VEGAN Apple Pie for Two – because you deserve an ultra delicious pie even when all you have is one apple!
I love fridge clean-out days more than a normal person probably should: there is something so liberating about being limited to a smattering of ingredients. Without a recipe to follow, you are free to create something out of thin air, and yes, while some of those attempts could fail, there are definitely some successes to be had.
So it was during one of these routine chores that I found a lone forgotten apple. One apple. I could 1. eat it as a healthy snack or 2. make apple pie. I looked outside the window just as the wind knocked a few more golden leaves off the branches. The choice was made: it was going to be pie. The weather (and season) simply demanded it.
As is the norm before any expeditions involving uncharted recipes, I poked my head around the internet to see if someone else had already conceived a VEGAN Apple pie for two. None came up, not even those made-in-ramekin-mini-pies. I knew I was onto something. As challenges go, this wasn’t as difficult. All I had to do was quarter my regular vegan pie crust, and wing the filling by taste. The hardest part, however was finding a small enough pie tin. I had none. So I had to make do with this stunner soapstone pan from Uncommon Goods instead. And look how pretty????
While my normal pie crust recipe uses coconut oil, this time I used vegan butter instead – the result wasn’t as ‘melt-in-your-mouth-buttery’, but made the dough so much more easier to work with – when it comes to #smallbatchbaking, ease takes precedence over decadence, because if you’re cooking just for one or two, it’s so easy to give up if things get too complicated. So, to summarize: for ease over decadence, use vegan butter.
As for the filling, well, I’m a par-cooked filling sorta gal. I want my pie innards to be almost jam-like when I dig into it, melting on my tongue before I even bite into it. And that’s what you’ll get when you bake this pie. Comfort food at it’s best, no exertion, not even chewing, necessary.
A pie like this deserved to be enjoyed outdoors: one with the season that demanded its making. So take this pie on a road trip to Asheville, I did. As we were stopped at a gas station on Sunday morning, on our way up to the Blue Ridge Parkway, we saw a row of golden trees on the other side of the road, right beside the train tracks. A more beautiful spot to eat this pie in, I could not possibly imagine, so we pulled over (after making absolutely sure we weren’t trespassing) and had an impromtu picnic under a canopy of gold.
Good thinking too, because it’s been nothing but doom and gloom in Atlanta these past few days, but the one day we were in Asheville, it was gloriously bright and airy. I’ve always, always wanted to do something impulsive like this; see a spot and make a picnic out of thin air. But impulsive things involving pie need a little planning. So, it was good that I had a picnic basket (pie, book, napkins, cutlery, blanket) packed and ready in the trunk, just waiting to chance upon a moment like this.
With the sun streaming through the leaves, warming up the shade even as the cold winds threatened to chase us away, the beauty of this moment held us there for as long as it took for us to devour this delicious VEGAN Apple pie for two. To think that this one apple could be stretched into a moment of pure magical bliss. Have your pies on the ready, my dears, for when the sun shines and life calls out to you, you can jump into it with completely abandon.
Thanks to all of you who voted on my pie crisis on Instagram, the #TrilogyofPies is on! This apple pie is the first of a series of 3 pies you’ll be seeing here in the coming weeks. Next up: Vegan Smores Pie. See you back here soon!
When you make this delicious VEGAN Apple Pie for Two (which I really think you SHOULD!), be sure to SHARE YOUR PHOTOS with me through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. I’d love to see what you cook from here!
VEGAN Apple Pie for Two
Ingredients
Method
- In a small saucepan, combine the chopped apple, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Transfer the saucepan to the stove, and over low heat, cook until the sugar dissolve. Then increase heat to medium and continue cooking until the apples are slightly soft and the juices are syrupy.
- Combine the cornstarch with the remaining apple cider vinegar to make a paste. Add to the cooking filling and stir for 1 minute or so until the syrup as thickened. Remove from heat and cool completely, at which time, the filling must be congealed and not runny. If it is runny, re-heat and reduce further.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, salt, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and stir to distribute the spices evenly.
- Add the chilled vegan butter and using a fork, break up the butter clumps into the flour until the flour resembles wet sand. Add just enough water to shape the flour into a smooth dough, kneading just towards the end to bring it together.
- Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Cover and transfer to the fridge to chill for 5 minutes.
- Roll out the two pieces of dough to 1/4" thickness separately between two pieces of parchment paper. Transfer one of the sheets to a 6" pie/tart tin (or any other oven-safe vessel of the same dimension) and mold it to the sides of the tin. There should be an overhang of pie crust over the lips of the tin.
- Transfer the cooled pie filling into the prepared pie tin. Set aside.
- Using a ruler and a small knife, score strips (thick and thin slices) from the remaining rolled sheet of crust.
- Weave a lattice pattern, alternating the thick and thin slices. Trim the excess strips hanging over the sides. Fold the bottom crust over the lattice strip ends, and press to seal the ends.
- Use the remaining pie dough to cut/press patterns and use it to decorate the top of the pie crust. I cut leaves free-hand and used the back of the knife to score veins. Long strips were rolled into flowers.
- Transfer the pie to the refrigerator as the oven preheats to 400°F.
- Once the oven is preheated, brush the top of the pie with coconut milk, and sprinkle generously with granulated sugar and ground cinnamon.
- Bake in the preheated oven in the middle rack at 400°F for 20 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 325°F and continue baking for another 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and crisp.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool slightly in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove from tin and let cool completely on the wire rack. Serve slightly warm.
- Can be refrigerated for upto 5 days, and reheated in a 400°F oven for 5-8 minutes until warmed through.
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