Month: September 2020

The best vegan Dutch apple pie. Bold title choice, I know.

My husband’s favorite dessert is Dutch apple pie, so he’s tried a lot of them in his life: a few vegan ones I’ve made for him since he went vegan 3 years ago, and lots of nonvegan ones from before that. When I made him this one for his birthday the other day, he went on and on about how it was the best pie he’s ever had, by far. (And he tends to give honest feedback about my cooking, positive or negative!)

And I agree. So, to us at least, this one wins the award for being the best Dutch apple pie.

It’s got a classic pie crust on the bottom, and a slightly crispy crumble topping on top. And of course, deliciously caramely apples in between. Comfort in a pie pan.

We served it up with the incredible new Eclipse vanilla ice cream, from the same food scientist/chef that came up with Just Mayo! (We’re such foodies that we actually ordered the ice cream online. Worth it.)

We just ate the last slice yesterday, and now I’m craving it again…

Ingredients:

Bottom crust

(The bottom crust is from Nora Cooks–all her recipes are amazing!)

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup cold vegan butter; I used Earth Balance
• 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
• 3-5 tbsp ice cold water

Filling

• 6 cups peeled and sliced green apples (~5-7 apples)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup vegan white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Topping

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup vegan white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegan butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. First, make the pie crust. Make sure your butter, shortening, and water are cold, or the dough won’t come together well. Add the flour, sugar, and salt to a food processor, and pulse until blended. Add the cold butter and shortening, and pulse it over the course of 10-15 seconds until it starts to look like a coarse meal. Then, while the food processor is running, gradually add the ice water one tablespoon at a time until it starts to clump together; you may only need 3 tbsp. Roll out the crust on a floured surface to fit your pie pan. Don’t worry if the edges crack, you can repair those with pieces you trim off! Lay the crust in the pie pan and trim off the edges that hang over, and repair cracks in the crust as necessary. Refrigerate the crust while you make the filling and topping.
3. Make the filling: place the sliced apples in a large bowl. I recommend adding the lemon juice to the bowl when you first start slicing the apples, and give it a shake occasionally to get lemon juice on the new apple slices–it will prevent them from browning. Add the flour, sugars, and spices to the bowl once all the apples are sliced. Stir and/or shake to coat.
4. Make the topping: stir together the flour and sugars. Using a fork, cut in the butter until it is evenly distributed and clumping together. If it won’t form clumps (this can happen with Miyoko’s butter because it is a bit drier, but tastes amazing!), add more butter a tablespoon at a time.
5. Remove the crust from the refrigerator, and evenly distribute the apples on top of the crust. Sprinkle the topping evenly on top.
6. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the edges and topping just begin to get brown. Don’t let the edges get fully brown!
7. Slice, serve with vanilla vegan ice cream or coconut whipped cream, and watch out–it’ll disappear quickly 😉