One of my favorite things about Fall is the arrival of apples. Â My wife and I went apple picking with friends last week, and I think we picked about 45 pounds of apples in all. Â So you can imagine what my fridge looks like right now! Â I eat a crisp, juicy apple every day for lunch during this time of the year…and I still can’t get enough. Â Last week, I baked this delicious Apple Harvest Bread which has been great for sandwiches and even better toasted with butter alongside my morning coffee. It’s pretty hard to beat sitting down with a hot cup of coffee and a piece of this toast to catch up on my friends’ blog posts from the previous day. Â But these Rustic Apple Tarts are right there near the top of that list! Â (Of course, I don’t eat apple tarts for breakfast…although now I sorta want to.)
Apple pies are probably one of the most iconic images of Fall. Â Just picture that perfect apple pie sitting on the window sill to cool. Â (Of course, in our house that means 2 dogs trying their best to figure out how to get to the aforementioned apple pie!) Â Instead of making a whole apple pie, try making several smaller tarts instead. Â A single batch of pie dough can easily make 3 of these Rustic Apple Tarts, and I love how delicious the folded, crimped edges look! Â Just make sure to egg wash the exposed crust and then generously sprinkle course sugar on top. Â I find that tart apples, like Granny Smith or Greening, work best for these tarts. Â Finally, these tarts also feature a tasty brown sugar streusel that goes on top of the chopped apples before baking. Â Talk about the ideal flavors of Fall!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cake flour
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 cups Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced (~3 medium apples)
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups of pastry flour (if you don't have pastry flour, you can create a close substitute with 7/8 cups all-purpose flour and 3/8 cup cake flour)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, diced and chilled
- 1/8 - 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 egg, beaten
- coarse sugar (i.e. turbinado)
Instructions
- Combine all of the streusel ingredients in a small bowl and mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Toss the diced apples, lemon juice and sugar in a medium bowl until apples are well coated.
- Grease a sheet pan with the 1/2 Tbsp butter and spread the apples evenly on top.
- Bake at 400°F for 12 minutes. Let apples cool before filling tarts.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt until well blended.
- Using a pastry blender or two butter knives, cut in butter until mixture forms small pea-sized balls.
- Slowly add water and toss mixture lightly with a fork until dough forms a single ball. If needed, add more water in very small increments until no dry ingredients left in bowl. (*see note below)
- Chill dough for 20 minutes.
- Divide dough into 3 equal portions.
- Flour table well and roll out each portion of dough until approximately 1/4 inch thick. Use caution to ensure that dough does not stick to rolling pin or table. (Dust pin and table if dough begins to stick.) Each portion of dough should be approximately 8" in diameter.
- Place 1/3 of the apple filling (~1 cup) in the center of each portion of dough, leaving approximately 1.5" border on all sides.
- Sprinkle 1/3 (~1/4 cup) of the Streusel on top of the apples in each tart.
- Gently fold edges of the dough partially over the apple filling. Crimp edges together to form the crust. Brush the outer edges of the crust with the beaten egg. Sprinkle generously with coarse sugar.
- Bake on parchment-lined sheet pan at 400°F for 20-22 minutes, or until crust is golden brown in color.
Notes
Note regarding amount of water in the dough: Start with the smaller amount (1/8 cup) and gradually add more water as needed until the dough forms a single ball when compressed. The goal is to add only as much water as needed to hold the dough together. Sometimes this will be closer to 1/8 cup and other times it may be closer to 1/4 cup depending on humidity and other factors.
These look delicious!
Thanks so much, SueAnn! They’re made with local apples!
I would totally eat these for breakfast!!! And that bread oh my I would eat that for breakfast too!
And so true about dogs! The other day my golden swiped my waffle…I was not very happy!
Thanks, Molly! I can only imagine the look on your face when you looked down and your waffle was gone. One of my dogs did that to me a few months back. Doorbell rang (which usually brings dogs racing to the door). Sat sandwich down. Went to door. Came back. Sandwich gone. Dog sitting there with snarky look on his face.
Uhmmm, why wouldn’t you have these for breakfast?? I so would!! I went apple picking this weekend as well and I have over 15lbs of apples to use. These tarts would be a great start! Thanks for the idea!
PS: I’m in the Cuse!
Ok ok. I think everyone has convinced me that these indeed need to be eaten for breakfast! I just went and picked up some more apples this afternoon. I think I have a problem. (Actually, I really wanted to try these new Snapdragon apples that I’ve heard about…)
PS: Not too far away…I’m over in southern Saratoga county. I’ve actually been thinking about a trip out that direction to visit Saranac Brewery. Have you ever been?
These are absolutely beautiferous. I would TOTALLY eat these for breakfast. And hang on one second… what are these snapdragon apples of which you speak? I’m in APPLE COUNTRY. New York and it’s apples ya know. I get bushels for $15 from an Amish place up the road from me, so I let’s not even talk about apple issues 😀
Haha…apple addiction strikes again! Bushels for $15 is…insanely awesome. I might have way too many apples in my fridge right now considering there’s only 2 of us here. Not ashamed at all!
…Um…. I don’t think I realized you were in NY, too. Why did I think you were in the south?
Well I grew up in the South, but I’ve been in NY (Saratoga area) for a couple of years now. We’re kinda-sorta neighbors!