RECIPE - April's Caramel Apple Pie

April's Caramel Apple Pie
(With acknowledgment to "Katia and Granny's Perfect Apple Pie", "Brandi's Famous Caramel Apple Pie!", and all of the VegWeb recipes for vegan pie crusts.)

Ingredients for pie crust
* 2 3/4 cups whole grain pastry flour
* 3/4 cup Earth Balance or oil (or a combination of the two?) (one small stick of Earth Balance plus 4 tablespoons)
* 1 teaspoon sucanat
* 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 8-9 tablespoons cold soy milk

Ingredients for pie filling
* 3-4 apples, unpeeled and cored, then sliced or chopped
* 2 Tablespoons Earth Balance
* 1/4 cup brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon cardamom

Ingredients for caramel sauce
* 1 cup of brown sugar
* 1/2 cup Earth Balance
* 1/3 cup MimiCreme
* 2 1/2 - 3 tablespoons flour


***Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.


***Preparing Pie Crusts

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Combine Earth Balance/oil and soy milk with flour (food processor, hand mixer, or fork) until crumbly. Add vanilla extract. Divide dough in half. Place one half in between two sheets of waxed paper or aluminum foil and roll with a rolling pin until it fits the pie pan.

Bake bottom pie crust halfway (10 minutes or so). While it is baking, roll out the other half of the dough and slice into strips for a lattice top. Set aside.


*** Preparing the Filling

Chop or slice the apples. Saute the apples in Earth Balance for about 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.


***Preparing Caramel Sauce

Put Earth Balance into a saucepan on medium high heat until melted, add sugar and flour, stir to mix, and bring to a boil. Wisk constantly to incorporate. Once the Earth Balance has melted and mixture is smooth, take the pan off the heat. Slowly add the MimiCreme to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes.


***Putting It All Together

Remove pie crust from oven. Fill with apple mixture and pour caramel sauce over the top.

Make a lattice from the top crust strips on pie.

Bake for 15 minutes uncovered, then cover with foil and continue to cook at 350 degrees F for another 35-45 minutes.

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Here's the bottom crust rolled out -


Here's the caramel and apple mixture poured into the crust -


Here's the lattice-work top crust in place, before the pie went into the oven -


Here's the finished pie (the caramel exploded just a bit!) -


If you have leftover filling and crust (or perhaps an extra apple), you can make the leftovers into a pielette (or just halve or third the recipe and use a smaller dish for baking) -