This recipe I made for my friend Chan's birthday! - not sure why I'm giving him a shout out because he never even reads my blog and if he magically does decide to look at this post, 10 bucks he's gonna skip all the way down to just look at the pictures. Either way we threw him a surprise birthday party and I made this tart in place of a cake because it's slightly healthier than a regular cake except not really because it has so much butter in it - but what he doesn't know won't hurt him...
I saw this recipe on the Bon Appetit website (best website ever, best blog ever - my main source of inspiration) and decided that I needed to try it. I've worked with brown butter before, and I've fallen in love with its nutty taste. Why use regular butter when you can use brown butter?
This tart also quite different from your average apple pie in the sense that it has a custard base - something a bit more substantial And it doesn't hurt that it makes the house smell amazing when its baking in the oven!
Only problem I had with this recipe was was getting the crust out of the tart pan. My suggestion - make sure that you serve the tart within an hour or two after it's baked. The crust won't be as molded into the tart pan or as stubborn when removed. Another option if you're making it a day ahead of serving - pop it out of the pan before you store it.
Ingredients:
For Crust
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 stick butter - softened
1 egg
For the tart filling
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
2 large apples (I used Fuji)
The crust
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
- Add butter and egg until dough comes together.
- Spray tart pan with oil and line it with the dough.
- Refrigerate the pan with the dough for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Cover the tart shell with beans or pie weights, and bake for 35 minutes.
- Remove beans and bake for another 20 minutes, or until browned all over.
- Put the butter in a small saucepan and cook until butter foams and brown flecks begin to form. It'll smell nutty and faintly like toffee - but be careful not to burn it
- Stir in vanilla
- In separate mixing bowl, beat together sugar and eggs.
- Once butter has cooled, slowly add it into the mixing bowl - stirring continuously so the egg doesn't cook.
- Whisk in flour and salt.
- Core and cut apples. Line the bottom of the tart with apples and pour the custard over it.
- Bake until filling is puffed, cracked, and browning (about 70 minutes)
- Let cool for about an hour and remove tart pan sides before serving. Goes well with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!