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This recipe has been created as a way to celebrate my grandma’s, my oma’s, apple strudel. It’s not a strudel, neither is it a pie, but I call it grandma’s vegan apple pie because it’s just so homey, reminds me of my granny and I veganised it (hehe).
A vegan twist on my grandma’s classic
As mentioned, my oma makes the best apple strudel in the whole world. My fave has always been apple and cheese filling. That’s what I’m recreating in this recipe.
I combined apples with vegan cheese filling made from tofu. I promise you won’t be disappointed. My whole family (both sides) have approved of it and they are far from being vegan.
Although my oma makes a strudel, I decided to go the other way. It would be dishonorable to try and make strudel because nothing can compare with oma’s phyllo dough. She makes it herself, you see. I could never make a strudel as good as hers so let’s roll with a simpler option, shall we?
I believe apple strudel is what it is because of cinnamon. I don’t think this dessert would be any good without it. Cinnamon is a warm winter spice that I personally use all year round – love it. Similarly, I believe that this dessert is not just a winter thing but can be a delicious treat any time of the year. Refreshing in the summer (from the fridge), warming in the winter (straight from the oven).
What to be careful about when making my oma’s apple pie
When you’re making the base sponge cake, make sure to mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients just before adding other layers and baking the whole thing. Baking powder starts working its magic right away and the cake might lose its fluffiness if you mix it too soon.
The mix of flours is there for a reason, but I don’t think it would be a huge problem if you opt for only one of them. If you choose wholemeal flour your sponge cake might end up a bit denser and with white flour a bit more fluffy, but it should be alright either way.
Don’t forget to strain apples! You have to squeeze out as much liquid as possible otherwise your sponge cake just below the apple layer won’t cook as it should. Add lemon juice and cinnamon after that so you don’t flush them away along with the juice from apples. And don’t throw that apple juice away! It’s literally freshly squeezed apple juice so please, sit down and have a sip. It’s delicious.
I use almonds in this recipe because I just love the taste of roasted almonds. If you want you can experiment a little and add walnuts or hazelnuts instead of almonds. I bet that would be fantastic, too.
I use brown sugar, not white, but I guess white would work, too. I don’t use it so I’m not sure how it would affect the taste. You could try coconut sugar as well or agave syrup in which case you need to adjust other liquids.
Vanilla sugar can be replaced by vanilla extract, but it really depends on which one you use, so use with caution or use as much as you know will be okay.
I use oat milk because I love it and I always have it at home. But you can use any plant milk you want. The same goes for yogurt – any plain plant yogurt will do.
About the other ingredients: you need them all. They make this pie what it is. I’ve tried this recipe out a million times (maybe not a million, but I stopped counting at 8 and there have been a few more) and everything is exactly where it should be.
Generally speaking, this is not a complicated recipe and there are no weird procedures. But it takes a bit of time to prepare all the layers. I promise you all effort will be worth it in the end.
Do you like cakes and homey desserts? Try my softest vegan cinnamon rolls, vegan speculaas cake with caramel sauce (that I created with my good friend Anja), or maybe some vegan cheesecake bars with berries. These will not disappoint you.
Are you recreating any of my recipes? Don’t forget to take a photo and tag me on Instagram @littlekitchenvibes
Grandma's Apple Pie
Ingredients
Sponge cake
- 75 g all-purpose flour spelt
- 75 g wholemeal flour spelt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 50 g brown sugar or coconut
- 1 pack vanilla sugar
- 100 ml oat milk
- 50 ml coconut oil
- 50 ml coconut yogurt
Apple layer
- 600 g apples
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ½ lemon juice
Cheese filling
- 400 g natural firm tofu
- 40 ml lemon juice
- 100 ml coconut yogurt
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- 40 g brown sugar
- 1 pack vanilla sugar
Crumble
- 50 g wholemeal flour
- 50 g all-purpose flour
- 20 g brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- ½ tsp lemon zest
- 30 g coconut oil
- 60 g almonds whole
Instructions
Sponge cake
- We'll start with preparing the first layer - the sponge cake. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Melt coconut oil and add it to a smaller bowl along with oat milk and yogurt. Mix the wet ingredients well, too. Let them sit separately on a countertop until all the layers are ready.
Apple layer
- I use 600 g of whole apples, not yet cleaned and grated. So go ahead and wash them and cut them into pieces. I like to help myself with an electric chopper, but it's good if you simply grate them by hand.
- Make sure you strain them - put the apples into a colander (put a bowl or a plate underneath to catch the fresh apple juice) and press them into the bottom. Get as much liquid out as you can.
- Then put them into a large bowl and add lemon juice and cinnamon. Give it a good mix.
Cheese filling
- This one is the easiest. Crumble or cut tofu into smaller pieces and place them into a blender. Then add all other ingredients for the cheese filling and blend them together until smooth. Ta-dah!
Crumble
- Put all the dry ingredients for your crumble into a large bowl. Mix them well. Then add coconut oil (not melted). Using your hands mix it and knead it into a crumble. It should be sticking together. If it's not, add one tablespoon of water and see if you can shape a ball. If not, add another tablespoon of water. Now it should work.
- In case it's hot outside, place the ball of dough into the fridge in order to prevent coconut oil from melting. If it's winter and it's not hot, then it's okay to leave it sitting on the countertop.
- Take almonds and chop them.
Putting it all together
- First of all, turn on the oven to 180°C. Then prepare your baking tray. Mine is about 20x30cm. I grease it lightly and place a piece of parchment paper on top of it. Shape it into the tray and leave it there.
- Time to finally mix together the dry and the wet ingredients for sponge cake. Do that and pour it into the baking tray, lined with parchment paper.
- On top of the sponge cake layer, add apples. I somehow crumble it to make sure it's all evenly distributed.
- Cheese filling: pour it on top of the apples. You might need a bit of help from a spatula to distribute it all over the apple layer so make sure to pour it all around the tray and not just in one place. Then use a spatula or a spoon to spread it out.
- Let's finish off with a crumble. It should be sticking together in a ball so use a grater to grate it on top of the cheese layer. Make sure it covers all of the surface. When that's done, sprinkle the whole thing with chopped almonds.
- Bake at 180°C for about 45 minutes. Once it's done, let it rest for at least 15 minutes, it's even better if you let it rest for longer.
- Enjoy with some tea, coffee, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.
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