Quick Vegan Pie Dough/Crust

Spring always makes me think of flowers, picnics, tea time, and light lunches.  Leaving winter behind, Spring ushers in a new season of color, fruits, vegetables, and light eats.  Quick quiches and fruit pies are abundant in the Spring and no Fourth of July would be complete without an apple pie.  This year, since 2013 is my year to welcome more raw eats, I will be making baked pies as well as raw pies for all occasions.  Since I consider quiche to be a savory pie, this crust coincides with my Sundried Tomato and Spinach Quiche recipe.  However, this light and flakey crust is perfect for pot pies, fruit pies, and tarts.  This was my first go swapping elbow grease for electric power and I now love my food processor even more than before.  This recipe is a quick, vegan, dough made in a food processor.  The dough blade of your processor will give the dough the perfect amount of kneading necessary for the ideal crust that we loved as non-vegans. 
April will be my first Spring on Bainbridge Island and the abundance of tulips, hyacinth, and daffodils were a welcome surprise.  The little Pacific Northwest Island isn’t only covered in rain, it’s covered in little drops of pink, purple, yellow and of course, tons of green!  Bulbs always remind me of travels in the Netherlands and the great tulip festivals of Holland.  If you ever have the chance to visit this island, Spring will not disappoint.  Grab a chair on a glorious sunny day and when the rain ceases to fall, grab a slice of pie and take in all the colors of spring. 


Local gardeners are not the only ones making Spring bountiful!  The local farms are showing off their little lambs! So cute   It is nice to see animals being treated so well and it a welcome reminder of why I never eat meat.  Aren’t they so much cuter alive than on someone plate!

Basic Vegan Pie Dough/Crust
This recipe will yield once crust suitable for a 9-inch pie pan.  For a covered pie, double the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, solid (add more if needed)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar (make sure your sugar is labeled vegan)
- 1/3 cup ice water (more if needed)

Directions:
1. Into the bowl of the food processor fitted with the dough blade, add in the flour, salt and sugar.  Pulse to combine.
2.  Add solid coconut oil and pulse until your mixture is crumbly and sticks together when you pinch it between two fingers.
3. Pulse in the 1/3 cup of ice water.  More might be needed but we are aiming for is the dough to start to hold together.  It is perfectly alright to have a few or a lot of crumbles since this will make for a light flaky crust, but we want dough that sticks together well enough to easily roll into a ball.
4.  Turn your dough onto a clean, lightly floured surface.  Roll your dough into a ball.  Using a rolling pin and a dash of elbow grease, roll the dough into a large circle.
5.  Prepare your pie pan by placing a circle of parchment paper in the middle (this will help you remove you pie easily when done) and lightly grease.  Lay the dough over the pie pan.  Use scissors to cut away the excess.  If you are making a quiche, stop here.
6.  If you are making a pie, this is the point where you fill your pie crust and then cover with another layer of crust.  I promise a post on pie to come soon!