Tarte Aux Pommes Recipes

TARTE FINE AUX POMMES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200C. Roll out pastry to 3mm thick, place on a tray and refrigerate to rest (30 minutes).
• Meanwhile, for cinnamon-verjuice syrup, stir ingredients and 80ml water in a saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, bring to the boil and cook until a light syrup forms (10-15 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside.
• Cut out a 23cm-diameter round from pastry, place on an oven tray lined with baking paper and set aside. Rub sugar, vanilla seeds and cinnamon in a bowl to combine, then pass through a sieve and set aside. Trim ends from apples, thinly slice on a mandolin (discard seeds), then layer over pastry in concentric circles, leaving a 1cm border. Brush apples with half the butter, then scatter half the sugar mixture evenly over and bake until starting to puff and turn golden (10-15 minutes). Remove from oven and brush with remaining butter, scatter with remaining sugar, then return to oven until dark golden and cooked through (20-25 minutes; cover edges of pastry with foil if they start to darken too much). Serve warm drizzled with cinnamon-verjuice syrup and with crème fraîche.

FRENCH APPLE TART (TARTE DE POMMES A LA NORMANDE)

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together 1 1/3 cups of flour and salt. Add the butter, 1 egg yolk and water, and stir until the mixture forms large crumbs. If it is too dry to press a handful together, stir in more water. Press the dough into a ball, and wrap in plastic wrap. Flatten slightly, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or until firm. This part can be done up to three days in advance.
• To make the frangipane, cream together the butter and 1/2 cup of sugar in a medium bowl until light and soft. Gradually mix in the egg and the remaining egg yolk one at a time. Stir in the apple brandy. Stir 2 tablespoons of flour into the ground almonds, then mix into the batter. Set aside.
• Roll the pastry dough out to about a 12 inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Fold loosely into quarters, and center the point in a 10 inch tart or pie pan. Unfold dough, and press into the bottom and up the sides. Prick with a fork all over, and flute the edges. Return pastry to the refrigerator to chill until firm.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Place a baking sheet inside the oven while it preheats.
• Spoon the frangipane into the chilled pastry, and spread into an even layer. Arrange the apple slices in an overlapping spiral pattern. Each slice should have one edge pressed into the frangipane until it touches the pastry base, and then overlap the previous slice. Start at the outside edge, and work towards the center.
• Place the pie plate on top of the baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the filling begins to brown. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake for another 10 minutes, then sprinkle sugar over the top of the tart. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes, or until the sugar caramelizes slightly.
• Cool the tart on a wire rack. A short time before serving, warm the apricot jelly. Add some water if necessary to make it a liquid consistency. Brush onto the tart for a nice shine.

TARTE AUX POMMES

Steps:

• Crust: Place flour on a clean surface (preferably marble, granite, or wood). Make a well in the center. To the well, add salt, sugar, butter, and 1 tablespoon ice-cold water. With your fingertips, push the flour and butter together until large clumps form, adding more water if the mixture seems too dry to come together. When the mixture begins to look shaggy, begin pushing it forward with the heel of your hand. Continue pushing it together until the flour and butter are a single mass of dough. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour (or freeze up to 2 weeks).
• Parbake crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place a box grater into the glass pie dish. Grate half of the chilled (or frozen) dough on the wide holes of a box grater directly onto the bottom of the pie dish. Gently press the dough into the bottom of the dish; it should be ¼-inch thick. (Grate additional dough if it's too thin. Reserve remaining dough for another tart.) Lightly butter one side of a sheet of parchment paper and lay it onto the dough, buttered side down. Fill the pie dish with pie weights, dried beans, or uncooked rice, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove weights, beans, or rice and parchment paper, and continue baking uncovered until lightly brown, 10-15 minutes.
• Apple filling: Cut apples in half, core, and trim stem. Cut into very thin half-moon slices and place into a large mixing bowl.
• In the bowl, toss the apples with half of the melted butter and all but 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Pile the apples into the parbaked crust, then drizzle the remaining butter and sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, 35-40 minutes.
• Remove the tarte from the oven and cool slightly, 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into pieces. Serve warm or room temperature.

CLASSIC FRENCH TARTE AUX POMMES

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients for the dough.
• In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and salt.
• Using a pastry cutter , large-tined fork, or a food processor on pulse setting, cut the chilled butter into the flour until it resembles coarse sand with a few pea-sized pieces of butter still visible.
• Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the cold water onto the mixture and toss a few times gently, just until starts to hold together. Add another tablespoon of cold water if necessary; the dough should hold together when squeezed but not be so wet it's sticky.
• Gather the dough into a ball, flatten into a thick disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for several hours before working with it. Make the Frangipane
• Gather the ingredients for the frangipane.
• Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a handheld mixer) and cream together.
• Add the almond meal and mix to combine.
• Add the egg yolk and vanilla, gently beating until all is mixed.
• Finish by adding the flour and combining until well mixed. Refrigerate until ready to use. Assemble and Bake
• Gather remaining ingredients along with the dough and frangipane. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough a circle large enough to fit a 9-inch or 10-inch fluted tart pan. It should be about 11 to 12 inches wide and 1/8 inch thick.
• Lay the dough into the tart pan and press it into the bottom and up the sides.
• Roll the rolling pin across the top of the pan to trim off the excess dough. Chill the pastry for 20 minutes.
• Place the tart pan on a baking sheet.
• Spread the frangipane evenly over the bottom of the chilled pastry shell, arrange the apple slices in a fan or spiral shape over the frangipane, and bake the tart for 12 to 15 minutes until the crust begins to turn golden brown.
• Reduce the heat to 350 F and continue cooking for 20 to 30 minutes until the apples are tender, but not overly soft, and the frangipane is cooked through and not sticky. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the apple tart to cool for 10 minutes.
• Brush the melted apricot jelly over the warm apples and serve the tart at room temperature.

APPLE TART

Steps:

• To make the quick puff pastry, in a medium bowl mix the flour and salt. (You can also make this part of the recipe in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.) Add the cubes of butter and mix quickly with a pastry blender, or your clean hands, until the butter is in just slightly smaller pieces, about 25% smaller than they originally were. Add the water and mix (and knead a little bit), until the dough forms a cohesive mass, which will still be a bit shaggy. On a lightly floured countertop, pat the dough out into a rough rectangle.
• With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rough rectangle approximately 10 x 5-inches (25x12cm.)
• Fold the dough over in thirds, starting with one side being folded over the center.
• Then fold the other end over the center.
• Now turn the dough so that the short ends of the rectangle are back on the left and the right. You've done one "turn."
• Repeat that process of rolling out the dough again as you just did, folding left over the center, then right over the center. That is your second "turn." Repeat during two more "turns" until you've done a total of four turns. Wrap the dough and chill it at least 2 hours.
• Do two more turns of the rough, rolling and folding (at this point, you will have done a total of six turns), then wrap the pastry and chill it for at least an hour, until ready to use.
• When ready to prepare and bake the tart, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• On a lightly floured countertop roll the pastry into a 14-inch (35cm) circle. Use a tart ring or round cake pan as a guide, trim the dough with a paring knife so it's a 12-inch (30cm) circle. If you don't have a similar-sized ring or pan, you can eyeball it. Fold the dough in half, which makes it easier to handle, then transfer it to the baking sheet and unfold it. Put the baking sheet in the refrigerator while you peel and core the apples.
• To assemble and bake the tart, preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC.)
• Peel and slice the apples as thinly as possible either by hand or with a mandoline. (Here I used a chef's knife.) Remove the dough from the refrigerator and arrange the nicest slices of apples in concentric circles over the pastry, leaving a small border of dough around them. (You can snack on the less-attractive apple bits.) Brush or drizzle the melted butter over the apples, as well as on the crust making the border, then sprinkle the sugar over the apples and exposed crust. Bake the tart until the apples and the crust are deep golden-brown, about 25 to 30 minutes, but rely more on how it looks rather than a kitchen timer since apples (and ovens) can vary. Let cool for a few minutes, then brush with the glaze.

TARTE AUX POMMES (FRENCH APPLE - CUSTARD TART)

Steps:

• For crust: Roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface turning it constantly so that it does not stick; add more flour as needed (the dough might crack around the edges, most of the cracks don't matter since the edges will be trimmed after the tart is in the pan, if there are some big ones that will show when the tart is in the pan, patch them with pieces of dough before fitting the) when the dough is rolled out, flip it over the rolling pin and transfer it to a 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom; fit it into the tart pan without stretching; roll the rolling pin over the top of the tart to cut off the dough hanging over the pan's edge; refrigerate 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400°F Place the tart pan on shallow baking sheet; fit the tart pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, fill with beans or pie weights, and bake in the middle of preheated oven for 15 minutes; carefully remove the foil with beans and bake for another 5 minutes.
• For filling: Turn the heat down to 375F; quarter, core, and peel the apples; cut into 1/4" lengthwise slices; toss them in a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon, then arrange them in the crust in concentric circles; bake in the upper third of preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until they start to color and are almost tender; remove from oven and let cool while preparing the custard.
• For custard: Beat the egg and sugar together in a mixing bowl until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and falls back on itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon; beat in the flour, then the cream, and finally the cognac; pour the mixture over the apples; it should come almost to the top of the pastry shell; return to oven for 10 minutes, or until cream begins to puff.
• Sprinkle with icing sugar (placed in a sieve and sprinkled evenly over) and return to oven for 15 to 20 minutes more.
• Tart is done when top has browned and a knife plunged into the custard comes out clean; unmold the tart; cool 10 minutes and serve.

TARTE AUX POMMES

Steps:

• Total Prep. Time: 10 minutes. Total Cook Time: 20 minutes. Pre-Heat Oven to 375 deg. Farenheit. Remove the puff pastry from its packaging and let it dethaw in the fridge, about 20 minutes. Place the puff pastry sheet on a greased cookie sheet. Place a round plate on the puff pastry and cut along the edge until the puff pastry is round. Halve the apples sideways, and cut out the core. Peel each half, and cut in half lengthwise. Slice each quarter of apple into thin slices, until all slices resemble crescents. Reserve the small end pieces. Melt the 2 tbsp. of butter in either a pot on low heat or in the microwave for 10 seconds. Brush the puff pastry with the melted butter until completely brushed with butter. Arrange the apple slices, layered, one on top of another, in a circular patter around the rim of the puff pastry. Use the remaining apple slices and the smaller end pieces and arrange in the middle of the puff pastry. Brush the arranged apple slices with remaining butter. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove apple tart from the oven and sprinkle sugar over all the apple slices. Using the kitchen torch, caramelize the sugar that has been sprinkled on the apple slices. Best method is to place the torch as close as possible to the sugar for a few moments. The apple slices will cinge and brown as you go along, do not be alarmed, this gives the apples a nice crisp and makes the dish look very rustic. Serve immediately after carmelizing the sugar. Serve each slice with a dolop of creme fraiche on the side.