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Vegan caramel pie
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4.75 from 4 votes

Vegan Caramel Pie

This vegan caramel pie is a fabulous mix of salty and sweet with a salty pretzel crust, a smooth caramel center and a vegan whipped cream topping!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time50 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Diet: Vegan
Servings: 10
Calories: 503kcal

Ingredients

For the Crust:

  • 3 cups Salted Pretzels (114g)
  • ½ cup Raw Cashews (70g)
  • ¼ cup White Granulated Sugar (50g)
  • ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g) Melted

For the Caramel Center:

  • 2 cups Medjool Dates (350g) Soft, Pitted, Packed cups
  • 1 cup Canned Coconut Cream (240ml) hardened cream only from one 14-ounce can, chilled overnight in the fridge

For the Topping:

  • 2 ½ cups Canned Coconut Cream (600ml) hardened cream only from two 14-ounce cans, chilled overnight in the fridge
  • ¼ cup Powdered Sugar (30g)

For the Decoration:

  • Vegan Chocolate Shavings

Instructions

  • To make this dessert, you'll need three 14-ounce cans of coconut cream chilled in your fridge. They need to be chilled for at least 12 hours and preferably longer so that the cream and water separate. You will only use the hardened cream and discard the water.
  • When you're ready to begin - preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
  • Add the pretzels, cashews and sugar to your food processor and process into fine crumbs.
  • Add the melted vegan butter and process again until well mixed.
  • Transfer to a 9-inch round pie dish and press down firmly.
  • Place into the oven to bake for 20 minutes until nicely browned.
  • Add the pitted medjool dates to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30-seconds (optional) to soften them.
  • Add the dates to your food processor and start processing. It will initially form a giant ball of toffee. Keep processing, stopping regularly to scrape down the sides and break up the ball of toffee a little.
  • When there is more sticking to the sides than in the ball, scrape down the sides again and start processing but now add in the coconut cream while the machine is running,
  • Keep adding in coconut cream, stopping and scraping down the sides as needed, and processing until you have a smooth and creamy caramel.
  • Spread the date caramel on top of the pretzel crust. If your crust is still warm from baking, no problem, there's no need to wait until it's cooled first, you can just add your caramel, smooth it down and then place it into the fridge to set. You want the top of the caramel to have set a little before you add your topping.
  • Open the remaining 2 cans of coconut cream, scooping out only the top separated cream portion of the can into a mixing bowl.
  • Using an electric mixer start at slow speed, gradually building up speed, until the cream is thick and whipped cream consistency has been reached.
  • Add the powdered sugar and whip again to mix in.
  • Scoop this out over the date caramel layer and smooth it out.
  • Grate dark chocolate over the top for decoration.
  • Return to the refrigerator to fully set (approx 4 hours). If you can leave it overnight to set that's even more ideal.
  • Slice and enjoy!

Notes

  1. Soft medjool dates are crucial. If your dates are hard, then it will be difficult to get them to turn out as a lovely caramel. You need really soft juicy dates. So feel them and make sure they're soft. Microwaving for 30-seconds also helps because the heat softens them more, but having them soft to start off with is really important.
  2. Coconut Cream: The cans of coconut cream need to have been chilled in the fridge for at least 12 hours and preferably longer. It's ideal if you plan to make vegan desserts often to just store a few cans of coconut cream permanently in the coldest part of your fridge so you're always ready to go. The date caramel uses a cup of the hardened cream scooped from the top of a chilled can of coconut cream and the whipped cream topping uses 2 and ½ cups. 
  3. Chocolate Shavings: Any good tasting bar of vegan chocolate is going to be great for chocolate shavings.
  4. Keep leftovers stored in the fridge (covered) and enjoy within around 5 days.
  5. Prep time does not include time spent setting in the fridge.
  6. Pretzel crust adapted from Minimalist Baker.
  7. This recipe was first published in December 2015.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Serve | Calories: 503kcal | Carbohydrates: 44.6g | Protein: 5.7g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 1.6g | Sodium: 223mg | Fiber: 3.3g | Sugar: 27.8g