Busted by the Passover Police

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by Hannah (BitterSweet)
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Not a thing gets past you guys, my dear, astute readers. Rest assured, I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on anyone, but somehow it managed to slip past my grasp that limoncello is made with vodka, and yes, vodka is in fact made with grain, rendering it chametz for Passover. Doh! Though this oversight can happily be corrected by simply substituting lemon juice for the alcohol, nothing could correct the composition of my finished cheesecake bites. A new dessert was needed for the approaching seder, and soon. So I took to the kitchen and made a lavish semi-freddo, a beautiful thing with ribbons of chocolate and emerald green pistachios… Using cornstarch (corn is considered kitniyot.) Strike two.

Despite the fact that I was bat miztvahed eons ago, I sure do suck at being Jewish.

Not one to give up, though, it was back to the drawing board. Frantically scrambling to mix and match the odd ingredients on hand into something both delicious and kosher, it seemed there was no good resolution in sight… Until I fell upon the leftovers from an experimental whipped creme. Made merely from nuts, this was just the ticket.

Folded in with ample amounts of melted bittersweet chocolate and fresh strawberry puree, this fluffy filling was right at home on top of a thin layer of fresh, sliced strawberries, all in an almond meal and cocoa crust. Nothing wheat-y, grain-y, or otherwise offensive here! Fingers crossed, I think that this one will finally appease the Passover police.

Happy Pesach!

Edited, because I woudn’t want to anger the hungry hordes…. I wasn’t planning on posting the recipe, since it was so last-minute and I’m not prepared to sign off on that whipped topping experiment, but I realized that by substituting a store-bought version, it should work out just as well. So, consider this an extra-special little Passover gift!

Yield: Makes 8 - 12 Servings

Strawberry-Chocolate Mousse Pie

Strawberry-Chocolate Mousse Pie

Folded in with ample amounts of melted bittersweet chocolate and fresh strawberry puree, this fluffy filling was right at home on top of a thin layer of fresh, sliced strawberries, all in an almond meal and cocoa crust.

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

Cocoa Crust:

  • 1 1/2 Cups Almond Meal
  • 1/4 Cup Natural Cocoa Powder
  • 1/4 Cup Vegan Butter or Coconut Oil, Melted
  • 2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

Strawberry and Chocolate Mousse Filling:

  • 1 Cup Fresh Strawberry Puree*
  • 1/4 Cup Light Agave Nectar
  • Pinch Salt
  • 12 Ounces Bittersweet Chocolate, Finely Chopped
  • 1 1/4 Cups Whippable Vegan Cream or Coconut Cream
  • 1/2 – 1 Cup Sliced Fresh Strawberries

Instructions

  1. For the crust, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and lightly oil a 9-inch round pie pan. Mix together all of the crust ingredients in a large bowl, and transfer the well-blended mixture to you prepared pan. Use your fingers and the palms of your hands to smoothly press it into the bottom and up the sides, making sure there are no bare patches. Bake for about 10 minutes, until the top edges are slightly deeper brown. Set aside and let cool.
  2. Meanwhile, you can start to get the filling together. In a large, microwave safe dish, combine the strawberry puree, agave, salt, and chopped chocolate. Microwave for 1 – 2 minutes, stirring thoroughly at 30 second intervals, until completely melted and smooth. Set aside for the time being to let cool.
  3. Pour the whippable cream into the bowl of your stand mixer, and whip on high speed for 3 – 4 minutes, until its about tripled in volume, light and fluffy. Take a dollop out and stir it into the chocolate mixture, just to lighten it up a bit. Now, move half of the remaining whipped “cream” and place it in the bowl of chocolate mix. Use a wide spatula to gently fold it in, being careful not to knock out the air
    bubbles. Add in the remainder of the whipped “cream,” and fold once more.
  4. Evenly cover the bottom of the baked crust with sliced strawberries, and then spoon the finished chocolate mousse on top. Decorate the edges with additional sliced strawberries, if desired.

Notes

*To make strawberry puree, just take about 1/2 pound of fresh or frozen and thawed strawberries, and blend them into smithereens in your food processor or blender. Strain, if desired (I was in a rush and didn’t; I don’t think the finished pie suffered because of it.)

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

12

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 458Total Fat: 36gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 39mgSodium: 57mgCarbohydrates: 27gFiber: 8gSugar: 14gProtein: 8g

All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.

© Hannah Kaminsky
Cuisine: Jewish / Category: Pies and Tarts
Printable Recipe

37 thoughts on “Busted by the Passover Police”

  9. Well, potato vodka is okay though right? A lot of vodkas are made that way. I know some of the GF ones are made from corn (like smirnoff) but I’m not sure what the guidelines are for Passover :)

    1. I have learned that corn is not okay. It’s one of the five or so grains that are definitely out. But I have definitely heard about vodka made from potatoes.

  12. Oh gosh, as someone who is a bit of a pansy when it comes to strong alcohol flavours, I must say I’m totally thrilled you made that mistake and created this instead :D

  14. i feel TERRIBLY policing an absolutely lovely dessert but if you look at the ingredients for the soyatoo whippable soy topping, you’ll find plenty of ingredients that aren’t allowed by most observers on passover including soymilk (soybeans), maltodextrin from corn or rice, along with the infamous vanilla extract:

    “Ingredients: organic soymilk, coconut oil, sugar-beet syrup, organic maltodextrin (from corn or rice), fractionated palm oil, contains less than 2% of natural vanilla extract, tartaric acid, carrageenan, sea salt, fractionated palm kernel oil. ”

    ..not to mention that it doesn’t say kosher for passover on it… sigh. it’s a tough dessert battle. did you link to the right product?

    happy pessach, nonetheless!

    1. You can make a nut-based mousse instead. That’s what I’m planning to do. I blend nuts until completely smooth, then add agar agar to thicken it up, which I believe is okay for passover. You could probably use potato starch as a thickening agent, but agar agar would be better. I think vanilla has to be certified kosher for passover, but a whole vanilla bean seems okay, so I plan to use that.

  15. I love that you used strawberry puree the mousse! The chocolate-strawberry combination is never a bad idea. Bummer about your previous 2 dessert attempts. If you accidentally make any other desserts that aren’t fit for Passover, I’ll be glad to eat them for you.

  18. I’m back from vacation and I’ve really missed your beautiful blog, Hannah! Your writing is as enchanting as always and this recipe looks like a real keeper — perfect for any occasion!

  21. Out of complete curiousity, are nuts kosher for pesach? Not trying to police here, just asking for my own cooking experiments. I believe they are, but I’d love to know for sure!

  22. This looks delicious.. so as a rule of thumb, can I use coconut oil as a substitute for butter?

    Thanks for sharing!

    1. Not necessarily- It depends greatly on how the coconut oil/butter is being used, and what sort of baked good you’re making. Generally, if the butter/margarine is being melted, you can use coconut oil instead. However, it would definitely not work in cookies that require the sugar to be creamed into the butter/margarine, because the texture wouldn’t come out as expected. Cakes tend to be more forgiving overall, but again, it depends.

      Happy Baking!

  24. This looks awesome!!!

    I am having someone over for a party who is observing passover, and I’m going to make something like this. Here are some more things I have learned might not be kosher for passover:
    – Canola oil
    – Quinoa (however, more common to be considered kosher)
    – Sesame
    – Vanilla (especially if it contains alcohol)
    – Soymilk
    – Chocolate made with soy lecithin and/or vanilla
    – Almond milk made with soy lecithin

    I don’t have access to a whippable vegan cream in the time frame I need it by, so I’m going to make the nut-based mousse. I plan to put soak hazelnuts (probably I’ll boil them to speed things up), then blend them until completely smooth. To be able to blend to that point, you need to add enough water (or almond milk) so that the end result is thinner than mousse. That means you need a thickening agent at the end. I like to use agar agar, but I’m not sure if that’s kosher so I will be using tapioca and/or arrowroot, which come from potato-like things.

    For the crust, I’m going to go with what I’ve seen in raw vegan recipes: processed nuts and dates, pressed. I’ll probably put whole almonds in a food processor, add cocoa powder, and then add dates until it starts to stick to itself. I’ll press that into the bottom of a baking dish.

  27. What an amazing cake. I have made many recipes with chocolate and raspberries, but have never combined chocolate mousse / ganache with strawberry puree. I am very curious to try. By the looks of it, this cake should be delicious!

  29. I hope that those using the term “passover police” are joking. Many take the Passover traditions and rules very seriously, and to make light of them is a bit offensive. Would the term “vegan police” be mentioned if you posted a vegan recipe that accidentally included a miniscule amount of eggs or milk?

    I suggest next time a Passover recipe is presented, check each ingredient against a list by an authoritative source (easy to find on the internet) to make sure they are “kosher.”

  32. Never fear! There is Kosher-for-Passover vodka. I used Kedem Vodka to make vanilla extract that would be Kosher-for-Passover. So there is no need to fear the Passover Police – they ought to be better informed anyway if they want to go around correcting people. And also no need to alter your recipe.

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