Classic Vegan Apple Pie

Late July. I have been doing research analysis this month, going through the data from the observation project, looking for patterns. The work is slow and detailed and I do it at the kitchen table in the evenings with Biscuit occasionally walking across my laptop. She does not understand why I spend evenings looking at numbers on a screen. She has a point. But the numbers tell a story and the story is one I want to understand completely before I tell it to the world in a journal article.

Made a summer peach tart this week, which is a project but not a complicated one if you have made tart pastry before, which I have, multiple times. Press the pastry into the tart pan, bake it blind, cool it, spread pastry cream, arrange sliced peaches. The pastry cream I made with eggs and sugar and cornstarch and vanilla, cooked until thick. The peaches were from the farmers market, perfect. The finished tart looked like something from a magazine. I took a photo and put it on the blog. Keisha sent me a fire emoji immediately and I called her and we talked for an hour.

I miss Keisha the way you miss people who know you across time. She has been in Nashville for more than a year now and we text often but the calls are less frequent. When we do call it is as if no time passed. She said: tell me everything about the research. I told her everything. She said: I always knew you would do something like this. I said: did you? She said: from the day you told me you were going to make macarons until they were perfect. That was when I knew. Yes. That was exactly when. I am the kind of person who makes macarons until they are perfect and that is also the kind of person who does research. Same principle. Keep going until it is right.

The peach tart reminded me, as it always does, that pastry work is a kind of proof — you either did the steps or you didn’t, and the result tells you honestly which one it was. When the season shifts and the stone fruit gives way, I keep that same disposition and turn it toward apples, toward a vegan pie I have made enough times now that my hands remember what to do even when my mind is still somewhere in a data set. This is that pie: straightforward, honest, and worth every careful step.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 55 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold vegan butter, cubed
1/4 cup solid coconut oil, chilled
6–8 tablespoons ice water
6 medium apples (such as Honeycrisp or Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plant-based milk (for brushing)
1 teaspoon coarse sugar (for topping)

Instructions

Make the crust. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the cold vegan butter and coconut oil using a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces remaining.
Add water and divide. Drizzle in ice water one tablespoon at a time, mixing gently until the dough just comes together. Divide into two equal discs, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare the filling. In a large bowl, toss the sliced apples with sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and vanilla. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow juices to develop.
Preheat and roll. Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C). On a lightly floured surface, roll one disc of dough into a 12-inch circle and fit it into a 9-inch pie pan, leaving a 1-inch overhang.
Fill the pie. Pour the apple filling into the prepared crust, mounding it slightly in the center. Roll out the second disc and lay it over the top. Trim, fold, and crimp the edges to seal. Cut several small vents in the top crust.
Brush and bake. Brush the top crust with plant-based milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375°F and bake for an additional 35 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the filling is bubbling through the vents.
Cool before slicing. Allow the pie to cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours before slicing. This allows the filling to set and the slices to hold their shape cleanly.

Nutrition (per serving)

Classic Vegan Apple Pie — The Same Hands That Arranged Peaches