Apple-Almond Tarte

Today is the time for more childhood memories because this recipe is from my granny’s recipe book. The fall used to be a busy time for my grandmother. She had a very big garden with lots of apple and pear trees and a big vegetable garden. If I couldn’t find her in the kitchen I could be quite sure that she was somewhere in the garden. The fall brought along a lot of work, particularly when the apples, pears and plums had to be harvested.

The fruits had to be selected and separated, the windfalls into one basket and the good, storable apples into another. When you entered our cellar at this time of the year you would be overwhelmed by the unbelievable smell. There was this strong, intense scent of fresh apples, pears, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and of all the other wonderful fruits and vegetables that she had grown in her garden. The cellar was one of the old, clayey and damp ones, after all, her house was an old stone building with thick walls and an equally impressive atmosphere.

Her harvest nourished herself, my granddad, my parents, my sister and myself and she would produce all this delicious food with it. We were a big family, all living in the same house. I still remember vividly how granny used to dictate the shopping list to my granddad. It was him, who went shopping, or rather, who she sent to do it. The list was always bare of fruits or vegetables, well, that was what we had stored in the cellar. Fancy or unusual fruits simply weren’t part of our diet. Sometimes we had bananas,  but this required some begging! Occasionally I would whisper something in my granddad’s ear so he would buy, let’s say a pineapple. But granny would always find me out. “We don’t need this,” would be her short remark. And so, granddad’s shopping list was never very long. It usually comprised milk (we didn’t have cows), butter, flour and occasionally he bought some meat. But I do believe, that granddad managed to get his way in that point as he loved to eat meat so much.

Well, back to granny’s big garden with all her apple and pear trees. We really did have a lot, particularly apple trees. Therefore, we usually had a rich harvest of apples. And that is how it came that at least one main dish containing apples was on our weekly menu. But she also made the most delicious apple pie bars.

I believe that I inherited her love for apples. I do not have a big orchard myself, but I do love to eat apples and use them in my cooking. Well, maybe it’s just all the memories coming back to my mind when I make one of her delicious apple recipes. Who knows!

Today I want to show you how she made her apple bars. I changed the recipe a bit, as I didn’t want to simply call it “apple bars”. I made a tarte instead. You’ll most definitely agree with me that “apple-almond tarte” sounds way better! And I made a lattice crust. Granny wouldn’t have made one, never, this would have been too much work for her. She just topped it with another layer of pie crust. But it was equally delicious, I can assure you!

Apple-Almond Tarte

For the pie crust:
2 ½ cups (300 g) all purpose flour
⅔ cup (130 g) sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
½ cup peeled and ground almonds
a pinch of salt
½ lemon (zest)
½ – ⅔ cup (140 g) cold butter
1 egg

For the apple filling:
2 tablespoons (60 g) butter
3 tablespoons (60 g) brown sugar
750 – 800 g apples
1 orange (juice)
½ – ⅔ cup peeled and ground almonds

some butter for the tarte tin
1 egg yolk and ½ tablespoon milk for the egg wash

For serving:
200 ml double or whipping cream
2 tablespoons mascarpone
some sugar for sweetening

Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C / 160°C fan / gas mark 4. Grease a 10 inch (25 cm) tarte tin with butter.

Put the flour on a working surface. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, zest of ½ lemon and the ground almonds. Combine well. Cut the butter into ½ inch (1 cm) cubes and rub the butter into the flour-sugar-mixture until it is crumbly. Add the egg and use your fingers to combine it with the flour-butter-sugar mixture. Knead lightly until the the dough is smooth. Cover it and put it into the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Peel and core the apples and cut them into thin slices (1/8 inch, 2 mm). Combine them with the orange juice. Heat the butter in a wide pan and add the sugar. Allow the sugar to melt and to caramelize. Do not stir. Add the apples and the orange juice and cook until any caramel lumps have dissolved. Add the ground almonds and combine well.

Roll out 2/3 of the pastry dough between two sheets of parchment paper (about ¼ inch, ½ cm thick). The pastry disk should be about 1 inch (2 cm) larger in diameter than the tarte tin as you also want to line the sides of the tin. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and transfer the pastry into the tarte tin (upside down). Remove the second sheet of parchment paper. Gently press the dough into the tin. Roll out the remaining dough (again between the parchment paper) and cut this disk into ½ inch (1/2 – 1 cm) strips. Pour the apple filling into the tarte tin. Place the pastry strips in a lattice like manner onto the apples (horizontally and vertically). Whisk the egg yolk and the milk and brush the lattice crust and the sides with it.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool.

Whisk the cream, mascarpone and the sugar until creamy. Serve the apple almond tarte with the cream.