Cooking With Dia

In keeping with the all vegan Thanksgiving theme I started last month, I was thinking of a perfect dessert. I decided to make an apple butter pumpkin pie, and whereas it was a total of 3 days in the making, it was well worth the wait. I grew up loving apple butter and pumpkin pie, so what better dessert than the two together? The apple butter I made from scratch on Halloween night, it took me about 12 hours, and the pumpkin puree takes about 2 hours. The vegan puff pastry is just as time consuming, but the great news is if you are in a hurry you can go by a ready made puff pastry sheet–they are commonly made from vegan ingredients. But if you want to impress your family and friends with a pie completely made by yourself, you will have to set aside at least 2 days to cook your arse off.

The Apple Butter
20 apples of different varieties (I used a mixture of Royal Gala, Granny Smith and Pink Lady Apples)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1/2 cup of soft brown sugar
Peel and quarter all the apples and put them in a large stewing pot.
Add the cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar.
Simmer for 12 hours
Place in liquidizer or blender for 2-3 minutes, and then pour apple butter into jars.

The Pumpkin Puree
1 large pumpkin

Peel and slice the pumpkin into large pieces
Roast for about 1 hour at 180° Celsius
Place in blender for 2-3 minutes or until well pureed.

The Vegan Puff Pastry
2 cups flour
1.5 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of cold water
8 oz of soft vegan spread (Pure, Earth Balance)

Sift the flour twice and form it into a well on top of a large wooden board..
Add the salt, water and melted vegan spread into the well.
Mix with fingers until the salt has dissolved and the vegan spread has turned into tiny pieces.
Slowly work the pastry into the well until it forms a sticky ball.
Wrap the ball of pastry dough into greaseproof paper or saran wrap and place in fridge for about 25 minutes.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 min while forming a rectangle.
Roll out the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width.
It is OK for there to be vegan spread streaks, it should have a marbled effect.
Fold one side over to the other and then the top to the bottom and roll out again. Do this twice.
Fold again and wrap in cling film.
Store in fridge until ready to use. Take out 10 minutes before rolling out.

Dia’s Vegan Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie
1 cup of Dia’s Homemade Apple Butter (see recipe above)
1 cup of pumpkin puree (see recipe above)
1 puff pastry sheet (see recipe above)
1/2 cup of caster sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together in a blender, not too much though or it will become too thin a mixture.
Place the pastry sheet in a 9inch pie tin
Pour in the apple butter/pumpkin puree
Bake for 45min to 1 hour at 200°Celsius or until set
Slice and ENJOY!!!
This is one of the best pies you will ever taste!
© 2009 Cooking With Dia.