apple tart

“OH, YES, of course!” is what you say when your friend is calling with a gracious offer of a box of freshly harvested apples from an orchard she helped to pick. ‘I  know you will turn these apples in something beautiful and delicious” is what my dear friend said when she offered them to me. What a lovely gift to receive” right! So much gratitude and joy came up just looking at this box of abundance of freshly picked red and green apples.

“Beautiful and delicious” this is the kind of challenge or invitation I love!

And immediately I vividly remembered these beautiful apple tarts I enjoyed many times during my visits in France. The apples are layered in the crust like rose petals. That makes these apple tarts just look like lush roses in full bloom. Aren’t they beautiful? You can find these apple tarts in every patisserie there.

And there is nothing more rewarding than to share a loving gift with your friends. We had an invitation for a potluck the next weekend. So I decided that apple tart will be my offer to bring and share.

Did you know

that botanically, apples are members of the rose family, along with plums, apricots, peaches, cherries, quinces, pears, and of course a great variety of wild and cultivated roses?

Apples are among the world’s most popular fruit with thousands of varieties. And they have been cultivated for thousands of years in Persia, Greece, Armenia and other countries in the region – even in ancient Babylon. Maybe the next time you enjoy an apple, you might consider that its complex lineage dates back to long before Roman times.

My friend did not know the variety of the apples. They were delicious, medium sweet, crisp, very fresh, red apples to eat. But I did not know if the apples are good for baking.

So I decided that with some lemon juice I could modify the taste to the tart side for baking.

Ok, now let’s start with the base, a short crust.

My go-to, basic short crust

An ace up my sleeve for a good apple tart is my favorite go-to, buttery short crust. And adding butter makes everything taste better! It will work its magic to enhance the taste of the apple tart. But it is a crust perfect for any fruit, apples, pears, or plums.

But I must admit, there is one downside to this crust. I need to test if it is good enough – several times! First before it goes in the fridge to cool and rest. And after the rest, cold coming out of the fridge. That’s why I decided I better make a double batch to start with – just to make sure….

This crust is so easy to make, you just need a food processor. Or you easily can put it together with your hands and a knife. No kneading! Just put all the ingredients together on a work surface and cut them until it looks like coarse meal and clumps together.

And if you plan to make this apple tart for dessert of a big meal like Thanksgiving for instance, this crust can easily be made days in advance. It keeps fresh for up to 5 days in the fridge or even freezes well too.

 But this short crust is so versatile and can also be used for short bread cookies. Just use your favorite cookie cutter and sprinkle the dough with turbinado sugar before baking. Or, after baking sandwich two of the cookies together with crab apple jam, or cover with a chocolate or a sugar glaze. The baking time of the cookies is just 10-12 minutes until they are light golden brown.

So while the crust is in the fridge to cool and rest,

let’s start preparing the apples.

Wash, cut and core them but do not peel them. The peel keeps the shape of the layers and its beautiful color even after baking. On the mandoline cut them in very fine, thin slices. There are varieties of layering them in a tart depending on your patience.

Here are some varieties to layer them:

You can form small roses for tartlets (small tarts). Or, the variety I used for the big apple tart. You start by layering the apple slices around the rim of the tart baking form standing up. Continue layering the slices around and around until you get to the center where you placed one of the small roses in the middle.

finish with a shine

After you finished layering the apples you mix 2 Tbsp. of apricot jam with 1 Tbsp. of lemon juice and brush it on top of the apples before you place it in the oven. This enhances the taste and gives the apple tart a nice shine and coloring. Now off into the pre-heated oven and bake your apple tart for an hour.

You can enjoy this tart as dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Or offer it with coffee or tea and a dollop of whipped cream. I love coconut whipped cream. It adds a fresh, creamy light coconut flavor.

Let me know if you made this apple tart and how it went. Or better, post a picture on Instagram at #handfulandapinch

If you do have questions just shoot me an email to magdalena@handfulandapinch.com. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Be well and enjoy!

5 from 1 vote

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apple tart

this apple tart is not only beautiful to look at but so delicious on this thin, buttery short crust

Course baking, dessert

Cuisine French

Keyword apple cake, apple filled short crust, apple pastry, apple tart, short crust

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

resting time for the crust 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

short crust

• 2 C or 250 g white spelt flour you can use GF flour if needed or any pastry flour
• 11 Tbsp. 150 g very cold butter cut in small cubes
• 1 medium egg
• 1/3 C 70 g sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 dash vanilla powder or lemon zest from 1 organic lemon

filling

• 6 medium apples halved and thinly slices
• 4 Tbsp lemon juice, divided 3 - 1 about 1 1/2 lemon
• 2 Tbsp. biscuit or bread crumbs
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 2 Tbsp. apricot jam

Instructions

short crust (can be made days in advance)

1. in a food processor add the flour, sugar, salt and vanilla (or lemon zest) and puls a few times to mix well

   

2. add the cold butter cubes and pulse until it resembles coarse meal

   

3. add the egg and mix but do not overwork! It should still look crumbly. 

   

4. take a few crumbs and check if they stick together. That's when it's ready.

   

5. now pour the dough onto the kitchen surface and quickly push it together into a disc. Do not knead! Cover the dough with wax wrap (to avoid plastic) and chill for minimum 30 minutes or overnight. 

   

apple filling

1. pre-heat the oven to 175C/ 350F

2. while the dough is cooling, wash and cut the apples in half and core but do not peel them. With a mandoline slice the apples in very thin slices. place them in bowl and immediately add some of the lemon juice to avoid the browning. Continue until all apples are sliced.

   

3. butter the tart form and take your dough out of the fridge

4. There are 2 ways to fill in the dough

   1. roll out between 2 sheets of wax paper: flour the paper and the dough. Then roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thickness and in size to cover the tart form including the edges.  

   2. Or, pull off pieces from the dough and push them flat into the tart form to cover the bottom and sides to about 1/4-inch thickness. 

5. When your dough is evenly distributed in the form sprinkle the cookie crumbs onto the bottom. 

6. Now, this is a wonderful opportunity for a mindfulness practice my friends. Take the apple slices and layer them evenly standing up into the tart form like rose petals starting on the outer edge. Continue until you filled the form and arrived in the center.   

   

7. When your tart form is filled, thinly brush on the mix of the apricot jam and 1 Tbsp. lemon juice. This enhances the taste and gives the tart a beautiful shine.

   

8. bake for about 60 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

9. Let the apple tart cool for at least 30 minutes. You can enjoy the tart still slightly warm or let it cool completely. 

   Either way, enjoy it with a dollop of coconut whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

10. Guten Appetit!

Recipe Notes

This short crust is a basic crust recip and can be used for all kinds of tarts as well as for short bread cookies. 

You easily can double the amount and store one half in the freezer in a re-usable freezer bag . This way the dough stays fresh for a about 3 months in the freezer or about 1 week in the fridge.