Coconut Kreme Mini Pies

Ever since I made coconut custard mini pies with Brandi, I have had ideas about how to make a tofu-based version. I tried them out today, and they are great!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes, to be toasted

• 1 package light firm tofu
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes (not toasted!)


• Recommended: 48 wonton wrappers (or 12 quartered egg roll wrappers) 

Optional: Chocolate Sauce Topping

• 5 tablespoons (60g) coconut oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Toast 1 cup of sweetened coconut on large cookie pan in oven, stirring to toss coconut after 5 minutes, then baking another 3 - 5 minutes.
   (Watch carefully so coconut does not burn!)


3. Spray cooking spray in two 24 cup mini muffin tins (48 wells).
4. Place wrappers in each cup.
   (Trim corners of wrappers before placing in pan if you don't want the points to extend much.)
   (Leave some or all wells without wrappers for gluten-free version)
5. Optional: Pre-bake unfilled wrappers for 5 minutes, remove from oven, and let pans cool on wire rack.
6. Blend tofu and Greek yogurt until smooth in food processor.
7. Blend in powdered sugar, scrape down sides with spatula.
   (The multiple blending steps ensures tofu is very well combined.)
8. Blend in corn starch and milk powder and salt, scrape down sides with spatula.
9. Blend in vanilla, egg, and milk, scrape down sides with spatula.
10. Blend in coconut, scrape down sides with spatula.
11. Pour custard into a medium size bowl
    (so it won't leak out food processor.)
12. Use a small cookie scoop to portion custard into all cups.
    (If making some 'crustless mini pies', put an extra 1/2 cookie scoop of filling in these.
13. Bake for 15 minutes - check to see if the wrappers are looking quite brown. If so, cover pan with aluminum foil.
14. Bake for another 5 minutes.
15. Remove wrapper-based mini pies to cool on a rack.
    (Let wrapper-less pies cool in mini muffin tin for a few minutes, then use a knife to pry them out move them to a rack as well.)





16. Melt the coconut oil gently in the microwave with honey and sugar, stirring every 20 seconds or so.
    (You want to melt in the sugar as well.)
17. Remove from microwave, stir in the cocoa.
18. If needed, keep stirring until sauce thickens. (Mine was very thick!)
19. Drop a scant 1/2 teaspoon of chocolate sauce on the mini pies and sprinkle lightly with previously toasted coconut.
    (The sauce does set up, so you may want to sprinkle the coconut every 10 many pies or so.)
20.  Place in refrigerator until serving.

Carole's Notes:

This made a lot of little bite sized pies! Before sampling, I ended up with about 60:

including about 12 gluten-free ones:

They were cute and tasty! I thought they tasted like Mounds Bars, but Doug thought they would need more chocolate to claim that name.

fwiw, I made the chocolate sauce option, but I had to make up an additional 1/3 recipe topping from my previous chocolate sauce recipe. (I updated the numbers above to show what I used.)

The recipe is lightly adapted from merging http://carolelikesroundfood.blogspot.com/2015/07/mounds-bar-pie.html
with  http://thesassygourmet.com/?p=265
and
http://www.browneyedbaker.com/diy-homemade-instant-vanilla-pudding-mix/

As best I can guess, according to the Recipe Analyzer at https://www.fitwatch.com, based on 60 equal servings, one mini pie is 64 calories, 10 grams of carbohydrate and 2.2 grams (20 calories) of fat.