Princess of Pies: Part Two

The pie parable continues...

Typically we are confronted by two kinds of pie right?

Custard/Cream Pies and Fruit pies.

Generally it is thought that pumpkin pie and sweet

potato pie fall somewhere in the middle if not make up

their own new category. What say I? Who gives a trixie's butt.

I love the idea of creating pies that no one would expect.

Or creating pies out of whatever you can scrape together.

For the vegan potluck we attended at Rancho Park in LA

on Thanksgiving, I made a winter fruit pie. Originally from

Catt Johnson's Witch in the Kitchen, I veganized it.

It uses a basic pastry crust, but I can imagine something like

a gingersnap or oatmeal crust being really good too.

The filling includes

3 cups of dried fruit (any, chopped)

I used apricots, raisins, golden raisins, and cranberries

2/3 cup vegan rum (white bacardi is good)

1/3 cup turbinado sugar

juice of one lemon or large lime

2 tbsp of earthbalance

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp sea salt

Mix all your dried fruit in a bowl, so its evenly distributed.

Heat the alcohol, sugar, juice, earthbalance, and seasonings

over a medium heat until it starts to thicken and bubble.

Add the vanilla and pour over the fruit, stirring to coat well.

Allow to sit about 20 minutes, so the fruit absorbs the syrup

and it can thicken a little. Pour into your prepped crust and

bake for about 20 minutes at 375F.

With the extra bits of crust, I shaped some autumn leaves and

placed them on top. Beautiful!

For more picture in this series checkout my facebook page!

Manic Mondays: Apple Dumplings with Rum sauce

Sometime between breakfast and ending up in the produce aisle

yesterday I had to choose what I was going to make for dessert.

I had a friend over for dinner before Monkey Man's gig. He was

making pizza and I had the assignment of wow-ing with dessert.

I didn't have much time to commit to cooking something, so it

had to be quick, simple and (as usual) absolutely delish.

I knew though when I saw those pretty little gala apples at the market

what dessert was going to consist of. Whenever I go camping I do baked

apples, stuffing them with just some sugar, raisins and cinnamon.

But last night I made full blown dumplin's.

Don't know how much wow-ing went

on in the rest of the room, but my taste buds were pretty happy.

I believe my taste buds where dancing to a punk rock version of 'what a

wonderful world'...

I started with a sweetened pie crust recipe- cut in half because there

was only three of us.

Crust

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup earth balance

1/4 tsp salt

1 tablespoon raw sugar

enough ice water to form a ball with the dough- about 2 tablespoons.

Cut the earth balance in to the dry ingredients, forming little pea

sized balls. This makes the crust flake, so don't knead it at all.

Add the water and split into three balls (?) Two if you want

a thicker crust. Roll these balls out and cut into squares.

The Apples

Core the apples, removing all the tough bits inside.

The filling

mix together a couple tablespoons of raisins and sugar

add about a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and couple tbsp of rolled oats.

I also added abut a tablespoon of sun flower seeds, but you can

use walnuts, pecans, or whatever blows your skirt up.

Place the cored apples on the center of rolled out crust.

Pack a third of the filling into the center of the apple.

Pull the corners of the crust up to meet the opposite corners

like a little package.

Stick em in the oven at 375-400 for about twenty minutes

or until the crust begins to turn golden brown.

To be honest I wasn't really watching the time or heat.

So don't worry too much. If your crust is cooked, your apple will

most likely be tender. Just don't put it right under the pilot light.

While this is all in the over or just ready to come out, start on your

rum sauce... which is comprised of .... soymilk... earth balance... sugar...

cornstarch or arrow root powder and rum. Dark or light rum is fine.

I used light, but dark would be just as tasty.

So melt a tablespoon of earth balance and 1/4 cup of sugar over med heat.

Dissolve 2 tsp of cornstarch in 1/2 cup of soymilk, making sure to avoid

lumping. Cook until just starts to thicken and remove from heat.

Add 3 tablespoons of rum and use immediately. That means pour

it over those hot apples!