Last weekend, my friends and I made mini apple pies together, and ever since, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about apple pie. This Friday night, I was eying up my bag of apples and decided I’d finally make my own. I only had about half a stick of butter (shock!), so I had to improvise a bit and used mostly Earth Balance spread for the pie crust. I was a little bit worried about how it would turn out, but it tasted just like I used butter. The entire time I was rolling out the dough, my kitten sat there trying to eat it all.. even kitties can’t resist the combination of flour and butter!
With the extra dough I had, I made little heart shapes to top the pie with. I love how rustic they make it look! And of course, I couldn’t wait until the pie was completely cooled, so all of the juices rushed out with the first samplings of the pie..oops. 🙂
Classic Apple Pie
yields 8 servings
For the crust:
2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 t salt
2 t truvia
1/4 cup butter
6 T Earth Balance
6-8 T ice water
1 egg + 1 T water, beaten
For the filling:
about 5 medium sized apples, chopped (peels on)
2 T lemon juice
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t cloves
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup agave nectar
drizzle of honey
Cut the butter and Earth Balance into chunks and freeze for about 15 minutes. In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt and truvia together. Add in the butter/Earth Balance chunks and pulse 10 times, until crumbly. Slowly add in the ice water and process for about 15-20 seconds, until the dough clumps together. Shape the dough into a disk on a clean surface, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the chopped apples, lemon juice, spices, maple syrup and agave nectar and toss to combine. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Roll half of the pie dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12 inch round. Gently press the dough into the pie plate, with the edges overhanging the pie plate. Spoon the apples into the crust evenly and then drizzle with honey. Roll out the remaining pie dough and place overtop the apples. Cut away the extra crust until it is about 1/2 inch over the lip of the plate. Pinch the two pie crust layers together, tucking the dough underneath itself to it is in line with the lip of the plate. Seal with the tines of a fork. If there is any dough leftover, make shapes and place on top in a cute design. Make 4-5 slits in the pie crust and brush with egg wash.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until lightly golden. Reduce the temperature to 375ºF and bake for about 10-15 minutes more, until juices are bubbling. Cool and then serve!
