Turtle Pie Recipe (Dairy Free, Vegan) | Desserts With Benefits Blog (2024)

Dec 8, 2017

Dairy FreeEgglessVegan

You’re staring face to face with one of the most decadent, delicious, and drool-worthy desserts on this planet. No, that is not an overstatement. This Turtle Pie tastes SO incredible you’ll wonder how on earth it can possibly be vegan, dairy free, and all natural!

Thanks to Immaculate Baking Co. for sponsoring this post, and thank YOU for supporting the brands that keep Desserts With Benefitsgoing! All opinions are mine and mine alone.

The pie crust is buttery and rich, and has the perfect flavor to offset the thick layer of sweet and chewy caramel. On top of the caramel is the creamiest of the creamy and dreamiest of the dreamy chocolate ganaches EVER, which is studded with a handful of toasted pecans.

This is literally like one of those Turtle candies, just supersized!

One bite and you’re in for a real treat.

Turtles and I go wayyy back. I used to eat an obscene amount of those confections as a kid. Most people associate Turtles with the holidays, but me? I ate them year round, of course. With every bite you instantly get the creamy milk chocolate flavor, and then the caramel flavor strikes as you notice the slight crunch from the pecans. Turtles may be small, but dang, they sure are decadent!

That’s probably why Turtle Pies are sold in grocery stores. Unfortunately, they are made with the most horrendous ingredients on the planet — chemically bleached flour, dangerous hydrogenated oils (trans fats), preservatives, and a ton of sugar (sugar is listed 6x in their long ingredient list).

Now, let’s just imagine Turtles and those storebought Turtle Pies REMADE.

Instead of milk chocolate I used dark chocolate.
Instead of white sugar and corn syrup I used a range of healthier alternatives, including pure maple syrup, sucanat, erythritol, and stevia extract.
Instead of using pie crust made with bleached flour and hydrogenated oils I usedImmaculate Baking Co.’s ready-to-bake pie crust, which is made with unbleached, unbromated wheat flour,natural oils, and absolutely nopreservatives orartificial food dyes.

This pie is made with quality ingredients you can feel good about eating! Because pie should always make us feel good 😉

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Vegan Turtle Pie

Servings: 2 9.5" pies

Prep Time: 40 minutes mins

Cook Time: 35 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

This Turtle Pie tastes SO incredible you’ll wonder how on earth it can possibly be vegan and dairy free!The pie crust is buttery and rich, and has the perfect flavor to offset the thick layer of sweet and chewy caramel. On top of the caramel is the creamiest of the creamy and dreamiest of the dreamy chocolate ganaches EVER, which is studded with a handful of toasted pecans.

Ingredients

Crust:

1 box Immaculate Baking Co. Ready-To-Bake Pie Crust

Caramel Layer:

153g (⅔ cup) Light Coconut Milk (canned)
56g (¼ cup) Coconut Oil (melted)
¼ tsp Salt
252g (¾ cup) Pure Maple Syrup
30g (2 tbs) Water
192g (1 cup) Sucanat
96g (½ cup) Granulated Erythritol
1 tbs Vanilla Extract

Chocolate-Pecan Ganache:

16 oz 70% Cacao Chocolate
306g (1⅓ cups) Light Coconut Milk (canned)
2 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
1½ cup Toasted Pecan Halves

Instructions

For the Crust:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bring the rolled pie crusts out of the fridge and let them sit at room temp for about 20 minutes, or until soft (if you unroll it cold, it will tear). Unroll the pie crusts into two 9.5" pie pans. Bake for ~11 minutes, or until just golden brown.

For the Caramel Layer:

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, coconut oil and salt. Set aside.
In a 2-quart saucepan, add the maple syrup, water, sucanat and erythritol. Do not stir. Add a candy thermometer to the saucepan, then place the pan over a stove set to medium-high heat.
See Also
Chocolate Gingerbread Truffles Recipe (Dairy-free, Gluten-free)
Without stirring, let the mixture come to a boil. When it reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit (it takes me ~7-8 minutes), remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the set aside coconut milk/oil mixture.
Return the pan to the heat and let it come to a boil again. When it reaches 266 degrees Fahrenheit (it takes me ~10 minutes), turn the stove off and remove from the heat.
Very carefully, add the vanilla extract. It will bubble up vigorously, so watch out! Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Let cool completely at room temperature.
Divide the caramel in half between the two pans to create the caramel layer.
For the Chocolate-Pecan Ganache:
In a double boiler over medium heat, add the chocolate and coconut milk. Stir occasionally until completely melted.
Whisk in the stevia extract, then stir in the toasted pecans. Divide the mixture in half between the two pans. Refrigerate until completely firm.
Slice and serve with all natural whipped cream,Homemade Caramel Sauce,and chopped pecans!