Thursday, October 3, 2013

Apple Tart



I've composed an apple tart recipe before, but I couldn't resist this recipe I found in Pleyn Delit, a wonderful medieval-redaction cookbook (I changed the recipe a bit).

Crust:
1 cup white wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
6 Tbls. butter
1/4 cup water

Filling:
2 lbs. apples
1/2 cup dried fruits (this time I used prunes, raisins, dried cherries, dried blueberries, crystallized ginger)
1/2 cup sugar, brown or white (I tried it with 1/4 cup honey instead, but didn't like that as much)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground mace
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
pinch of saffron powder (if available)

Cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly and there are no more large chunks of butter. Stir the water into the flour. Knead it a little bit to make a dough, using flour if necessary to keep from sticking. Roll it thin and place in a 9" pie or tart dish. Chill until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 375 F. Core the apples and chop them into small pieces. Mince the dried fruits. Combine the apples and dried fruits with the spices and sugar, stirring to coat. Place into the tart crust.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes, removing the foil toward the end of baking time.