Apple Croustades Recipes

APPLE CROSTATA

Steps:

• Combine 1 1/2 cup flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter using 2 knives or a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Mix water and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Stir into flour mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together. Gently roll into a ball and flatten slightly. Wrap with plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Toss apples with 1/2 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons flour in a large bowl.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Roll dough out to a 12-inch circle on a floured work surface. Transfer to the baking sheet. Arrange apple slices in the center of the circle, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Fold up border over apples, pinching together slightly.
• Combine 1 tablespoon sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over apples.
• Bake crostata in the preheated oven until crust is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.

APPLE CROSTATA

Steps:

• For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, or until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Keep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass. Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
• Flour a rolling pin and roll the pastry into an 11-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Transfer it to a baking sheet.
• For the filling, peel, core, and cut the apples into 8ths. Cut each wedge into 3 chunks. Toss the chunks with the orange zest. Cover the tart dough with the apple chunks leaving a 1 1/2-inch border.
• Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Pour into a bowl and rub it with your fingers until it starts holding together. Sprinkle evenly on the apples. Gently fold the border over the apples to enclose the dough, pleating it to make a circle.
• Bake the crostata for 20 to 25 minutes, until the crust is golden and the apples are tender. Allow to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

AMAZING APPLE CROSTATA

Steps:

• Mix flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, and salt together with an electric mixer until combined. Mix in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water, 2 teaspoons at a time, while the mixer is running until dough just holds together. Test dough by pinching a small amount between your fingers; if it is crumbly, add a 1 teaspoon more ice water at a time.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until slightly firm, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Squeeze 1/2 the lemon over the apple slices to keep from browning.
• Place a large piece of parchment paper on a flat work surface. Roll dough into a round 12 to 16 inches in diameter, 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick. Arrange apple slices in 2 layers on the dough, leaving a 1 1/2 to 2-inch border all around. Fold up the border, pleating the edge to make it fit; leave most of the apples uncovered.
• Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle over apples. Squeeze remaining 1/2 lemon over apples. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar over crust. Transfer parchment paper to a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until crust is golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes.

APPLE CROUSTADES

Steps:

• 1. Pour Armagnac over raisins in bowl. Set aside to plump 15 minutes. 2. Heat 2 Tbs. margarine in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples, and sauté 5 minutes, or until beginning to brown. Add raisins and Armagnac, and cook 2 minutes, or until alcohol has evaporated. Transfer to bowl, and stir in 1/4 cup sugar. Cool. 3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt remaining 1/2 cup margarine. Brush 12-cup muffin pan (1/2 cup size) with melted margarine. 4. Unroll phyllo, and keep under damp towel to retain moisture. Place 1 phyllo sheet on work surface. Brush with margarine, and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. sugar. Top with second phyllo sheet, brush with margarine, and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. sugar. Repeat until you have 6 layers of phyllo sheets, but do not sprinkle top sheet with sugar. Cut phyllo stacks into 4 squares. Press 1 square into 1 muffin mold, letting edges hang over. Fill phyllo "crust" with 1/3 cup apple mixture. Brush edges with margarine, and fold over apple mixture. Brush top with margarine to "glue" top together. Repeat with remaining squares. Repeat layering and assembly with remaining phyllo sheets, margarine, sugar, and apple mixture. 5. Bake croustades 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden-brown. Cool 10 minutes in muffin pan, then carefully unmold, and cool on wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

PRUNE AND APPLE CROUSTADE

Steps:

• Soak the prunes in Armagnac overnight (or perhaps use preserved prunes in Armagnac from a gourmet shop, which have even more flavor because they'll have macerated longer). Drain, pit and roughly chop, reserving the liquid.
• Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter in a saute pan and add the apples until soft, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle over 2 to 3 tablespoons of the sugar and continue cooking to caramelize, about 10 minutes more. Pour on about a tablespoon of the reserved Armagnac, flambe, and boil until the flames die out and the liquid has disappeared. Remove from the heat and taste. Depending on your apples, the mixture may need more acidity. If it does, add a squirt of lemon to taste. Stir through the chopped prunes.
• Heat the oven to 375 degrees F/190 degrees C. Set the ring part of an 8-inch/20 cm springform pan on a baking sheet.
• Prepare the pastry: Melt the remaining butter in a small saucepan or microwave. Working with one phyllo sheet at a time, prepare as follows: lay one sheet of phyllo on a clean surface and cut into three strips crosswise (not lengthwise). Brush one of the three strips with melted butter, sprinkle with a little sugar and a few drops of Armagnac. Lay another strip on top and repeat. Lay the final strip on top and brush with butter. Your single sheet of phyllo is now a three-layer-thick strip. Lay it in the center of the ring mold so that it runs from the middle out, and up and over the edge of the ring, like the spoke of a wheel. Continue with the remaining strips, laying them in around the ring slightly overlapping so that there are no openings.
• Spoon the prune and apple filling into the bottom of the mold. Fold the pastry strips up in over top, twisting somewhat as you go so that the top is a rustic landscape of papery peaks and valleys totally covering the top of the tart. Brush quite generously with butter and scatter over a scant handful of sugar. (You may have some butter and sugar left over once you're done. If you do, use them for something else. The same goes for the Armagnac, of which you will have a lot left: use it in fruit salad or let a piece of pound cake drink it up...or serve it in tiny glasses with dessert.)
• Remove the springform ring, leaving the formed croustade on the baking sheet. Bake until the pastry is fully cooked and golden, about 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, slide onto rack and cool. Serve with ice cream on the side or all on its own.

APPLE CRUMB CROSTATA

Steps:

• Make the crust: With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat flour, sugar, salt, and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add egg yolks, and beat slightly. Drizzle ice water over mixture, and beat until just combined. Form dough into a disk; wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour or up to 3 days.
• Make the filling: Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add apples, zests, and salt, stirring until coated. Sprinkle sugar over mixture, and cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, liquid has thickened, and apples are almost golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet, and let cool to room temperature.
• Make the topping: In a food processor, pulse flour, sugars, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and butter just until mixture resembles coarse meal. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. On a lightly floured piece of parchment, roll out dough to a 14-inch round, 1/4 inch thick. Place dough and parchment on a rimmed baking sheet. Pile cooled apple mixture in center, leaving a 3-inch border. Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over apples. Fold edges of dough over apples, overlapping and leaving an opening in the center.
• Refrigerate or freeze until dough is firm, about 30 minutes. Lightly brush dough with beaten egg, and sprinkle dough with fine sanding sugar. Bake until pastry is golden brown and apples are tender, 40 to 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, with vanilla ice cream.