Mr. R&R doesn’t cook. No interest whatsoever, in fact left to his own devices he cheerily admits to existing on tomatoes, bread and shop-bought ice-cream with possibly the odd gricia pasta (olive oil and pancetta) in extremis. So he has a bit of difficulty describing food in technical terms – all he remembered about the apple tart he loved from being a kid was that there was some kind of pastry (devastatingly helpful), concentric rings of apples (fair enough) and a sugary sort of topping (no, not a caramel, but not just sprinkled sugar, oh perhaps it was just the crispy top of the apples).
Aaaaargh!
Since there are about three million different torte or crostate di mele in my recipe books and online, I just plumped for one that would be yummy. Profumo di Lievito is always authoritative and looks gorgeous so that was first on the list, and this alsatian apple tart seemed closest to what we needed.
Needless to say, it wasn’t this tart that Mr. R&R had in mind – but he’s not quite sure why. The search continues (1 down, 2,999,999 to go) but let’s just say that this particular tart didn’t go to waste…
It’s a very simple principle – a shell of Italian-style pastry which is slightly spongy and soft from baking powder. Inside, layers of very thinly sliced apples, bound together with a light custard. Neither the apples nor the custard is precooked, meaning that if you happen to have some pastry or a tart shell ready-made, you can have this tart on the table in just an hour. It’s not overly sweet or heavy, meaning it’s the kind of thing I want to eat mid-morning with a cup of tea.
Alsatian apple tart
Adapted, very slightly, from Profumo di Lievito
Makes one 28cm tart, or 8-10 slices
For the apple tart
- 1 lined tart shell, using pasta frolla as below
- 3-4 dessert apples
- 2 eggs
- 130ml milk
- 150ml cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 50g caster sugar
- icing sugar for dusting
Blind bake the tart shell for about 15 minutes at 180˚C, 10 minutes with greaseproof and baking beans, 5 minutes without (I did mine from frozen for about 20 minutes in total).
In the meantime, peel and quarter the apples and slice them very thinly with a mandoline. In a jug, beat the eggs briefly and add the sugar, milk, cream and vanilla extract.
When the tart is ready, layer in the apples (you may not need all of them), keeping aside some nice examples for the top layer – as long as you keep a flat surface don’t worry about the arrangement of lower layers, but finish with one neat layer of slices in concentric circles.
Pour in the custard mixture gradually, letting it seep down and then adding more as you can. If you can’t fit it all in, you can hoik the tart out after 5 minutes and pour the rest in more easily. Put the tart in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, then dust very generously with icing sugar and put back in the oven for 10 minutes. I also needed to cover the pastry edges of the tart with strips of foil to stop them colouring too much. At the end of cooking, the custard should be just set and the apples tender. Serve dusted with extra icing sugar, along with vanilla ice-cream or greek yoghurt.
For the Italian pastry, pasta frolla
Makes about 950g, enough for two tart shells
- 500g all purpose, plain flour
- 250g butter, at room temperature
- 150g caster sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- zest of lemon
This sort of pastry gets put together differently from the usual method of rubbing cold butter into flour and turns out quite spongy and soft, rather than “short”.
Cut the butter into small pieces and put into a large bowl. Add in the zest of the grated lemon and the sugar. Quickly work the sugar into the butter so it’s incorporated well, but the butter doesn’t start to melt. Break the eggs into the mixture and use a hand whisk to incorporate these too. In another bowl, or on the worktop, sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a hill. Make a large dent at the top of the hill and tip the butter/egg/sugar mixture into this. Incorporate in the flour with your hands quickly into a ball of pastry, avoiding overworking it. Divide into two and wrap in cling film and chill for at least half an hour. (There’s a series of photos here which demonstrate the process well.)
Roll out one half of the pastry and use to line a 28cm tart tin. Freeze for later or use immediately.
2 Comments on "Alsatian apple tart"
I love eating sweets mid-morning too. I figure if I go for a walk most days then I’l still fit in my pants ;P
I believe this is nutritionally accurate, although I am getting one of these to try and prove it…