Gingerbread Apple Pie

This pie is a new holiday time favorite at our house–a mixture of apple pie and gingerbread! Another delicious creation from the creative mind of Isa Chandra Moskowitz in her book Vegan with a Vengeance, I simply veegetarian-ized the recipe by swapping out the refined flour and sugar for healthier versions.

Quick note about the crust: If you plan to use an oversized pie pan and tend to use the biggest apples you can find (like me) then play it safe by making an extra 1/2 recipe of the crust. If you are using an 8inch pie pan and using medium or small apples then you’ll have plenty of dough using the recipe below.

Also, lightly grease your pie pan! If you don’t you’ll be sorry!

Here’s what you need:

For the crust:

• 1 1/2 cups stone ground whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup nonhydrogenated margarine, softened (earthbalance)
• 1 Tbl molasses
• 2 Tbl cold water

For the filling:

• 8 apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground or freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• Pinch of cloves
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 Tbl arrowroot

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Make the crust: sift together flour, sucanat, spices, salt and baking powder. Add the margarine one Tbl at a time, cut in with pastry knife. Drizzle the molasses and water over the dough and mix in with your fingertips until the crumbs of dough begin to cling together. Set aside 1/2 cup of the dough. Gather together the rest of the dough and knead it into a ball. Press it evenly into the bottom and side of a greased pie pan and bake for 10 mins.

3. Make the filling: While the crust bakes, combine in a mixing bowl all the filling ingredients except the arrowroot. Sprinkle the arrowroot over the apple mixture and mix until the starch is dissolved.

4. Assemble the pie: Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture, and crumble the remaining 1/2 cup of dough over the filling. Cover with foil and bake for 20 more minutes. Remove the foil and bake 30 minutes more; the filling should be bubbling and the apples should be tender.

Did you try this recipe? Share how you liked it below…