This is a no bake, gluten free, vegan mini key lime pie recipe made with avocados, cashews, and lime. The crust is made with walnuts and dates. The key lime pies are decorated as the Green Pigs from Angry Birds. Omit the topping and decoration for regular mini key lime pies. These mini pies are stored in the freezer and thawed for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.
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The strangest thing happened yesterday. I had a lot of limes leftover from making these key lime pies, so I decided to make some smoothies with them. After I took the photo featured above, I figured I would use up the lime slices in my smoothie. I typically only use the juice, but I thought why not cut around the rind this time and use everything inside since juicing each slice individually sounds like a lot of work. The smoothie ended up tasting great, especially with the zing from the lime.

After I was about halfway finished with my smoothie, I felt what seemed to be a piece of plastic in my mouth. I take it out, and it in fact looked like a piece of plastic. It was thin and translucent and about half an inch long. I tried to rip it to see if maybe it were the skin of a fruit. It was pretty difficult to tear, and didn’t feel like the skin of any fruit I’ve ever eaten. Could it have been the label from one of the fruits I used? What if there were more, and I accidentally drank it all?

 

Angry Birds Attacking Green PigsAngry Birds cheesecakes attacking Green Pigs key lime pies

 

I’m terrified at this point because I gulped the first half of my smoothie down without paying attention to any odd textures. I become more cautious with my next few sips of the smoothie, trying to catch any more stray pieces of plastic that might still exist. And somehow, every new sip contained a new piece of plastic. I started making a collection of these plastic pieces. There was no way I accidentally threw this much plastic into my smoothie. I decide to show them to my parents. My mom could not figure out what they were; they seemed like plastic to her. Then my dad had a look. Not sure how, but he was certain it wasn’t plastic. It was definitely organic matter, according to him.

After realizing the possibility that the pieces might NOT be plastic, it dawned on me that they could be pieces of the lime! I examined a slice of lime and found out the plastic-looking pieces were actually the lime “wall”. It’s the part that divides the fruit into different segments. The wall of the lime is never actually eaten, and I can see why. I was so relieved. And I now know to never put the entire insides of a lime into my recipes, including this one.

This key lime pie recipe only uses the juice and zest of a lime. It also uses avocados and cashews for a creamy texture, and is sweetened with maple syrup. Even though there is a lot of lime in the recipe, the key lime pies might still turn slightly yellow because of the avocados. The avocados add a nice natural green color, but if I were to make this again, I’d try using more cashews, some coconut cream, and spirulina/chlorella powder for a similar effect. Not sure how it will taste; I will add an update when I try it out.

 

Green Pigs Mini Key Lime Pies {Vegan}

This is a no bake, gluten free, vegan mini key lime pie recipe made with avocados, cashews, and lime. The crust is made with walnuts and dates. The key lime pies are decorated as the Green Pigs from Angry Birds. Omit the topping and decoration for regular mini key lime pies. These mini pies are stored in the freezer and thawed for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 12 Green Pigs

Prep time:
Cook time:
Idle time:
Total time:

Ingredients
Crust
  • 1 cup raw unsalted walnuts
  • 1 cup Medjool dates – pitted
  • Pinch of salt
Filling
  • 4 limes – zested and juiced (about 3 tsp zest and ½ cup juice)
  • 2 avocados – peeled, pitted, and chopped
  • 1 cup raw unsalted cashews – soaked
  • 1 tsp arrowroot powder
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp agar powder
  • 1 cup cold water
Topping
  • 2 avocados – peeled, pitted, and chopped
  • 2 kiwis
  • 6 tsp maple syrup
  • 3 tsp lime juice (about ½ lime)
  • ⅛ tsp spirulina powder (or as much as needed)
Green Pigs Decoration
  • 2 rolls fruit leather – black (e.g., berry spinach)
  • 1 apple – thinly sliced
  • Lemon/lime juice
  • 2 bananas
Instructions
Cashew Soak
  1. Soak the cashews (total 2 cups) in a bowl with 3 cups warm water and 1 tsp sea salt for 3 hours to reduce phytic acid.
  2. Alternative: Soak cashews in a bowl with 3 cups boiling water for 10 minutes.
  3. After soaking, drain and rinse the cashews.
Crust
  1. Soak dates in some water for 2 minutes to reduce tackiness.
  2. Meanwhile, pulse the walnuts in a high speed blender or food processor until they become crumbs. Remove from the blender/processor.
  3. Place the dates into the blender/processor and blend until it becomes like a paste. Add the walnut crumbs back in along with the salt. Process until well blended and can be shaped into a ball.
  4. Spoon the walnut crust into a greased muffin tin and press down using tips of fingers.
Filling
  1. Pulse the cashews in a high speed blender or food processor until it becomes creamy.
  2. Put the rest of the ingredients, except for the agar and water, into the blender/processor and blend until smooth. Set this cashew filling aside.
  3. Place the agar powder into a saucepan on the stove without heat. Add the cold water and stir. Let it sit for 2 minutes.
  4. Bring the agar solution to a boil for 3 – 5 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat and slowly drizzle in the cashew filling while whisking.
  6. Pour the cashew filling into the muffin tins with the walnut crust.
  7. Freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight.
  8. Run the back of a knife around each mini key lime pie to release.
  9. Store the mini key lime pies in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to serve. Let it thaw 10 minutes in the refrigerator before serving.
Topping
  1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender/processor until smooth.
  2. Filter out the seeds from the topping using a fine mesh sieve.
  3. Spread the topping onto the frozen key lime pies. Reserve some for decorating the Green Piggies.
Green Pigs Decoration
Eyebrows
  1. Use a paring knife to cut straight lines for eyebrows from the black fruit leather.
Eyes
  1. Use a small round piping tip to punch out 2 pupils for each pig from the black fruit leather.
  2. Use the back of a piping tip to punch out 2 scleras for each pig from a slice of apple. Soak the scleras in some lemon/lime juice for 5 minutes.
Noses
  1. Slice the bananas into discs about 1 inch thick. You will need 1 disc for each pig.
  2. Use a large round piping tip to punch out 2 nostrils for each pig from the black fruit leather.
Green Pigs Final Assembly
  1. Place the banana noses near the center of the key lime pies. Spread some of the reserved topping onto each nose.
  2. Position the scleras above and to both sides of the nose.
  3. Add the eyebrows above the eyes.
  4. Put the pupils onto the sclera, and nostrils onto the nose.
  5. Store the Green Pigs mini key lime pies in the freezer until ready to serve.
  6. Enjoy!

Notes
  1. 15 minutes of the 40 minute prep time is estimated for the topping and decoration steps.
  2. For the topping, you can try cashews instead of avocado. The avocado topping oxidized after being out for an hour.
  3. When creating the Bad Piggies features, keep in mind the diameter of a muffin tin is around 3 in (7.5 cm).
  4. During the final assembly, it helps to position all the pieces on a clean surface before putting them onto the mini key lime pies.