Vegan Adaptations: Apple-Currant Pie

A little more than a week ago, I bought a 3 pound bag of apples on a whim. All three pounds promptly then sat in my fridge for a little more than a week. Things were beginning to look dire for the poor things. They really needed to be eaten immediately -- which seemed quite unlikely given how few of them had been eaten last week. So I decided that this could very well be the incentive I needed to try my hand at making a vegan apple pie. This also meant I had an excuse to try out my new pie dish, a 9 inch, super deep-dish ceramic number from Emile Henry's cookware line.

I scoured my cookbooks for apple pie recipes and googled around for vegan pie crust recipes. I ultimately chose (with modifications) an apple pie filling from Susie Quick's Quick Simple Food and then used the ingredients for the vegan pie crust from Vegan Action's website. Instead of using the Vegan Action instructions for making the pie crust, however, I decided to more or less follow the directions for making the pie crust from Susie's book (because it provided an example of how to use a food processor to make the dough, which was helpful given that I don't have a pastry blender) and draw from some other online tips for making vegan pie crusts (including freezing the vegan "buttery spread" and chilling the vegan milk substitute).

In the end, the pie crust came out a little thin. Next time, I'd consider perhaps even doubling the dough recipes, just to make sure I had enough to cover the entire pie dish, which I barely did this time round. The filling, on the other hand, was delicious and extremely simple to make (though it'd probably have been easier, or at least less time-consuming, if I had an apple corer/peeler gadget). I can imagine baking this pie throughout the fall and winter, for any lazy chilly weekend evening. Don't worry about just piling on heaps of the apple filling; it'll reduce to a more reasonable size as they bake.

View of the gorgeous pie dish.

Another view.

View from the top.

First slice!

 Vegan Pie Crust:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Earth Balance original spread, frozen
3 to 5 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk (I used Organic Valley), chilled

Apple-Currant Filling:

1 cup dried currants
1/2 cup red wine (can be substituted with water if you're concerned the wine is not vegan)
1 bag of apples (3 pounds), peeled, quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup organic light brown sugar (I used Wholesome Sweeteners, which is wonderfully molasses-scented)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Steps: 

First step is to make the pie dough. Fit your food processor with the dough blade. Measure out the flour and salt into the processor and scoop in the Earth Balance spread. Pulse for 10 to 20 seconds. Open up the top of the processor and use a spatula to hand-mix briefly, especially the edges. Pour in 1 tablespoon of the soy milk, re-cover the processor and pulse for another few seconds. Continue adding soy milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture just begins to stick together. Remove the crumbly dough mixture from the food processor and form into a ball. Wrap it with plastic wrap and flatten into a burger-like patty. Refrigerate for a while, 30 minutes or more. (If you're strapped for time, you can put it in the freezer instead.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next step is to prepare the filling. In a small microwavable bowl, combine dried currants with wine. Microwave for 1 minute, just enough to warm the wine. Set the wine-currant mixture aside. Separately, prepare the apples and, in a large bowl, coat the apple slices with lemon juice. Mix in the sugar, cornstarch, and spices. Drain the remaining wine that hasn't been soaked up by the currants and fold the currants into the apple-sugar-spice mixture. Set aside.

Then roll out the pie dough and fit into the pie dish. (To reduce messes, I usually roll out the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper, each sprayed with non-stick oil spray.)

Finally, fill the pie shell with the apple mixture and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the apples get soft and the crust turns a golden brown. Let cool for at least 10 to 20 minutes and then enjoy!