Vegan's Day

VMF Day 5: Hardly-No-Apple Pie

Bunny eyeing me pie

A few weeks ago, I watched the movie 'The Waitress' with Keri Russell. If you haven't seen that movie, you should. Not because the movie itself is particularly life-changing or anything (although I did enjoy it), but because it's all about pies. That's right, pies . Keri Russell's character is basically the best pie maker in town, and she thinks up all these different pies on the spot that embody her state of mind, such as 'I Don't Want Earl's Baby Pie' or 'Kick In The Pants Pie'. Anyway, it got me thinking that I should make more pies.

So last week when I was in Cheonan, I took advantage of my mom's big oven and made an apple pie! I have close to zero experience in making pies, so I did a lot of online searching for recipes. I also didn't have any vegan butter, so I had to make the crust using canola oil. Honestly, I didn't really follow a recipe for the crust. I kind of just added enough oil to roughly 2 cups of flour to make sandy crumbs, and then I added cold water, one tablespoon at a time, until it came together. Yea, very precise.

before baking

This was also my first time making a 'lattice crust' top! It was much easier than I thought it would be~! It made the pie look fancy schmancy and photogenic, but I think maybe next time I'll skip the crust on top... It's just a bit too much crustiness for me~ hehe

after baking

Also,being the pie-noob that I am, I thought the recipe was joking when it said to use 6 apples for one pie. So I only used about 2.5 apples, thinking they would overflow out of the pan! It didn't occur to me that the apples would shrink considerably in size. Duh!

So my pie came out with far too much crust, and too little apple filling! I'll call it my 'Hardly-No-Apple Pie'. Though my crust:filling ratio was a lil whack, it still tasted brilliant, as all the apple pie flavors were there. Sweet apple, cinnamon, a hint of nutmeg, and a lot of vegan love~ Perfect fall flavors, if you ask me.

And to top it all off (literally), I added a scoop of the Purely Decadent ice cream I got at HomePlus! Apple pie, à la mode! T'was soooo good. For a moment, I thought I was back in the US, sitting in a 24-hour diner, like the good ol' days. *sigh*

Anyway, if you're curious, here's my recipe:

Hardly-No-Apple Pie

{ Ingredients }
Your favorite pie crust recipe
2.5 apples, thinly sliced (next time, I'll use 4 apples)
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch salt

{ Method }
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Roll out 2/3 of pie crust dough and lay it in the pie pan.
3. Place thinly sliced apples in the pan.
4. Mix sugar, cinnamon, ground nutmeg and salt together in a separate bowl.
5. Sprinkle over the apples.
6. Roll out the rest of the crust. Cut into long, thin strips, then lay them in a lattice pattern over the apples. Pinch the edges of the crust together.
7. Put in the oven and bake at 400F for about 15 minutes.
8. Reduce the temperature to 350F. Cover pie with foil and bake for another 30 minutes.
9. Take out of oven and enjoy warm or cold! nom nom nom~

Next pie project: Pumpkin Pie? Coconut Key Lime Pie?