French Apple Tart

Another bake with apple.

French Apple Tart or Tarte Aux Pommes

Recipe adapted from Sugareverythingnice
(Yields a 10-inch tart)

Ingredients:

For the tart shell

• 200g plan flour
• ½ tsp of salt
• 125g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 – 3 Tbsp iced water

For the apple filling

• 4-5 apples, peeled and cored
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• 50g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 4 – 6 tbsp apricot jam

 

Method:

1. Sift flour and salt in a bowl, throw in 125g butter cubes. Use the pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour. Add in egg yolk, mix it in using the pastry cutter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in water bit by bit and mix until the mixture comes together to form a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling out. (This will allow the gluten in flour to rest or the pastry will shrink when cooked.)
2. Return the dough to room temperature before rolling out (about 5-10 minutes). Preheat oven to 200 degree C.
3. Roll pastry thinly on a lightly floured work surface and fit it into a 10-inch loose based tart tin. Chill tart shell for about 30 minutes.
4. Slice apples thinly and coarsely chop up the uneven smaller pieces. Arrange the smaller pieces in the base of the tart shell. Arrange the apple slices in your desired pattern. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon powder all over the sliced apples. Then dot with the remaining cubed butter.
5. Bake the tart for about 45 - 60 minutes until the apples are very well browned and the pastry golden in colour. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tart tin.
6. Brush the top of the tart with warmed apricot jam.

Nutty Tartelettes - Gateau au Noix

Gateau au Noix is a traditional French nut tart. I made these nutty tartelettes on Sunday night for 2 close friends who came to meet me for lunch at my workplace on Monday. Both of them love nuts.

The recipe came from The Australian Women's Weekly - Home Baked which I picked up from the Library. It yields four small (10-cm) tarts. As neither me nor my family like nuts, I did not intend to make extra for us. As I used smaller tart tins (8-cm), I got an extra tart for me to do taste testing. And to my surprise, it tasted delightfully nice. The nuts are crunchy and have the perfect-toasted taste. The maple syrup fillings are not as sweet as I was worried of initially. The Hubby and the 2 girls also took a bite each. And all of them also agreed that it tasted good. My elder girl who initially "warned" me not to bake extra for her (as she is averse to walnut), even whatapps me these messages - “Nut Tart = AWESOMENESS” “Superyummy” “Awesomely Awesome”, “To put it simply” I WANT MORE!!”  This is my girl, the drama-queen. :)

I will make the tarts again soon but will definitely reduce the quantity of maple syrup and add in more nuts. The original filling has too much liquid and not enough nuts.

Gateau au Noix (Nut Tart with maple syrup)

Ingredients

For the tart shells:

• 185g plain flour
• 55g icing sugar (I reduced to 40g)
• 30g ground almond
• 125g chilled butter, chopped
• 1 egg yolk

For the filling:

• 130g of assorted nuts, toasted*
• 2 tbsp brown sugar (I reduced to 1 tbsp)*
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 40g butter, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten lightly
• 3/4 cup (180ml) maple syrup (I reduced to slightly less than ½ a cup)*

* I used pecans, walnuts, almonds and cut them into smaller bit size pieces before toasting them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 120 degree C.  Or you can simply place the nuts in a plastic bag and crush them with rolling pin before/after toasting them. I will increase the quantity of nuts to 150g and reduce the maple syrup to 1/4 cup the next time when I make them. I think there is no harm to totally omit the brown sugar in the filling since the nuts will already will fully soaped with maple syrup.

 

Methods

1. Place flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and butter in a mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, mixed them into bread-crumb alike mixture (or you can use a food processor for this step).
2. Add egg yolk, continue to mix them with the pastry cutter until all ingredients just come together. Knead dough on lightly floured surface. Wrap in cling film, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Divide pastry dough into 4 parts. Roll each pieces between 2 sheets of baking paper / cling wraps, into flat disc, large enough to line into a 10-cm round loose-base tart tin. Press pastry into the sides, trim edges. Repeat for the next 3 pieces. Cover, refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients and mix well. Set aside for later use.
5. Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Place tart shells on oven tray. Line each shells with baking paper, fill with dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake for 10 minutes.
6. Remove paper and beans/rice. Baked, uncovered, for further 7 minutes or until tart shells are browned lightly.
7. Reduce oven temperature to 160 degree C.
8. Divide filling among the baked tart shells. Baked 25 minutes or until set (when the centre of the tart puffed up).

Peach Yeast Tart with Whipping Cream Topping

This is a very unique tart - it does not have the usual buttery tart base that one would expect from a fruit tart. To me, it is more of a bread than tart. To be precise, it is a yeasted bread topped with fruit and whipping cream.

 

 

This is my second time baking this, following the recipes from Technicolorkitchen and Table for 2... or more. The last round, I made the Apple Yeast Tart and this time round, I used canned peach to replace the apple. Both fruits are good topping options for the tarts and I think pear is another option that I will consider the next time when I bake this.

Peach Yeast Tart with Whipping Cream Topping

Ingredients:

• 245g all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 120ml warm milk
• 28g softened unsalted butter
• 4 pieces of peach (halve) in syrup (discard the syrup and cut into 2 slices for each halve)
• 50g brown sugar
• 120ml whipping cream, whipped to soft peak

 

Methods:

1. Place flour, caster sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. Whisk egg with milk and mix into flour mixture.
2. Add in butter and knead to a smooth dough. I knead it by hand. Note: the dough will be quite sticky.
3. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise in a draught-free place for 30 minutes.
4. Punch down the risen dough and give it a quick knead (1-2 minutes) then press it into a 22cm buttered spring-form pan, cover with plastic and allow to rest for 30 minutes (it will rise slightly).
5. Preheat oven to 200°C. Press peach slices into the dough, and sprinkle with the brown sugar. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 180°C. Spoon cream over peaches and bake for another 15-20 minutes. The top should be slightly caramelized and the tart light and spongy.

This is for Yeast Spotting.

Sweet Potato Pie topped with Golden-Toasted Mashmallows

I had wanted to make sweet potato pie for very long. There were several times when I bought a bag of sweet potato home with the intention to bake a pie but  I never realised the plan, until 2 weekends ago. Finally, I made this lovely Sweet Potato Pie with golden-toasted marshmallows on top.

I used purple sweet potatoes and got a nice purple colored pie.

Recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour, with slight modification.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

For Pie Crust:

141g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

85g cold unsalted butter, cubed

60g cold orange juice

For Pie Filling:

454g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

57g water

2 large eggs

80g firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

170g cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground allspice

some chopped crystallized ginger (optional)

For Topping:

enough marshmallows to cover the whole pie

Methods:

For the crust:

1. Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes, and work it into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender until the mixture is unevenly crumbly. Sprinkle in the orange juice a tablespoon at a time, continuing to mix until the dough can hold together.
2. Pat the dough into a disk and wrap it using cling film. Refrigerate it for at least an hour.

For the filling:

1. Steam the sweet potatoes until soft and mash them. You should have about 1 1/4 cups of mashed sweet potato.
2. Mix the mashed sweet potatoes with the eggs, sugar, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and allspice.

To assemble:

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degree C.
2. Roll out the crust to a 12" circle. Transfer it to a pie pan, and trim the edges.
3. Sprinkle the chopped ginger into the pie base. Pour the filling over, and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 190 degree C and bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Remove the pie from the oven and cover the top with the marshmallows. Return the pie to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is golden and a knife inserted into the pie comes out clean.

Note: I was too greedy and stuffed too much marshmallows as toppings, not expecting them to be fluffy and expanded to much after baking. there was an overflow of marshmallows which covered up the pie crust. It will be a neater and prettier pie if I had reduced the marshmallows quantity.

Puff Pastry Egg Tarts

When I woke up from my afternoon nap last weekend (my favourite weekend activity :)), my elder daughter said that she has a craving for egg tarts. As she is preparing for her PSLE exam which is coming up in 2 weeks' time, I will try to cook / bake her any request that she makes. This is the best support I can give her since I can't sit for the exam on her behalf :P

Since it is already near evening, I couldn't effort the time to prepare the tart shells from scratch. Hence, I turn to store-bought puff pastry sheet, prepared the egg custard using my favorite egg tarts recipe and baked these quick and nice puff pastry egg tarts. My daughter loved them!

Apple Braided-Pastry Pie

I baked this easy and delicious Apple Braided-Pastry Pie for my family's afternoon tea today. The Husband said "It is as good as pastry from the bakery". The younger girl corrected him immediately and replied that "It is better than those from the bakery!" LOL, but their words made my day!

 

  

I am sending this to Aspiring Bakers #10 – Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink.

Apple Braided-Pastry Pie

(Recipe taken from here)

•  1 sheet stored bought puff pastry
• 2 large apples (I used FUJI apples)
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (Original recipe called for another 1/3 cup of Castor Sugar which I omitted)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

1. Peel apple skin, core apples, quarter each apple then cut each quarter into 3 pieces.
2. Mix the apples with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat until just tender (about 10 minutes).
3. Defrost the puff pastry and lay it over a sheet of baking paper. Visually divide the sheet into 3 rectangular sections. Spread the apples in the centre rectangular of the pastry and spoon some of the syrup over the apples.
4. On the two remaining rectangular sections, use sharp knife to cut diagonal stripes of around 45 degree angle. You should get about 6 stripes on each side.
5. Cross pastry stripes over one-another to form criss-cross pattern. (This youtube video clip  provides a good tutorial on how to do it).
6. Lightly brush the beaten egg over the pastry. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 190 degree C for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

Finnish Apple Tart

I love making tarts. I guess this is not difficult to tell from the numbers of posts I have tagged under Pies and Tarts category in this blog . In fact, my maiden post in this blog was a beautiful tart - Pasta Frolla with Lemon Curd and Fresh Berries which I had baked for my own birthday last December.

Even though it takes more efforts than cakes and muffins baking, there is always a greater sense of satisfaction in assembling tarts. They are beautiful creations in my eye.

Last night, I baked a Finnish Apple Tart. Unlike the usual kind of tart that requires a tart shell, this Finnish tart is fairly easy to assemble, as easy as baking a cake! I’m not kidding. I simply mixed all the ingredients together (except the apples) and poured them into a pie dish before arranging the apples on top and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over it.

We ate it in the morning over breakfast. It is light and moist and all of us love it. My younger girl even asked for a slice to be packed in her lunch box as her snack during school recess J

 

Finnish Apple Tart

Adapted from the Scandifoodie with slight adjustments

Make 1 26-cm tart

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 80 golden caster sugar
• 120g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 75ml milk
• 50ml canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 apples, cut in half and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon golden caster sugar

Baking Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degree C and grease a round 26 cm pie dish.
2. Beat the eggs and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and mix lightly to combine. Add the sifted flour and baking powder into the egg mixture and fold to combine.
3. Fold in the milk and the oil and pour the batter into the pie dish.
4. Mixed the ground cinnamon and sugar together.
5. Arrange the apple slices on top of the batter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. (I did not use up all the cinnamon sugar).
6. Baked at 200 degree C for 10 minutes and reduced down to 180 degree C and continues for another 15 minutes. The tart is done when a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Baking Notes:

1. I reduced the sugar used from 100g to 80g but still find it a bit sweet. Will probably reduced further to 60g next time.
2. I added vanilla extract for extra flavor.
3. The recipe calls for the tart to be baked at 225 degree C. I was worried that the unusually high temperature may burn the top of the tart before the bottom is cooked. Hence, I preheated it at 200 degree C and baked the tart for 10 minutes before lowering the temperature to 180 degree C. The tart was well-baked with a nice golden brown top with total 25 minutes of baking time.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10 – Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink.

Deep Dish Apple Pie

I baked this apple pie for a colleague’s birthday in early August. It was very well received among my colleagues and some have asked for the recipe too. This is the second time I baked this apple pie. Glad that other than my family, more people get to enjoy and like it. J

A half-eaten slice of pie. See the flaky crust and juicy fillings?

The recipe which I am reproducing below, is adapted from one of my recipe book collection – Best Ever Book of Pastry. I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10 – Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink.

 

Deep Dish Apple Pie Recipe

Ingredients for the filling:

• 115g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• Finely grated rind of 1 orange
• 900g apples
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp brown sugar

Ingredients for the pastry:

• 350g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 175g butter, diced
• 5 tbsp chilled water

Baking Steps:

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl and add in the butter cubes. Use fingers or pastry cutter to turn the mixture into crumbs-like. Sprinkle the water over the dough and mix to a firm, soft dough. Wrap in clear film (plastic wrap) and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Combine the caster sugar, flour, cinnamon and orange rind in a bowl. Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples. Add to the sugar mixture, then toss gently.
3. Preheat to 200^oc. Roll out just over half the pastry and use to line a 23 cm pie dish that is 4cm deep. Allow to overhang the edges slightly. Spoon in the filling, doming it in the centre.
4. Roll out the remaining pastry to form the lid. Lightly brush the edges with a little water, then place the lid over the apple filling. Trim the pastry with a sharp knife. Gently press the edge together to seal, then knock up the edge.
5. Use the remaining pastry to cut out leaf or any shapes you desire as decoration for the pie. Arrange the decorations on top of the pie. Brush the top of the pie with egg white and sprinkle with brown sugar. Make two small slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180^oc and bake for a further 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the apples are soft - check by inserting a small sharp knife or skewer through one of the slits in the top of the pie.

I also baked 2 mini-size pies for my daughters, using the excess dough and fillings 

My Favorite Egg Tarts

My family likes egg tarts very much but I find those store-bought tarts are too sweet for me. Hence, when I found this Cantonese egg tart recipe about a year ago, I tried it out at home and Voilà! It has become my one and only egg tart recipe that I’ve been using since.

The egg tarts tasted as good as those I used to buy from the famous bakery chain here but they are less sweet, as I can control the amount of sugar that goes into the egg custard. For a healthier version, I usually used low-fat milk and I have also tried it with soya milk for some of my office colleagues who do not take milk or milk product.

Here is the recipe which I’ve adapted from Christine Recipes  

Egg Tarts Recipe

Ingredients:

 

For the tart shells:

• 225g all purpose flour
• 125g unsalted butter, soften at room temperature
• 40g icing sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

For the egg custard:

• 3 eggs
• 90g caster sugar
• 225g hot water
• 85g low fat milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Making the tart shells:

1. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer over medium speed until the mixture is fluffy and light in color.
2. Add in whisked egg in 2 batches, beat over low speed. Add vanilla extract, mix well.
3. Sift in flour in 2 batches, and mix for all ingredients to combine well. Hold the mixture together to form into dough.
4. Pinch small ball of dough about the size of a ping pong ball and press it onto the egg tart mould with your thumbs, starting from the bottom then up to the sides to make tart shell with even layer of dough. Trim away any excess dough. Repeat the same until you used up the dough. About 10-12 tart shells. Place it in the fridge until the egg custard filling are ready.

Making the egg custard:

1. Dissolve sugar with the hot water.
2. Whisk egg with the milk. Add in the sugar water. Mix well.
3. Sift the egg custard mixture to get rid of any foam into a pouring cup. Took out the tart shells from the fridge and carefully pour egg custard mixture into each tart shell.

Baking the egg tarts:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Position rack in 2^nd level from the bottom of the oven.
2. Bake tarts for 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown.
3. Lower the heat to 170 degree C and monitor the tarts closely. Once the custard start to puff up, pull the oven door open about 2 to 3 inches (I used a metal spoon as a stopper to prepare the oven door from closing back.
4. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the custard is cooked through i.e. when a toothpick inserted into the centre of custard stand up straight. (I like to over-baked it a little bit till some part of the custart is browned).

French Apple Tart (tarte aux pommes)

I took the kids to catch a movie yesterday. Before the movie started, we visited the library to kill some time. Found this nice French Desserts recipe book in the shelf and was immediately attracted by this no-frill, simple looking French Apple Tart. Without hesitation, I borrowed the book and baked the tart in the late night. I brought the whole tart to office for a farewell lunch today. Yes, another farewell in the office. :(

  

The 3-hour effort taken to bake the tart was well-paid off. I especially love the natural sweetness of the tart filling which is actually apple puree. This is a tasty and healthy dessert to enjoy over a cup of tea.

 

Recipe for French Apple Tart (tarte aux pommes)

Source: French Desserts by Laura Washburn

Sweet Pastry (pate brisee) For the Tart Shell:

• 200g plain flour
• 1 ½ tsp caster sugar
• 100g cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten for egg wash
• A loose-based tart tin, 27 cm diameter

1. Place flour, sugar, butter and salt in a mixing bowl, use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until the dough become coarse crumbs; add 3 tablespoons cold water and mix the dough with the pastry cutter to combine.
2. Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, pat into a ball and flatten to a disc. Wrap in the plastic wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.
3. Place the dough ball in between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and roll it flat until slightly larger than the tart tin. Carefully transfer the pastry into the tart tin. Pressing gently into the sides. To trim the excess pastry, roll a rolling pin over the top, using the edge of the tart tin as a cutting surface. Tidy up the edges and refrigerate until firm, 30-60 minutes.
4. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, line with aluminium foil and baking beans. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, discard the foil and baking beans, brush the surface of the half-baked tart shell with egg white to form a protective coating to prevent the tart shell from being soggy after the fillings are added.
5. Bake the uncovered tart shell for another 10-15 minutes at 180 degree C until golden. Let the tart shell cool slightly before filling.

For the Tart Filling:

• 3 apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 10g unsalted butter
• 4 tbsp water
• 1 egg white

1. Place all ingredients except the egg white in a saucepan. Cook over small fire, stirring often until soften, about 10-15 minutes. Blend the mixture with the beaten egg white to form apple puree.
2. Spread the puree evenly in the tart shell.

For the Tart Topping:

• 3 apples, peeled and thinly sliced
• 15g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

1. Arrange the apple slices in a circle, slightly overlapping each other, around the edge of the tart.
2. Repeat for an inner circle, trimming the slices slightly so they fit. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with the brown sugar.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C until just  browned and tender, about 25 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.