Tarte Pomme d'amour

Tarte pomme d'amour

This is a rather creative apple tart that I discovered and adapted (with QC!) from a fellow French blog: Delices d'Orient. For those who aren't familiar, a simple way to describe a tart would be to liken it to a small pie that usually contains whole fruit or jam. Wikipedia may be able to help answer other questions that you may have.

Since I hoped to bake this tarte for a special occasion (graduating seniors!), I went ahead and ran through the recipe twice. The first one was to experiment a little since this is unfamiliar ground for me. As could be expected, a few errors were encountered, but they were corrected for the second trial. Tips that I'm providing come from what was learned during the two runs.

In this particular tarte, sablé breton is used as the pastry base and apples and raspberries constitute the filling, more or less. From what I understand, sablé breton is a classic French cookie originating in Normandy. Some claim that a unique sand-like crumbling texture is desired all the while having a slightly salty flavor.





Sablé Breton (Pastry Base) [6]
150g softened butter (~2/3c)
3 egg yolks
135g caster sugar (~2/3c)
3g salt
150g flour (~5/4c)
1.5 tsp baking powder
75g ground almond powder

Apple Filling
6 Gala apples
1 lemon
1L water (~17/4c)
250g caster sugar (~<4/3c)
100g raspberries, frozen (3/4c)
1 vanilla bean
40g of sugar (~1/4c)
flour
butter

(Since it may take some time to soften the apples, I would suggest working on the apples before starting the sablé breton )

Preparing the Apple Filling
Kindly prepared by QC

1. Peel and core the apples, coat the apple with lemon juice to prevent it from oxidizing. (Quartering or halving the apple works equally well. Although it is more work to core, I have a small preference for halves)
2. Heat water, caster sugar, and frozen raspberries in a saucepan. Slice the vanilla bean in half and add to the syrup.
3. As the syrup begins to boil, add the apples into the sauce pan and reduce the heat. Cook until the apple is tender (but try not to overdo it!) [Good place to start the sablé breton; If possible, follow the raspberry jam making process listed in the blog at the top. You can substitute raisins for currants.]
4. Once tender, remove the apples and set them aside. Remove ~1/2 of the raspberry syrup from the saucepan. The remaining syrup will be used for the raspberry jam/topping. Add remaining sugar.
5. To thicken the syrup, add a small amount of flour to a bowl (1/4c?) and add syrup to flour. Mix well. Add flour paste to syrup in the sauce pan and stir. Repeat if necessary until the syrup adopts a thickening texture. Further heating will also thicken and reduce the volume of the syrup to a degree. (Supposedly, a small amount of butter helps thicken the syrup as well.)
6. If syrup thickens too much over time, return some of the syrup removed from Step 4 back into the saucepan.

Preparing the Sablé Breton and Tarte-

1. Beat the softened butter, egg yolks, sugar and salt until a creamy texture is achieved.
2. Add flour, baking powder and almond powder to the buttery cream and fold in.
3. Film and store in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
4. Spread the dough until it is 1.5cm thick and cut to the shape of the mold. (Other recipes suggest that the dough should be rolled to 1.5cm between two sheets of wax paper before being placed into the refrigerator for several hours. As I was working with it, I found that it lost it's shape very easily and I would intend on following the other recipes directions in the future.)
5. Butter parchment paper and line the molds with it. Place cut dough in molds. Line the sides of the mold as well. (Using parchment paper significantly increased the viability of the tartes upon removal from the molds.)

   

   Molds lined with buttered parchment paper

6. Place tender apples in center of the mold and bake at 355F for 25 minutes.

   

   Fresh from the oven!

7. Cool slightly, remove from molds and cool completely. Apply raspberry jam and, if desired, top with additional crushed almonds and sprinkle powdered sugar onto the edges.

   

   Tarte pomme d'amour! Blurry...