When you think of Pinsa, savoury flavours immediately come to mind. Yet the base also works perfectly with creams, fresh fruit, chocolate and nuts, allowing you to serve a delicious dessert without having to prepare the dough or spend hours in the kitchen.

We have already talked about vegan Pinsa on these pages. We highlighted that Pinsa Di Marco contains no ingredients of animal origin. In practice, you can turn it into a delicious and healthy vegan dish, whether savoury or sweet.

Today we are focusing on vegan desserts made with Pinsa. The subject can be a little more complicated than savoury recipes, unless sliced banana and a little icing sugar are enough for you. In reality, combinations need to be considered, ingredients checked and textures balanced, but knowing a few alternatives to milk, butter and cream is enough to achieve truly delicious results.

Let’s see how.

Preparing a vegan dessert requires a little extra attention

In traditional pastry-making, milk, butter, cream and eggs are almost everywhere. Milk makes creams more fluid, butter adds fat and richness, cream adds volume, while eggs bind or thicken. Removing them is certainly possible, but it requires a little thought.

There is no shortage of alternatives, but they need to be chosen carefully.

1. A vanilla cream can be prepared with soy and corn starch;
2. A ganache with dark chocolate and plant-based cream;
3. A filling with almond, peanut or hazelnut cream;
4. For a fresher element, thick plant-based yogurt or coconut cream work well, while coconut oil can replace butter in some preparations, although its flavour is not neutral.

Also pay attention to products that may seem vegan by definition: some nut creams contain powdered milk and not all dark chocolate is free from milk derivatives. Reading the ingredient list therefore remains essential. It takes a little more care than simply putting whatever you find in the fridge on top of the Pinsa — unless, of course, your fridge contains only vegan foods — but the result can be just as delicious and far less predictable.

How to build a really good sweet vegan Pinsa

You do not need to know professional pastry techniques. Simply give each ingredient a function and avoid piling sweetness on top of sweetness. A good dessert Pinsa can be built around four components.

1. A creamy base, which binds the other ingredients and prevents each bite from feeling dry. You can use plant-based custard, thick soy yogurt or almond cream. Plant-based drinks are too liquid: they need to be thickened or used to prepare a cream.
2. A fresh or slightly acidic element. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, pears and citrus fruits lighten creams and chocolate. Banana, on the other hand, adds sweetness and texture: paired with an already very sweet cream, it can become cloying. Washed fruit should be dried thoroughly and added after cooking, otherwise it will make the surface soggy.
3. A crunchy element. Pistachios, hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts should be added at the end. Toasting intensifies their aroma and creates a clear contrast with the cream. Avoid leaving chopped nuts for too long on a moist filling: they absorb water and become soft. Biscuits and wafers are also possible, but only after checking that they do not contain butter, milk, honey or eggs.
4. An aromatic note. Cinnamon with apple or pear, lime zest with coconut, vanilla with strawberries, or a pinch of salt with chocolate and nuts. Only a small amount is needed: it should sharpen the combination, not overpower everything else.

Vegan desserts with Pinsa: 5 ideas to start from

People who follow a vegan diet already know their go-to ingredients and know how to check labels. With desserts, however, finding the right balance may be less straightforward: a cream that is too runny can ruin the base, too much fruit can make it soggy and a sequence of sweet ingredients can flatten the flavour.

The five ideas below are not formulas that must be followed, but starting points to taste, modify and transform until you find the perfect combination for you and the people you want to share it with.

• Hazelnut and cocoa cream, banana and toasted hazelnuts
  Cocoa adds bitterness, banana adds sweetness and softness, while toasted hazelnuts echo the flavour of the cream and add crunch. Cook the Pinsa, spread a thin layer of cream and finish with banana and chopped hazelnuts. Of course, choose a cream that is clearly labelled vegan. If the result is too sweet, add a pinch of salt. Just a pinch.
• Plant-based vanilla cream, strawberries and pistachios
  Vanilla complements the sweetness and acidity of the strawberries without overpowering them, while pistachios add a toasted, savoury note. You can quickly prepare the cream with soy drink, sugar, vanilla and corn starch, or use a ready-made plant-based alternative.
• Cinnamon apples and almond cream
  The slightly tangy sweetness of the apple pairs with the warm note of cinnamon, while cream made exclusively from almonds adds body without containing milk or other ingredients of animal origin. Walnuts complete the combination with a crunchy and slightly bitter contrast.
• Dark chocolate, pear and toasted almonds
  Intense chocolate needs a fruit that is sweet but delicate: pear performs this role without dominating. Almonds complete the combination with a dry crunch.
• Coconut cream, berries and lime zest
  The richness and sweetness of coconut are balanced by the acidity of raspberries, blueberries and lime. Use the thick part of coconut milk or a plant-based coconut cream, without pouring the remaining liquid from the package onto the Pinsa. Finish after cooking with well-dried fruit and a little lime zest.