Raw Apple Pie
I have had quite a few requests by friends and readers to create a raw food recipe for an apple pie. One friend in particular has been very insistent, mentioning it almost every time I see her…for months.
I don’t know about other raw food chefs, but my creative process is fickle. I need to be inspired. Something I see or read will trigger my creative flow and I go to work in the kitchen. Without that inspiration, that feeling that I need to make this now, I could sit for hours just staring into space having no idea what I should do.
Yesterday, I was finally inspired to create a recipe for a raw apple pie. I bought some beautiful, organic apples and set to work. I love walnuts with apples, so I had to make a walnut crust. Wanting soft apples, and also the juicy feel of a “baked” apple pie, a little oat flour was combined with the apple mixture creating a filling that is like a traditional recipe. I am very pleased with the results and hope you will be, too! This recipe takes a little more preparation than my normal recipes but it is worth it.
Raw Apple Pie with Maple Cinnamon Glaze
MAKES ONE 9-INCH PIE
Crust
- 2 cups walnuts, soaked until soft
- 2 tablespoons coconut butter
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar
- Drain walnuts. Place in food processor and process until a coarse meal is achieved.
- Add coconut butter and agave nectar. Mix until well combined.
- Press 1/4 in thick into tart shells or 9″ pie plate.
- Dehydrate for 3 hours at 116. You can start at at 140 for 45 minutes and then lower the temp.
Filling
- 4 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- juice from 1/2 lemon
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup agave nectar or liquid sweetener of choice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/3 cup raw oat flour
- Place apple slices in bowl.
- Sprinkle with lemon juice and toss.
- Mix together maple syrup, agave and cinnamon.
- Stir into apple mixture
- Add oat flour and toss to coat.
- Place filling in two separate glass pie plates.
- Place in dehydrator and dehydrate at 115 for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. Add water if mixture starts to dry out.
Maple Cinnamon Glaze
- 1 tablespoon coconut butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup*
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Whisk all ingredients together to combine.
Assembly
- Place filling in four, 4″ tart shells or one 9″ pie plate that you have already prepared with the crust.
- Place back into dehydrator for 2 hours.
- Remove and top with Maple Cinnamon Glaze
*maple syrup is not raw but used in raw food recipes.
Andrea Cole wrote on February 19, 2015
I didn’t go through all the comments, so someone probably already asked this but can you substitute the agave for something else?
Susan wrote on February 19, 2015
You can always use your favorite liquid sweetener of choice. Cheers!
Jerry Snyder wrote on September 2, 2014
True, sometimes, about inspiration. I am lucky to live just a few miles from a big orchard. They posted on their website, the first apples had been picked — Gala & HoneyCrisp. I think one of the best rawcipies I ever had was “peach cobbler” — where you take peach, pineapple, vanilla, and dates in the blender to make “the GOO” — slice the peaches super thin, and assemble. Wowee. (Of course, top with whatever crunchy you want — or put a crust, perhaps include coconut oil). But the cobbler idea didn’t seem to fit for fresh apple. So I thought — well, here’s goes nuthin’. I had half a zucchini leftover — so I used that, a frozen banana, vanilla, dates, a bit of maca & lucuma powder. I did the apple on a MicroPlane mandoline (turns out I like matchsticks better than slices), and I dusted it with some ‘real’ cinnamon (from Penzey’s). LUCKED OUT. So good I made more — this time a few walnuts added to the sauce, and some berries. I sprinked a little ‘real’ paprika on the pile of mandoline’d apples — and some pumpkin pie spice mix on the other, and drizzled the bare apples with maple syrup. Hmmm. Crunched some walnuts on the pile (good idea) added some broken banana bits, a few small, seeded plumb tomatoes (yellow and red, they’re fruits, too, right ?) — melted some coconut oil, sauced and sprinkled with hemp seed ! Ah HA ! I’ve heard it said it’s hard to screw up a raw food recipe — but I CAN do, lol. Not this time, though. Still working on variations — thought you had a good idea for oatmeal in the goo. Okay this was crustless this morning, but the apples were right off the tree, so, who cares ? Amazing how raw foods can draw ALL of your awareness and attention onto the plate; it’s as if the whole world went away, almost eerie how you eat the food and float away ! If you ever have variations, be sure to share, okay ? Happy Autumn. I never thought a zucchini and a banana would do it 2 it, but it worked, OMG ! I guess it’s like when you do chocolate pudding with avocado, they say “you won’t know there’s avocado in it” — same with a ½ zucchini for the goo in apple pie sauce . . .
Gina wrote on December 23, 2012
What a lovely looking pie!
Just wondering- what would happen if i made this and didn’t dehydrate…
put the crust in a fridge for a few hours instead?
Think it’d be flop?
Tracey wrote on December 23, 2012
Is there a substitute for oat flour? My husband is on a no starch diet for his arthritis. Thanks!
Resee wrote on December 21, 2012
This looks absolutely delicious and I’m sure it’s amazing! Wish I had the money for a dehydrator, but oh well…one of the many obstacles of living raw on a tight budget. Thanks for posting 🙂