Help! Vegan friend coming to dinner!

Of course, dbrookf, but it feels to me, hardly like a recipe, as it's so simple and I've done it all my life!
Thanks, moneyistoo.... as I had forgotten that strict vegans are very careful about booze (the ones I know aren't!)
Anyway, you need an apple each - a medium size cooking apple, especially Bramley, is best, but it will work with a large eating apple. You cut the core out - I have inherited a handy little gadget for this, and they can be found cheaply. If not, you have to stand it upright and, using a narrow bladed knife, cut round the core, from top and bottom, so you can push it out. Don't peel.
Now, you can fill the cavity with mincemeat or dried fruit, and I have known a little plug of left-over marzipan put in the bottom as well. You don't need any fat if using mincemeat. If it's just fruit, I add a little butter on the top, for a lovely taste, but plain oil will be fine for vegans. If cutting down on the fat, just rub a little on the dish to stop it sticking. You can splash in some booze - almost any kind, but I use whisky / rum / brandy from Xmas stash, or a little fruit juice - orange or grape works very well - and I have known fruit teas or similar used. I don't add sugar, but some will drizzle in honey.
If your dried fruit is very dry, soak it beforehand. I wrap the dish in foil or put a lid on.
Now your apple can go in almost any oven except a very hot one. I would normally put in the bottom of the oven while the main dish cooked. It will do beautifully in a slow cooker. In a medium oven it will take 30-45 minutes. Sometimes the skin will split - it is not always a beautiful dish to look at, but is delicious. Serve as it is. Sometimes the skin gets a bit hard in cooking, but you can easily scrape off all the lovely apple as you eat.

We are, in my world, just at the end of baked apple time, it is a glorious winter treat. Now the last of the stored apples have been used, or need cutting up, and the oranges from Spain are in the shops. But it is a dish that can be enjoyed at any time.

When my gran cooked baked apples she used to run the knife around the middle of the skin to prevent it splitting and now I do the same, although DH isn't keen on baked apples so we don't have them very often.

No, I realise that honey isn't vegan - I thought that as the request came from another poster, it was a general request, although of the course the post title is about vegans.
I have tried running the knife round the middle, and found it just all spills everywhere - if cooking slowly it doesn't tend to split. But honestly, it's one of those dishes where you do what works for you.
I have used maple syrup when I got some as a gift and it was delicious - I think that the apple absorbs these lovely flavours so make it all the nicer.

Look at Jack Monroe - Cooking on a Bootstrap. She has lots of vegan recipes.