The time has begun to begin preparing for the Good Food Pie Contest, and I also wanted to prepare an American dish for the USA World Cup game last weekend; thankfully one of these things turned out well! I made a Whiskey Cream Apple Tart, which I will probably turn into a pie for the contest.
This recipe is a bit long, since there are 3 major components: the crust, the cream, and the apples. Thankfully, each of the components is pretty easy to make, and most of the time needed to make this is spent sitting waiting for it to cool. So without further ado, let’s start baking.
This should make enough for 8-10 people, but 1 or 2 people could hoard it and eat the whole thing.
I also want to credit joyofbaking.com for the basic crust and filling recipes I started with.
Crust Ingredients:
1 ½ c AP flour
¼ c sugar
1/8 tsp salt
½ c butter
1 egg, beaten
A pinch of cinnamon
A dash of vanilla
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
Cream ingredients:
1 ¼ c milk
½ tsp vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks
¼ c sugar
1/8 c AP flour
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp high-quality whiskey
Apple topping ingredients:
½ c sugar
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
4 large granny smith apples
1 tsp corn starch
Crust directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2) Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl.
3) Add the butter and mix by hand or in a food processor until it looks like cookie crumbs.
4) Add the egg and vanilla, and mix in until incorporated. Be careful not to over mix.
5) Roll into a disk, and refrigerate covered for 20 minutes.
6) Once chilled, roll out until about ¼ inch thick.
7) Place in a 10” tart pan, pressing into the edges. If there are any cracks or tears use the excess dough to patch them up.
8) Cover with foil and fill with pie weights so it doesn’t rise up in the middle (you can use dry rice, dried beans or ceramic pieces as pie weights).
9) Bake for 20-30 minutes until crust is dry and lightly browned.
10) Let cool.
11) While it cools, melt the chocolate.
12) Brush a thin layer of chocolate all along the inside for the tart shell. This adds a nice flavor and helps the shell keep crispy once the cream has been added.
13) Let the shell cool completely.
Whiskey Cream:
1) Mix the sugar, vanilla, and eggs in a medium bowl.
2) Sift the flour and cornstarch into the egg mixture and mix well.
3) In a small pot, heat the milk to a simmer, stirring constantly.
4) Slowly add the hot milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly so it does not cook the eggs.
5) Pour the mixture back into the pot and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil and is nice and thick, stirring constantly.
6) Cook for 30 more seconds until it is very thick and then remove it from the heat.
7) If there are any lumps, strain through a fine mesh strainer.
8) Mix in the whiskey.
9) Let it cool for about 15 minutes.
10) Pour the cream into the tart shell and spread evenly.
11) Cover with plastic wrap and let cool completely, about 1 hour.
Apple topping Directions:
1) Peel, core and cut the apples into slices about ½ inch thick.
2) In a large pot, put sugar and just enough water to wet all the sugar.
3) Bring to a boil and cook until it is caramel colored, but be careful not to overcook.
4) Add in the apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well. The caramel may clump up, but as the apples cook the caramel should dissolve.
5) Cook the apples for about 5 minutes until cooked through but still firm. Keep an eye on them as cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the apple slices and the ripeness.
6) Strain the apples, and return the liquid to the pot.
7) Mix cornstarch and 2 tsp cold water in a separate cup.
8) Add cornstarch to the caramel liquid, and bring to a boil. Cook until it becomes the consistency of molasses.
9) Let apples and caramel cool.
10) Top the cream with the apples, arranging in a circle pattern for a pretty tart.
11) Pour the caramel sauce over the tart.
12) Place in the fridge and let cool for 2 or more hours.
13) Serve and enjoy!
It looks tasty, but I’m not a fan of cooked apples. But I bet if fresh, uncooked apples were dipped in the cream sauce and then sprinkled with the topping, that’d work great.