There are times when I feel like I need to bake something immediately. I start hastily flicking through my cookbooks and bookmarked recipes to find something I could make from ingredients available at home. Usually I spend too much time doing it. Usually I find tons of recipes I can’t use for a reason like a missing ingredients. Usually I’m so tired from this. I try to fight it. My motto says the more you bake/cook, the better you get, I hope it also works when it comes to picking a recipe.
This recipe is not fancy, I would call it rather rustic, especially if you don’t roll out the dough too nicely. I picked this tart or actually a mix of tart and pie because I like boiling sugar and because making traditional apple pie seemed too exhausting.
Apple tart
Recipe comes from Addio pomidory blog and I only replaced the almond croquant with toasted almond flakes.
For 26-28-cm tart pan (I used smaller pie pan, but it was still too small, so just follow instructions)
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 125g butter, chilled and cubed
- 75g caster sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 Tbsp cold alcohol (Calvados, cider, white wine, or Bison Grass Vodka)
For filling:
- 600-800g apples, peeled and grated or cut into small chunks (I recommend the second solution as it will add more texture)
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 Tbsp water
- 30g salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract / grated half of Tonka seed
- handful of almond flakes, toasted
The crust
- Sift the flour and baking powder.
With your hands, rub together the flour mixture with the butter cubes until the mixture forms small breadcrumbs. Alternatively, you can blitz it in a food processor for 10-12 second. - Add the sugar, egg yolk and alcohol and knead it quickly.
- Wrap the dough into cling film and put into the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Grease a tart pan with a butter. Dust it with flour. Set aside.
- Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it covers the tart pan.
Transfer it gently into the form. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the form.
Prick the dough with a fork. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. - Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan.
- Bake around 25 minutes or until golden.
- Let it cool.
The filling
- Add the apples into a small saucepan and put them on a small heat for 10 minutes.
- Place the sugar and water into a non-stick pan over a medium-low heat. Leave to melt (avoid stirring the sugar until it melts totally).
- The sugar will start caramelizing and turn golden brown.
- Add butter and stir.
- Cook it for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the apples and grated tonka or vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- Transfer apples into the tart base.
- Smooth the surface.
- Sprinkle with toasted almond flakes.
