Vegan butterscotch meringue tart with chocolate chip cookie crust

Did you know that today was Pi Day? You know, the day where everyone recognizes America’s (arguably backwards) system of dating things because of the fact that you get a nice little 3.14 when you write out the date. Not to mention, today was the Pi Day of the century because—get this—the date matches up with the first five digits of pie, 3.1415.

It’s a very serious occasion, as you can see. High school math classes everywhere tuck into pie. Ambitious bakers (read—not me) painstakingly cut Greek letters out of pastry for their celebratory desserts. We all pretend to enjoy math for a day while we collectively muse about this beautiful number. Maybe you decided you wanted to memorize pi. And then gave up after the first million or so digits.

Fuck. source

So of course I wanted to be like all of the cool kids and post a pi recipe before or at least on March 14^th to show my commitment to mildly interesting dates

Oooh I love dates! source

and prove that, while cake is the ultimate dessert (NO THAT IS NOT A CONTESTABLE CLAIM YOU HEATHEN), pi is pretty good too.

Not only did I procrastinate and wait until like midnight to write about this god damn pie, I actually made a tart. Which technically is not a pie. 

I'm really sorry.

However! This *tart* has all kinds of lovely things to make up for any other failures. Like

                a) the delicious and thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie crust;

                b) the gooey ooey butterscotch filling; and last but not least

                c) the vegan meringue!

 Seriously. This meringue was made without eggs. Can you believe it? Fucking amazing, really.

I love living in the twenty-first century.

I got the recipe from Vegan Desserts by Hannah Kaminsky, which is a super awesome book that you should totally buy. Miss Kaminsky originally made little meringue cookies, but I figured it would be easy to just stick it on top of some butterscotch filling and call it a day. Or a pie.

And you know what? It worked. Even if I kind of burnt the little swirly tip thing to a crisp (and based on that I would recommend you not leave little swirly tip things on your meringues if / when you decide to make a vegan meringue-topped pie / tart). It’s not the most delicious thing in the world, given that it’s mainly Ener-g egg replacer, but it definitely has a nice light marshmallow flavor and a spot-on meringue texture. Makes this tart the beauty that it is, too.

Anyway. Here’s the recipe.

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Vegan butterscotch meringue tart with chocolate chip cookie crust

Ingredients

Chocolate chip cookie crust (adapted from these cookies)

140 grams • dark brown sugar • ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons

54 grams • vegetable oil • ¼ cup

45 grams • nondairy milk • 3 tablespoons

25 grams • granulated sugar • 2 tablespoons

30 grams • unsweetened applesauce • 2 tablespoons

2 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

155 grams • all-purpose flour • 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons

2 grams • baking soda • ½ teaspoon

2 grams • salt • ¼ heaping teaspoon

80 grams • nondairy chocolate chips • ½ cup

Butterscotch filling (adapted from Warm Vanilla Sugar)

220 grams • light brown sugar • 1 cup

34 grams • all-purpose flour • ¼ cup

6 grams • Ener-g egg replacer • 2 teaspoons

45 grams • water • 3 tablespoons

488 grams • nondairy milk • 2 cups

4 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

28 grams • coconut oil • 2 tablespoons

Meringue (adapted from Vegan Desserts)

43 grams • Ener-g egg replacer • 1/3 cup

180 grams • water • ¾ cup

100 grams • granulated sugar • ½ cup

4 grams • vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch tart pan.

First, make the crust. In a large bowl, whisk together dark brown sugar, vegetable oil, nondairy milk, granulated sugar, applesauce, and vanilla. Gently stir in all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Press dough evenly into tart dish. Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden-brown. Let cool while you make the filling.

To make butterscotch filling, simply combine ingredients in a medium saucepan over very low heat. Whisking consistently, heat until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool slightly while you prepare meringue.

To make meringue, start by combining egg replacer and water in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat on high for 5 minutes. Slowly sprinkle in granulated sugar; then continue beating for another 5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy, almost like whipped cream. Fold in vanilla extract.

Pour butterscotch filling in tart crust. Pipe or spread meringue on top. Bake tart for another 30 minutes, until the meringue no longer looks shiny and is beginning to brown very slightly at the bottom. Let cool completely.

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Ah, how my jimmies are soothed.

Honestly, making this tart was a great relief for me. I’ve always wanted to make a chocolate chip cookie crust, and I’ve always wanted to try making some butterscotch-flavored dessert, and I’ve been meaning to make those vegan meringues ever since I bought the Vegan Desserts cookbook. I hope you like it, because I absolutely loved making and munching on this.

Before you leave! check out these similar recipes.

Apple peanut butter cheesecake tart with sautéed apples. Because fall will be here soon at this rate (1 second per second, specifically).

Lemon blueberry crisp with almond cookie topping. Plus it’s gluten-free!

No-bake strawberry pudding tart. Easy and delicious.