Follow Me on Instagram

Instagram

Follow Me on Pinterest

don't miss dairy

Emily Stokes
I'm a lady who loves cheese, sour cream, & ice cream, but I recently became lactose intolerant. My key focus in recreating dairy recipes is taste, but I try to be as health conscious as possible. Some of my recipes are low lactose rather than dairy free. I'm also a writer, teacher, nanny, dog mom, housewife, native Yinzer, current Californian, and social organizer extraordinaire.

Desserts

No-Bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites from dontmissdairy.com
Want to try something amazing? Trust me when I say, there is nothing healthy tasting about these incredible and incredibly healthy pumpkin pie bites.

My go-to pumpkin pie recipes have undergone many changes over the years, adapting to my dietary restrictions and taste preferences. But this year I thought I’d go all out and make a dairy-free, gluten-free, vegan pumpkin pie. I did some research to see if this was possible.

It was very possible.

No-bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites from dontmissdairy.com

The trick was what recipe to trust, choose, and how to adapt it. I found a lot of raw pie crust recipes made with dates, and, unfortunately, I am not the biggest fan of dates, so they are not a usual ingredient I buy. Not wanting to make a special trip to the store just for dates, I found a recipe on lunchbox.com for no-bake pumpkin walnut pie—date free—and decided to adapt it to fit the ingredients in my kitchen.

During my research I saw so many complicated no-bake raw crusts. They called for all kinds of nuts and ingredients. I just kept thinking about how simple a raw crust should be. I mean, anything can be crumbled and made into a crust! (It just needs to taste awesome)

So I simplified the crust into three ingredients, an idea I found on hacres.com: walnuts, maple syrup, and vanilla. It’s a treat in itself! It’s technically not raw, but there is no baking involved. I was eating this before I could turn it into a crust. I thought this combination would be pretty sticky, but it’s actually not. It’s smooth and buttery. Nevertheless, I still greased the bottoms of my mini cheesecake pan for easier removal.

Making three ingredient walnut pie crust from dontmissdairy.com.

This is what the crust should look like after processing.

No-bake walnut pie crust from dontmissdairy.com.

Pressed walnut crust in mini cheesecake pan.

I made these bites to try something different, and to serve individually at a party. I think this would work very well as a whole pie, and the measurements should be the same.

If you are making pumpkin pie bites versus a whole pie, keep in mind that these are very soft and delicate. Like whipped cream, these delicious, fluffy pie bites will start to soften as soon as they are taken out of the cold.

I did not wrap the bites in paper while making because I wanted to see how pretty they were. But I recommend making these in cupcake liners or individual serving cups unless you are very patient. I made mine in a mini cheesecake pan. I used a butter knife to loosen the pumpkin pie filling from the edges, then pushed them out from underneath very carefully.

To serve them unwrapped, place pumpkin pie bites on a chilled tray or individual plates for immediate serving. Since I was transporting mine, I placed them in tulip parchment liners, which unfold and fold back easily. These could also be frozen for an hour so they become easier to serve, and should have the consistency of ice cream.  Keep them in the freezer longer in an airtight container for frozen pumpkin treats.

No-bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites from dontmissdairy.com

This is my pumpkin pie bite wrapped in a tulip parchment paper liner. Easy to serve, easy to eat!

For a thick, solid filling, use coconut oil and full fat coconut cream, which stiffens and solidifies upon chilling. Also, make sure you use walnuts for this recipe. The walnuts act as a thickening agent to keep the filling solid. They are also heart healthy!

Maple syrup is apparently healthy for you as well—in moderation. This recipe calls for a small amount of maple syrup, but it goes a long way! These pumpkin pie bites are perfectly sweetened. I served them at a Halloween party, and they were a big hit.

I love creating as many recipes I can that adapt to different dietary restrictions because, hey, I know how it feels.

No-bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites from dontmissdairy.com

No-Bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites
Write a review
Print
For the Crust
  1. 2 cups raw walnuts
  2. 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  3. 1 tsp vanilla
For the Filling
  1. 1 can pumpkin (15oz)
  2. 4 tablespoons maple syrup
  3. 1/2 cup raw walnuts
  4. 1 cup full fat coconut cream (the solid part of the canned coconut milk that separates when chilled)
  5. 1/8 cup coconut oil, melted
  6. 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  7. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  8. 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  9. 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  10. 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
For Crust
  1. Pulse walnuts in a food processor until finely crumbled. Add syrup and vanilla and pulse until ball forms.
For Filling
  1. Pulse 1/2 cup walnuts in food processor until finely crumbled. Add 4 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla, salt, and all spices then pulse until smooth.
  2. Add pumpkin 1/3 cup at a time to food processor and pulse until well combined.
  3. Transfer pumpkin mixture to medium bowl. Stir in 1 cup full fat coconut cream (leave the clear liquid behind in the can).
  4. At this time, taste and add more sweetener if desired.
  5. For the last step, add melted coconut oil and stir quickly. Once cool it will begin to solidify.
To Complete Pie Bites
  1. Brush 12 cup mini cheesecake pan bottoms with coconut oil or Smart Balance Light. Alternatively, use a 9 inch greased pie pan or paper lined cupcake tin.
  2. Press 3/4 tablespoon (about 2 teaspoons) of walnut mixture into bottom of mini pans to form crusts.
  3. Spoon filling evenly into crusts. There may be a tiny bit left over to snack on. Refrigerate for at least four hours to firm, then pop out of the tins and serve immediately. Filling will soften if not kept refrigerated.
don't miss dairy https://dontmissdairy.com/

No-bake Vegan Pumpkin Pie Bites from dontmissdairy.com

What I’m Giving Out This Halloween

Justin's Peanut Butter Cups on dontmissdairy.com

I went to my local Costco yesterday and found an awesome new treat.

Justin’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. They are organic, gluten free, dairy free, and vegan. They are individually wrapped so you eat one at a time, not two, and they are only 80 calories a piece!

I have fallen in love with these delicious chocolates.

They just taste so much better than Reese’s Cups! The chocolate is excellent quality fair trade. The peanut butter tastes more like peanut butter and less like sugar.

This smooth, rich peanut butter cup melts in your mouth.

Justin's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups on dontmissdairy.com

I’m always looking for dairy-free chocolate bar options. I once read the ingredients on every chocolate selection in a Walgreen’s Candy aisle (no joke), trying to find something without dairy! The closest thing I found was a bag of dark chocolate peppermint patties, and they still had some kind of dairy ingredient in them.

Let’s face it, the candy bar world is just not lactose intolerant friendly. I was so happy that my Costco had a dairy-free chocolate option…but they still only carry my favorite chocolate covered macadamia nuts in milk chocolate.

Let me digress on the lack of lactose intolerance awareness within grocery stores. Gluten free is very big right now. Grocery stores everywhere are developing their own gluten-free products and selling them in special gluten-free sections of the store. I have yet to see a dairy-free section in a store.

When you are used to being lactose intolerant, you learn where to look to find your favorite dairy-free and lactose-friendly brands. But for those who are just discovering their intolerance to dairy? It can be tough to find things in a regular grocery store.

Non-dairy milk products like soy milk and almond milk are easy enough to find, but what about dairy-free cheese, dairy-free soups, or dairy-free frozen entrees? There are more and more options coming available, but they are spread out all over the store. You have to hunt and read ingredient lists to find anything. 

Dairy free is not a common label actually. Even these peanut butter cups are not labeled dairy free. They are vegan, which means the same thing, but I just want to take this moment to yell at the top of my lungs…NOT ALL PEOPLE WHO CAN’T EAT DAIRY ARE VEGAN!

I feel better now. 

I’d love to keep on blogging about some of my favorite dairy-free products. If you have any questions on something you are looking for, or if you would like to know of an excellent dairy-free candy, snack, meal, or dessert product, please leave me a comment! I’ve gained a lot of experience over three years of trying to satisfy food cravings.

Another thing to remember this Halloween, if you or your child has a dietary restriction, please give out a nut-free, gluten-free, or dairy-free (insert other dietary restriction here) candy this Halloween! 

If your child collects a ton of Halloween candy that he or she cannot eat due to dietary restrictions, consider donating it to someone who will appreciate it a lot, such as our troops overseas. Here is some information on how to donate through Operation Gratitude. BTW troops love good quality dark chocolate!

Also, see if your local children’s hospital, food pantry, or women’s shelter is accepting candy donations this year.

Happy Halloween!!

Justin's Peanut Butter Cups for Halloween

Chocolate Cashew Butter

Chocolate Cashew Butter from dontmissdairy.com
We had a ton of roasted cashews that we weren’t eating, so I decided to turn them into something we would eat.

Most cashew cream or cheese recipes I’ve been wanting to try call for raw cashews, so I couldn’t make any of these. Trail mix left me with kind of the same problem, and granola bars seemed kind of a blah idea. I know, I know– everybody loves granola bars except me. It’s not that I don’t like them, I just don’t love them.

I started thinking about how I’ve been meaning to make a dairy free version of Nutella, and then it occurred to me: I bet roasted cashews would make a really delicious chocolate cashew butter.  Go!

First I pulverized the roasted cashews in my food processor, then added vegetable oil, white sugar, and cocoa powder. You can definitely add a sweeter oil to yours, like a nut oil. I just like to use what I have in my kitchen already. I did have a little trouble getting this to be low sugar and still taste like chocolate, but with some experimenting and taste testing, I eventually got a good flavor balance. 

Cashews in food processor
Crumbled cashews

Processed cashews
It’s sweet but not too sweet, with a buttery, chocolate flavor. YUM.

I suppose I could have kept processing it to make it smoother, but I’m impatient. My food processor is not the greatest and it was taking a long time. Feel free to make yours into a smooth-and-shiny-as-Nutella-butter….or mix in some bigger cashew pieces to make a crunchy butter! 

This is great for spreading and dipping. Spread on graham crackers or croissants, or make a cashew butter and jelly sandwich. I ate most of this batch as a dip with salted pretzels, which was so addicting. It was one of those snacks where you eat a few and you’re like, okay, just one more, then that one more turns into an empty bag of pretzels and a need to buy more cashews.

I hope you enjoy this simple chocolate cashew butter as much as I did! 

Chocolate Cashew Butter from dontmissdairy.com

Chocolate Cashew Butter
Write a review
Print
Ingredients
  1. 1 cup roasted cashews (salted is okay)
  2. 3 tablespoons oil of your choice
  3. 2 tablespoons, plus 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
  4. 1/8 teaspoon vanilla
  5. 1/8 cup sugar
  6. dash of sea salt
Instructions
  1. In a food processor, grind your cashews until finely chopped.
  2. Add oil and process until smooth.
  3. Add vanilla, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt, then process until well combined. Taste, and add more sugar or cocoa powder to your liking.
don't miss dairy https://dontmissdairy.com/