Tiny Popcorn-Crusted Chocolate Pies

Tiny Popcorn-crusted Chocolate Pies

Crust:

1 cup air-popped popcorn, slightly crushed

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder

2 tbsp liquid sweetener of choice (I used date purée)

Filling:

1 can full fat coconut milk, chilled in the fridge overnight.

5 medium-sized dates, soaked, pitted and peeled (optional to peel them but it looks better if you do)

1 tsp lucuma powder (can omit)

1 tbsp cacao or cocoa powder

6 squares dark, vegan chocolate of choice (I used raw chocolate from The Raw Chocolate Company)

Toppings:

1 handful air-popped popcorn

How to:

Melt the coconut oil on a low heat, then mix it with the cacao powder and your liquid sweetener of choice. If you’re using date puree like I did, blend the chocolate with a hand blender to prevent clumps. Fold in your crumbled popcorn, bit by bit, until it’s all coated in chocolate. You may need more or less popcorn than the recipe says, keep going until you’re satisfied.

Press the chocolate-covered popcorn mixture out in (silicon) muffin moulds or a small pie shell. Put in the freezer to set.

For the filling, open the can of coconut milk and scoop out the thick, creamy layer on top and add this to a food processor along with 3 tbsp of the coconut water underneath, dates, lucuma powder and finally the cacao powder. Blend until the filling is smooth. It might look split at this step, but this will be fixed by the chocolate. Melt the chocolate and add it to the food processor while it’s STILL hot (!) and blend again. Adding the hot chocolate like this will fix the “split filling” problem and if not, simply add about a tsp of boiling hot water.

Pour the filling onto the crust, decorate with another handful of popcorn and put them back in the freezer to set once again.

Let the pies thaw for a few minutes before devouring ;)