Professor Butter Beard’s “Appeltaart”
One 9” Springform-Baked Tart
Filling:
3 lbs. crisp/tart pie apples (about 6-7 Honeycrisp apples)
4 Tbsp dark brown sugar
½ cup diced dried fruit (I prefer pears, but you could use raisins, currants, cranberries…)
1 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
Juice of half a lemon (use the zest in the crust)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp fine sea salt
Crust:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
Zest of one lemon
1 large egg, beaten
14 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and hot
1 Tbsp water
1) Core and slice the apples (about ¼” slices). Stir them together with the brown sugar in a large Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium low heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour the apples onto a parchment lined baking tray and let cool for 30 minutes.
2) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
3) For the crust: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Melt the butter and pour over the dry mix. Mix the egg with the water and also pour over the dry mix. Fold the mixture together until you have a smooth uniform dough. Divide into three portions. Flatten one third and place into the refrigerator to chill. Press a third into the bottom of a 9” springform pan going ½” up the sides. Break of 1” chunks of the remaining third and press into the sides of the pan going all the way to the top. Chill the shell while you prepare the filling.
4) In the same bowl you used for the dough, toss the cooled apples with dried fruit, lemon juice, cornstarch and spices. Transfer to shell and lightly press to compact.
5) Roll the chilled first third into a 9” square. Cut into eight strips. Lay the first four strips over the apples. Rotate the pan and lay the remaining four strips. Lightly paint with an egg wash and sprinkle with sand sugar.
6) Bake for 45 minutes. Lightly cover the top of the pan with foil and bake for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven, release the springform ring and then let the tart cool for 4 hours before slicing to serve.
