That’s it, the season 5 of the French Great Bake Off officially started. The thing I really miss is the themes that always pushed me to invent new recipes. I found the challenge stimulating (the time limit a bit less, lol). To revive the pleasure of emulation, each week, I will choose one of the themes proposed to the candidates and make my own version, according to my rules. Just for the pleasure!
This week, I decided to revisit the apple pie, a dessert that I love. I love desserts and cakes with fruits, and I usually prefer them to their chocolate counterparts as I always find them a bit too heavy and not as refreshing after a meal. I was inspired by the bouquet of rose apple tart that Alain Passard designed.
The reason why I hadn’t tried this apple rose tart before is because I suspected that it would take quite some time. And I wasn’t wrong, the roses took a long time to make but when I look at the result I thing it’s worth it! I would recommend to try this on a rainy Sunday ;-) The technique to bend the apples is just amazing: after making apple slices with a mandolin, you just need to microwave them for a few seconds, and they are as flexible as a sheet of paper!
In terms of taste I am far from that of Passard who bakes the apple roses. I was more inspired by inspired by the apple rose tart from one of my favorite blogs Baking a moment. I took the idea of a its crispy pie crust made of nuts and the maple syrup cream but I used my basic recipes which I trust best. The result is pretty awesome, but I thought the result lack a little something. When I make this pie again I think I will add some of my green apple jelly beneath the cream for a little extra punch!
Prep time: 1h
Cooking time: 25mn
Rest time in the fridge: 1h
For a 22cm pie (for a bigger pie, you should have enough for the pie crust but I would recommend doubling the quantities for the custard)
- 200g rolled oats
- 125g walnuts
- 125g melted salted butter
- 80g brown sugar
- 1 pinch of cinnamon
- 2 egg yolks
- 15g cornflour
- 40g of maple syrup
- 20cl milk
- 20g butter
- 3 good red apples (I used Royal Gala)
- the juice of one lemon
- 12cl 100% pure apple juice
- 25g jam sugar
- 2 leaves of gelatine
- Preheat oven to 180 °. Place a circle of baking paper in the bottom of your pie tin (if possible use a tin with a removable bottom ).
- In a food processor, mix the oats, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter until quite smooth (the ingredients should be the size of coarse salt).
- Divide the dough in the pie plate, pressing firmly on the bottom and sides of pan with a spoon to pack the dough into fine edges. Bake at 180 ° for 20-25mn until the edges of the dough begin to brown. Let cool completely before filling of custard.
- In a saucepan, heat the milk. In a second pan (off heat), beat the 2 egg yolks with the maple syrup, add the cornflour and beat again until fully incorporated.
- Gradually add the hot milk (from the first pan ) to the egg mix. Whisk together and put the pan over medium heat for the custard to thicken, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Once the custard is thick, turn off the heat, and stir in the butter pieces. Pour the custard in a small dish line with cling film, fold the film over the custard and allow to cool before reserving in the fridge.
- Once the pastry and custard cooled, whisk the custard then pour into pie shell, and smooth the top with a spatula. Reserver in the fridge while preparing the apples.
- Prepare a bowl filled with warm water and the lemon juice. Rinse the apples and cut them into 4 and remove the core. Use a mandoline to cut thin slices of apples, about 1mm thick. Soak them in the lemon water until you finish cutting the rest of the apples.
- Drain a handful of the apple slices and place them in one layer on a plate. Microwave about 45 seconds. When you take the apple out of the microwave, you should be able to bend the apple slices without breaking them, otherwise microwave for another 15 seconds.
- Take the pie crust out of the refrigerator. Form small rose buds by wrapping a first slice of apple on itself and then wrapping it with 2 or 3 more slices. Press lightly these little buds in the custard and complete the flowers by adding as many apple slices as you want around it. You can the pointy end of a knife to press the petals in the custard.*
- Keep refrigerated until serving.
Make your own clear glaze to give your apple rose tart a professional look:
- *Once the entire tart is covered with roses, prepare the clear glaze. Soak 2 leaves of gelatine in cold water. Heat 12cl of pure apple juice in a saucepan. When the juice is hot, add 25g of jam sugar and bring to a boil. If foam appears, remove it. Turn off the heat, and add the drained gelatine. Mix to dissolve. You can add a touch of red food colouring if you wish. Allow to cool a little, until the mix is less liquid (it should be thick like a syrup and coat a spoon) then using a brush, coat the apples with the glaze to make them shine and prevent them from drying out.
- You can also find ready made Dr. Oetker clear glaze on Amazon.
@Geometry Dash
The Good!