I love the mix of Apples and Walnuts – but if you’re allergic to nuts you can leave them out or pop in raisins instead. I’ve used some brown sugar in this recipe, as I like the flavour and I think it matches well with the apples and walnuts. Do go for slightly tart apples – I use Braeburn apples as they are sweet and tart. You can use any apple but do avoid soft or very sweet apples (like Gala or Red Delicious) for this Dairy Free Apple and Walnut Pie.
This recipe is for a 10 inch pie dish and takes 8 cups of thinly sliced apples. Eight cups is quite a lot – but you get a nice full pie and the pastry doesn’t sink (I tried it with 6 cups of apples and the pastry cracked around the edges). I found it was about 1 1/2 apples per cup but my apples were a bit on the small side. In short – buy a good number of apples for pie making, worst case scenario you’ve a couple of left over apples to eat.
I know there are people who can crimp a perfect pastry edge, and I admire them. Really. But when I try to pinch the edge of the pastry its always uneven and wonky. So I use a fork to seal the edges. If you like, brush a bit of dairy free milk on the bottom edge of the pastry before you put the top on which helps seal it more firmly. I then glaze with a bit of dairy free milk to get that nice brown look to the pastry. It’s best to keep the pie in the fridge, you can always warm up a slice if you want to but fruit really does go off quickly so leaving the pie out for several days isn’t a good idea.
Vegan Apple and Walnut Pie
Ingredients
- 2 2/3 Cups Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Caster Sugar
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp Vegetable Fat - I use Trex You can use dairy free butter but it won't be as flaky.
- 8-9 tbsp Chilled Dairy Free Milk - I use Oatley
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 8 Cups Thinly sliced Apples All ingredients below are for the Apple mixture
- 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1/3 Cup Plain Flour
- 1 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 2/3 Cup Chopped Walnuts (or raisins)
- 5 tsp Dairy Free Margarine
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F 220°C
- I find the pastry is best made in a food processor. Add the flour, baking powder, caster sugar and salt together and give a quick mix. Add in the Trex in small chunks and pulse until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. You can do this by hand if you wish, it just takes a while to get to the breadcrumb stage.
- Slowly add in the chilled milk a tablespoon at a time. Pulse, don't leave it on mix. The pastry will come together in a ball. Wrap it in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes
- Peel, core and slice you apples thinly. Mix together the two types of sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and give it a good stir. Then add in the Apples. Make sure you get the apples covered nicely - sometimes I find the slices stick together so I need to separate them. Stir in the Walnuts
- On a pastry broad, dusted with plan flour, roll out just over half the pastry. Check that it's big enough to come up the sides of the pie dish. Using a fish slice gently fold it in half, and transfer to your pie dish. Unfold, and gently push into the dish with your fingertips. Trim the edges around the pie dish so there's no overhang.
- Roll out the rest of the pastry to make the lid. Again fold it in half and have it beside your pie dish. Fill the dish with your Apple mixture plugging any gaps with apples and keep it as even across the top as you can. Dot with the dairy free margarine. Gently lift the pastry on top, unfold over the rest of the pie. Grab a fork, trim the edges and then use the fork to press down to seal the pie crust. With a sharp knife cut some slits in the top of the pastry. Brush with dairy free milk.
- Cover the rim of the pie with aluminium foil to protect the edges from burning. Bake for 45-50 minutes, taking the foil off for the last 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Fancy something other than Apple Pie? Check these out!
