A few years ago, I was reading a food magazine, in which there was a tribute to apple pies. What I liked in that, was the fact that there were many different apple-pie recipes from different countries and they all looked really yummy. Since I am almost addicted to apples and apple pies, from this article I drew some ideas to create my own vegan versions of each recipe, since the recipes that were given there were not vegan. Although I veganized all the apple pies I read in the article, the one that we distinguished and we like to make again and again was called “German apple pie”.
And maybe I cannot tell you for sure if this is an actual German apple pie, even though we keep calling it like that in our house but I can reassure you that this is one of the best apple pies I’ve ever eaten. It consists of a crispy, aromatic base with cinnamon speculoos cookies, a sweet, slightly creamy and aromatic stuffing and the wonderful cashew sour cream topping which gives a special character to our favorite fall dessert.
Ingredients
For the base
- 200 g vegan cinnamon cookies (such as speculoos)
- 80 g vegan margarine melted
For the apple stuffing
- 1,5 kg of sweet apples peeled and cut into slices of half a centimeter or thinner
- 85 g brown sugar (about 5 ½ tbsp)
- 70 g flour (1/2 cup approx.)
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
Vegan sour cream topping
- ½ cup cashews soaked for 4-6 hours
- 1/3 cup water
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
Method
For this recipe we need a baking pan with a removable bottom approximately 22 cm in diameter or a round baking tin.
1. Crush the cookies in the food processor and mix them with the melted margarine. Transfer the mixture into the springform pan and use the bottom of a glass or your fingers to press it evenly into the bottom.
2. In a large bowl, mix well the apples together with the spices, flour and sugar with and lay them over the biscuit base.
3. Drain the cashews and blend them with the water, lemon juice and sugar, at medium speed for 2-3 minutes to form a cream. With a spoon spread the cream evenly over the apples.
4. Bake at 180 oC for 45-55 minutes or until the surface gets a nice golden colour.
Serve warm or cold.
Note: Use gluten-free cinnamon cookies or other gluten-free cookies to make a gluten-free version of this delicious apple pie!