This is the pie that I make every year for Christmas with my in-laws, the one I wouldn't dare show up without.
I made it this year for Thanksgiving when my oldest son Jonah brought his vegan roommate home for the holiday - but it's one of those recipes that non-vegans don't even notice is vegan, they just notice that it's festive and pretty and delicious.
It could be converted into a gluten-free treat by making a gluten-free crust, or by omitting the crust altogether and making apple-cranberry crumble, using gluten-free oats and oat flour. The filling and topping are amazing, and leftovers make my favorite Boxing Day breakfast.
Vegan Apple-Cranberry Pie with Crumb Topping
adapted from a recipe in Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello
Vegan pie crust for single-crust pie
5 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced thinly
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 cup cranberries
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 cup maple sugar, coconut sugar, or unrefined brown sugar, divided
3 tablespoons arrowroot
1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup brown rice syrup (or substitute maple syrup)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup walnuts or pecans broken into pieces
3/4 cup flour
6 tablespoons melted coconut oil
Preheat oven to 350.
Roll out pie crust, fit into pie pan, and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
Combine sliced apples, lemon zest and juice, cranberries, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/3 cup sugar, arrowroot and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix well. Pour into pie crust. Drizzle rice or maple syrup over the top.
Combine oats, walnuts or pecans, flour, remaining salt, remaining cinnamon, and remaining sugar in a food processor. Pulse a few times. Transfer to mixing bowl, and drizzle in melted coconut oil. Stir with a fork to make a crumbly topping.
Spread topping evenly over apples and cranberries, cover pie tightly with foil, and bake covered for 30 minutes.
Remove foil and bake 25-30 more minutes, until topping is brown and filling bubbles.
Cool at least 2 hours before eating. Excellent with vegan coconut vanilla ice cream.
