RECIPE: PLANTLAB's Vegan Caramel Apples with Pumpkin Seed Crunch

We’ve been obsessed with Matthew Kenney’s Abbot Kinney vegan oasis, Plant Food + Wine, ever since we enjoyed our first meal of nut cheese and raw veggie lasagna there.
Kenney is the plant-based chef to know—he has multiple restaurants throughout the United States devoted to raw or vegan cooking and has received worldwide acclaim for his innovations in the vegan food space.  He’s also become very well known for his raw food cooking classes and certifications—his culinary academy’s training courses provide students with the foundation for creating healthy, aesthetically refined and flavorful cuisine to transform one’s life from the inside out.
So we were so excited to hear that PLANTLAB, the next iteration of Matthew Kenney’s cooking classes and educational courses, is expanding from one classroom in LA to another location in Soho, NYC. Students can choose from full-on intensive courses in raw food chef training to recreational vegan cooking classes, or craft their own unique course load with something in between.
Curious? Here’s just one of the beautiful dishes you’ll learn to make in PLANTLAB’s vegan cooking course.
Caramel Apples with Pumpkin Seed Crunch
APPLES
1 small apple
*Using a melon-baller, make apple balls placing in a bowl with cold lemon water to preserve color. Set aside.
MESQUITE CARAMEL
10 medjool dates, pitted and soaked in 2/3 cup of water for about 30 minutes
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon mesquite powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon water
Blend all ingredients until completely smooth (adding additional water as necessary, but using as little as possible). Pour caramel into a small bowl and set aside while preparing the Pumpkin Seed Crunch.
PUMPKIN SEED CRUNCH
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
scraped seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
pinch of salt
Grind all ingredients in a small food processor. Place in a small bowl, and follow assembly instructions below.
ASSEMBLY
Drain and pat dry the apples with a kitchen towel. Dip the apples into enough caramel sauce to coat. Carefully remove apples, one at a time, from the caramel with a wooden or metal skewer (or a toothpick) and roll in the pumpkin seed crunch, to coat. Chill in the fridge until coating is set.