Chocolate-Covered Winter Fruit Pie


Both healthy and decadent, this pie is filled with favored winter fruits including apple, orange, banana, and pear, and made fragrant with spices and liqueur. Adapted from Vegetariana by Nava Atlas.

Serve: 6 to 8

• 1 large sweet apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1 medium orange, sectioned, seeded, and chopped
• 1 medium banana, sliced
• 1 medium pear, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup Amaretto or Grand Marnier
• 1/4 cup chopped dried dates or black figs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 whole-grain unbaked 9-inch pastry crust
• 6 ounces (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup rolled or quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance or other
  vegan nonhydrogenated margarine, melted

Preheat the oven to 350º F.

Combine the fruits in a mixing bowl with the liqueur, dried fruits, and spices. Mix well. Transfer the mixture to the pie shell and top as evenly as possible with the chocolate chips, making sure to get them into the crevices around the edges as well.

Combine the oats with the wheat germ in a small bowl. Pour the melted margarine over them and stir until evenly coated. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the pie.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until the oats are lightly browned, the fruit is done, and the chocolate chips are melted. Allow to cool until just warm, then serve.

• Here are more of VegKitchen’s Easy Vegan Cakes and Pies.