Agar agar keeps everything together, and I think scant 2 teaspoons is just the right amount – the filling is smooth and creamy, but keeps together nicely when cut. This pie is surely an easy way to impress friends and family! We brought this one to a dinner party, so no inside pics – I feel a little weird about bringing dessert and then taking pictures of my own portion.

No-Bake Graham Cracker Crust:

• 400 g whole wheat Digestives, finely ground
• 5 tablespoons brown rice syrup
• 5 tablespoons melted margarine
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

The crust is easy to make: everything just needs to be mixed together. The mix should have a consistency that keeps together when pinched with two fingers. After making the crust, Heikki covered the bottom of our 22 cm springform pan with a round piece of baking parchment, and then pressed the crust on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Filling:

• 4 limes, zest and juice (about 1 dl of juice)
• 4 dl soy whip cream (or soy cream cheese and more soy yoghurt)
• 1 and 1/2 dl plain, unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 dl plus 2 tablespoons sugar (or to taste!)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar (or extract)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons agar agar powder

The filling is almost as easy to make as the crust. I started with prepping the limes, and pouring the juice in a small cooking pot. Then I reserved about one teaspoon of the lime zest for garnish, and placed the rest of the lime zest in a mixing bowl along with the soy whip, the soy yogurt, sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt. Then I whipped these together until the mixture started to become a little fluffy.

I heated the lime juice on medium heat until it was at a gentle boil, removed the pot from heat, and sprinkled the agar powder in the pot while Heikki was whisking the juice. He whisked it for a little while, a minute maybe, until the powder had dissolved.

Now, Heikki moved on to whisk the contents of the soy-whip bowl, and I poured the lime-agar mixture in the bowl in a thin stream. When everything was all mixed up, we poured the filling in the crust, leveled the surface, and sprinkled the reserved lime zest over the pie. Then we popped the pie in the fridge and let it set overnight.

The crust wasn’t actually as thick as it seems in the photo – that’s a really tiny slice of pie, since there wasn’t much left the next day…

Crust:

• 20 Digestive graham crackers (about 300 g)
• 5 tablespoons margarine, liquid or melted
• 2 tablespoons dark syrup

Filling:

• 3 dl frozen strawberries
• 1 and 1/2 dl granulated sugar
• 2 dl vegan whippable vanilla sauce (or vegan whip cream)
• 1 dl plain unsweetened soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• zest and juice of 2 limes (1/2 dl juice)
• 1 (and 1/2) teaspoon agar agar powder

Heikki made the crust while I was preparing the filling. He ground the digestives, and then mixed the crumbs with margarine and syrup until thoroughly combined. Then he covered the bottom of our spring form pan with a piece of parchment paper, and pressed the crust evenly in the bottom and up the sides of the pan with his fingers.

I didn’t have time to defreeze the strawberries, so I placed them in a bowl with the vanilla sauce, soy yogurt, lime zest, and sugar, and mixed the whole thing with an immersion blender until it was smooth and pink. Now, I filled our kitchen sink with hot water, and placed the bowl in the sink. This warmed up the mixture, so that the agar that I added later wouldn’t get shocked by the coldness.
Now, I heated the lime juice over medium heat in a small sauce pan until it was barely boiling, and sprinkled the agar powder in the pan while whisking vigorously. I kept on whisking until the agar had dissolved, for about a minute or two, and then removed the pan from heat. Then I spatulated the agar lime mixture in the strawberry bowl, and whisked the filling briskly for a minute or so. I poured the filling in the pie crust, levelled the surface of the pie, and refrigerated it until we were too impatient to wait any longer.

By the next day, what was left of the pie had firmed up the way it should. I still think it could have been a little firmer, so using a little extra agar would be a good idea in this recipe. I used 1 teaspoon, but I think that adding 1/2 teaspoon more would be just the perfect amount.