?

Thanks for your reply.

As per the recipe, I used 2 tsp of Japanese Muso Agar Agar flakes (edible sea vegetable gelatin). I stirred and boiled it with the tapioca and unsweetened almond milk for 5 minutes.

Would an extra tsp of agar help?

(I would surprised by the runny result as I've seen quite a few people say they had the opposite - a rubbery texture.)

Did you use 2 tsp of agar flakes or powder?

This could easily be the problem. The recipe calls for powder. 1 tsp of powder equals about 3 tsp of flakes I believe (plus flakes needs soaking time to melt).

There is a whole section about why you must use powder & not flakes! It is REALLY hard to get powder in the UK but finally manged to get some from the internet. Definitely worth it!

I finally used this cookbook. I made the pucker up raspberry pie last weekend for my dad. I accidentally left the book at my parents' house and now they're making the blackberry pie, without me.

yeah, that's definitely it. Not only do you need more flakes than powder, they need to cook for much longer and soaking also helps.

The coconut pie is currently setting in the fridge. I'm bringing it to work tomorrow, I hope it won't be too soft. Last time I made it it was super creamy, but I don't remember if I cooked the agar long enough. This time I timed it and it was already jellying when I poured it into the coconut milk. Yummy!

It thikened perfectly, it was delicious, and I managed to get two slices before it was scarfed down by my colleagues.

I had to bump this thread because this past weekend I made the Strawberry Kiwi tart for my very omni-but-openminded 80yr old dad. I did use all berries - straw, rasp and blue - but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Holy crepe my dad raved about that tart alllll night long, and then went to his friends' house the following day and wouldn't shut up about it either so they ended up calling me for the name of the book!
that whole method of making the creme - the cashews, agar + milk, coconut oil etc - is just incredible alchemy!

So, I've always been more of a cake person than a pie person, but my close friends are All About Pie, and a good cook is well-rounded, right? So I made a She's My Cherry Pie, time consuming as all get-out. The crust turned out lovely for a first pie, but the filling did not set at all. I followed the recipe, so what did I do wrong? (kitchen details: Minnesota humid, but moderately air-conditioned.)

I have found that with all the fruit pies I've tried from VPITS, I've needed to use the max amount of cornstarch+extra, because mine have not generally set up very well either, especially when using frozen berries.

have made: blueberry maple, old fashioned chocolate pudding, key lime, and brambleberry and holy shiitake so gooooodd

Do you think any of the cheesecakes would freeze well? I want to make one for a special dinner, but I will need to make it about 4 days ahead of time. Is this a bad idea?

Maybe try the lower slower cooking time recommendation described in the section about frozen berries. I followed those instructions for my fruit pies and they actually set up firmer than I would have liked. (I was apparently the only one who cared. My family scarfed the pies down).

It was recommended to me by friends to pre-cook the filling and get it starting to set up before I put it in the crust. I guess I figured since I was working with fresh cherries, the frozen berry section didn't really occur to me as something to look into. Learning!

I have frozen several of the cheesecakes (sometimes for months) and they were still just as excellent.


On another pie topic, I made the cherry pie last weekend and got "I think this is the best pie I've ever had" as feedback. Not bad!

This tart incites greed. I've made two in the past week and a half. My dad didn't have anymore of the new one though--he literally ate a "piece" equal to half of it last night and now says he can't handle anymore. Hah.

The birds love it too.

It is so simple, but it takes all damn day to make with all the waiting, waiting, and waiting.