It's apple season here in Colorado, and there is nothing more delicious than your own fresh, made from scratch apple tart filled with Cinnamon Almond! It’s the perfect Fall treat or dessert for Thanksgiving.
9” Tart, serves 8-10
Tools:
Food processor with dough attachment
Rolling pin
9" tart pan with removable bottom
Pie weights (or dried beans/rice, etc)
Foil or a silicone crust ring
Parchment paper
Tart Dough (Step 1)
8 oz or 1 ½ c of all-purpose flour
1 ¼ oz or 1/3 cup of powdered sugar
4 oz cold butter, cut into small cubes
¼ tsp salt
1 whole egg
2 tbsp Cinnamon Almond
In the bowl of your food processor with the dough attachment: mix the flour, sugar, salt and add the butter. Pulse repeatedly until the butter is in tiny granules throughout the dough. Add in the whole egg and Cinnamon Almond. Continue to pulse until combined. Do not over mix.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work into a disc shape. Wrap and chill for 20 minutes, or longer.
Apple Filling (Step 2):
2 large or 3 small tart apples (Jonathan apples were used in this recipe)
¼ cup Brown sugar
¼ cup Granulated sugar
¼ tsp salt
Lemon juice
2-3 tbsp All-purpose flour
*ground cinnamon is optional, but I like the flavors that come through from just using Cinnamon Almond.
> Cinnamon Almond- to spread a thin layer on the crust before the apples, approx. 2-3 tablespoons.
> Butter- to dot the top when assembled.
Slice and core the apples (keeping the peel on gives color and contrast). I have this handy attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer, and it was AMAZING. If slicing by hand, slices should be thin, about 1/8 of an inch thick, because we’re not pre-cooking them before layering in the tart.
Keep cut apples in a bowl of water with a little lemon juice to keep from browning.
After you’ve prepared your apple filling, bring the dough back to your work surface and roll out to fit your tart pan-about ¼ inch thick-any thinner and the crust may overcook. Pick up the dough on your rolling pin and lay over your tart shell. Press down into the pan gently, getting into the corners of the pan. Take your rolling pin and roll it over the top edge of the pan to cut it. Patch any holes with leftover dough. Chill for 30 minutes or freeze in the pan until ready to bake.
To Blind bake the crust (Step 3):
Pre-heat oven to 400˚F
Using a fork, poke holes into the tart dough so air bubbles don’t form. Place a sheet of parchment paper over the dough (don’t use wax paper) and fill with ceramic pie weights, rice or beans, to weigh down the dough to avoid shrinkage.
Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and turn down to 350˚F. When the oven reaches the new temp, remove the parchment and weights and cook for 5-10 more minutes until the dough no longer looks wet/raw.
Using ceramic pie weights help to keep cooking the shell when you remove it from the oven, so you may not need to remove the weights and keep baking. Check your shell.
Assembly (Step 4):
Spread a thin layer of Cinnamon Almond onto the tart shell, to act as a glue.
In a bowl, mix both sugars, flour, salt, and lemon juice (from step 2 - apple filling) until a loose paste forms. Take a few slices of apples at a time and coat them with the paste on both sides. Then layer and shingle them into the tart shell. Use the bigger slices for the outer ring and then smaller ones on the inside.
Continue layering in your apples until they’re used up, or the tart is full. Place apple slices close together and even all around. With the leftover sugar mixture, pour it over the top of the apples in the tart. Dot this with butter and bake. Cover the edge of your tart so that it doesn’t burn. I use a silicone crust ring, but you can make one out of foil too.
At high altitude, bring your oven up to 360˚F and bake on the center rack for 15-20 minutes, or until the apples are knife tender, and the syrup is bubbly.
Remove from the oven and cool completely in the pan on your cooling rack. To serve, remove outer tart pan ring, and either cut on the tart pan bottom, or move onto a cutting board or serving plate.
You can top with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.
Wishing you the happiest of bellies!
Chef JAM