Despite its fruity content, apple pie packs a lot of unhealthy ingredients. That doesn’t mean you have to bamish it from your holiday menu, however. Just use our scrumptious vegan apple pie recipe instead!

One piece of a traditional 9-inch apple pie carries 81 milligrams of potassium and a good dose of vitamins A, C, and B6 as well as calcium. However, these benefits are overtaken by the average apple pie recipe’s darker side. That same serving also holds approximately 300 calories, 14 grams of fat, 4.7 grams of saturated fat (23% of the RDA), 333 milligrams of sodium, 42 grams of carbohydrates, and only 2 grams of dietary fiber. 

Being the legend that it is, there’s no need to completely change the face of apple pie, when cutting a few simple corners does the trick. This apple pie recipe is vegan and uses higher quality ingredients. The pastry of this apple pie recipe has a whole-wheat base and is free from eggs and dairy. Instead it is fattened up with coconut oil, which carries a few impressive health benefits all on its own. The filling avoids refined sugar and sticks to the brown-sugar-akin, minimally-processed turbinado sugar. Enjoy!

Vegan Apple Pie Recipe

Makes 1 pie serving 8-10 people

Ingredients:

For the Pastry Crust

• 2 ½ – 3 cups + 1-2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 cup nut milk (Make it yourself!)
• Coconut oil cooking spray (or any oil cooking spray)

For the Apple Filling

• 10 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
• 3 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour

Directions:

Put a layer of paper towels over a large baking sheet. Spread the apple slices evenly across the paper towels and set aside while you prepare the pastry. This helps to remove some moisture from the apples.

For the pastry, sift together 2 ½ cups of flour and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl, combine the oil and milk. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix until it clumps together. If too sticky, add another ½ cup of flour. Use clean hands to shape the dough into 2 equal-sized flat balls. Cover each in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Lay one dough portion on a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle its top with flour. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to the size of a pie dish plus a few inches – you want the dough to overlap the dish’s edges. Repeat with the other dough portion. Spray the pie dish with cooking spray and place one of the sheets of pastry into the bottom of the dish, making sure it sticks to the corners and sides.

Back to the apples — pat the apple slices dry with the paper towel — and place in a large bowl. Pour the lemon juice over the apples and toss with you hands. Mix the cinnamon, salt, sugar and whole-wheat pastry flour in a separate bowl before sprinkling over the apples. Use your hands to toss the apples with the cinnamon mixture. You want the apples to be evenly coated. Pour as many of the apples as possible into the pie dish, atop the pastry. Top the apples with the other pastry sheet. Use your fingers to pinch together the edges of the both pastry sheets, sealing the pie filling shut. Trim any excess edges with a knife.

Use the knife to slice a few decorative lines across the top pastry layer several times. This will allow steam to escape while baking and prevent bubbles. Sprinkle turbinado sugar atop the crust and line the edges of the pie with aluminum foil to prevent burning.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, keeping an eye on the pastry. You want a crusted, browned top, but want to avoid burning the pastry.

Related on EcoSalon:

21 Apple Recipes to Celebrate Late Summer and Early Fall

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Photo Credit: benimoto

The post Nutritional Breakdown: Apple Pie Recipe (+A Vegan Twist!) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Need a little inspiration as the seasons change? How about 21 delicious apple recipes to celebrate the season?

Depending on where you live, you may be able to pick apples as early as mid-July. But most of apple season kicks off in true spirit in September, and brings us into late fall, which means it’s time to get excited about apple picking and cooking up those versatile apple recipes. From cider to pies to salads, the apple can come in many forms, and if you’re in the kitchen, you’re only limited by your own creativity.

As our minds shift from summer to the chillier days of fall, what better way to celebrate the season with 21 different apple recipes?

1. A simple apple galette with a cornmeal crust

2. Put a farmers market bounty to good use and make your own apple chips.

3. Try this rendition on the classic apple pie: vegan apple and oat tartlets.

4. Cabbage, apple and walnut salad.

5. Pair with kale in a creamy soup.

6. Baked apples are one of the easiest desserts you can concoct. Or serve with a little goat cheese as an appetizer.

7. On a colder day, try a warm caramelized apple tart.

8. Combine with quinoa and ginger for a hearty salad.

9. Reap the benefits of apple cider vinegar by make your own from Granny Smith apples.

10. The ultimate snack indulgence? Apple sandwiches with date caramel and almond butter.

11. A vegan, gluten free apple crisp is sure to please any crowd.

12. Paired with smoked mozzarella and farro, here’s a salad that’s hard to beat.

13. Want a really creative way to serve apples? Pair with jalapeno in a fresh apple salsa.

14. If you have dates and walnuts on hand, you can easily make a no-baked crust for this apple tart.

15. With the promise of darker mornings, you need a good A.M. boost; try a ginger apple smoothie with parsley for an extra kick.

16. Perfect with an afternoon cup of tea are these banana apple buckwheat muffins.

17. Apple and fig chutney pairs well with meats or added to sandwiches.

18. Infuse your own batch of apple vanilla bourbon.

19. If you can’t kick your summer BBQ habit, try a grilled rosemary-apple pie.

20. Try a spin on traditional apple sauce, and combine apples with pears.

21. Make a big batch of apple butter and store some for the coming months. Perfect on morning toast or weekend scones.

Related on EcoSalon

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21 Seasonal Plum Recipes for Late Summer

Image: Pål Alvsaker, Benny Mazur, Alessio Maffeis

The post 21 Apple Recipes To Celebrate Late Summer and Early Fall appeared first on EcoSalon.

A trip to Amsterdam requires adventures in the kitchen upon return.

I was destined to fall in love with the appeltaart.

When I travel I have a tendency to fall for local foods. It may be the most basic of foods in that location, but when you’re an outsider, it’s exotic. And so I identify a local dish that’s easy to find in a variety of places and I order it wherever I go. It could be called a weird travel quirk, but when you find a local food that you love and you stick with it.

And so it was with the appeltaart.

The famed appeltaart at Winkel

On our first afternoon in Amsterdam we were wandering the neighborhood in search of lunch and a double espresso. In the middle of summer, with the sun shining and every cafe known to man having an extensive outdoor seating area, this is not hard to do. So we randomly picked one that had a nice wooden table right next to the entrance and sat down.

Towards the end of our salads, I realized that everyone else was ordering huge pieces of apple pie covered in whipped cream. When every table around you is ordering the same thing, you know that you must do the same.

It wasn’t until later that I realized that we had serendipitously ended up at Winkel, the one cafe that an acquaintance had tipped me off to as having the “best apple pie in Amsterdam.” Some foodie affairs are just meant to happen.

What ensued was a week long obsession with appeltaart, and an even larger obsession with trying to make it myself once I returned home. Fortunately, there’s this thing called the internet. Thanks to Food Nouveau who carefully laid out not only the Winkel appeltaart, but also the one served at ‘t Smalle Cafe (another Amsterdam favorite), I now had a recipe to work with, and maybe I could kick this feeling of being sad about leaving Amsterdam. I even went out and bought a springform pan; sometimes travel also reminds you of what your kitchen is lacking.

As with most recipes, I had to give it my own spin, so this appeltaart is heavy on the cardamom and completely gluten free. It took a bit of experimentation to get it right, my first crust being much too dry. But thanks to some tweaking and incorporation of almond meal (a go to gluten free flour when I am baking) the end result is a tart that’s a little softer than the Amsterdam classic, but still retains the right amount of sweet thanks to the combination of crisp apples and raisins. A traveler’s rendition of a classic dish.

This is not your American Apple Pie, so throw those expectations out the window right now, and keep in mind that it’s best served with fresh whipped cream and a double espresso, of course.

Anna’s Dutch Appeltaart with Cardamom

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 1 1/4 cup sorghum flour
• 1 1/4 cup rice flour
• 2 1/4 cup almond meal
• 2 1/2 teaspoons xantham gum
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 375 grams butter (about 1 1/2 cups, or 3 sticks)

Note: this recipe is meant for a 9-inch springform pan, resulting in a very big appeltart. If you’re using a smaller pan, you may want to cut the recipe in half, or just bake two.

Filling:

• 8 apples (use a harder/crispier variety)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup raisins
• juice + zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

Start by preparing the crust dough. Cream butter and sugar and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together all dry crust ingredients.

Add eggs to the butter and sugar, mixture saving about 1 tablespoon of egg to top the crust with before baking. Add in flour mixture in thirds and mix until dough forms a ball (you can do this by hand or in a food processor). Set aside. Note: if you chill the dough, it will be a little easier to press into the pan.

Peel and quarter all of the apples and cut into small, bite-size pieces. Mix in rest of ingredients until apples are well coated.

Grease a 9-inch springform pan. Set aside about 1/4 of the crust, and place the rest in the bottom of the pan. Push out until the bottom and sides are completely covered. Fill with apple mixture and top with rest of crust dough. Brush with egg and sprinkle with brown sugar (optional).

Bake at 400F for about 45-50 minutes.

Want more food inspiration? Check out the rest of our Sunday Recipe series. 

The post Sunday Recipe: Anna’s Dutch Appeltaart with Cardamom appeared first on EcoSalon.