Apple crumble tarts
Flaky, melt-in-your-mouth tartlets, luxurious base for sweet and warmly spiced apple filling.
Equipment
- 1 food processor paddle attachment (or handheld mixer)
- 6 medium tart tins
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 sauce pan
- 1 cookie sheet optional
Ingredients
For the pastry dough
- 100 g butter (room temperature)
- 70 g icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
- 2 g salt
- 3 medium egg yolks (approximately 50 g yolk)
- 180 g plain flour
- 20 g almond flour (ground almonds)
For the crumble topping
- 100 g plain flour
- 50 g oats
- 3 g salt
- 60 g butter (fridge cold, cubed)
- 60 g Demerara sugar
For the apple filling
- 640 g apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
- 120 g sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1-2 tbsp water (optional, if apples are too dry)
Instructions
Make the tart pastry
- Make the pastry dough in the food processor by mixing room temperature butter with the icing sugar and salt for 1 minute.
- Scrape the bowl down and add the egg yolks.
- Mix lightly until combined.
- Add the plain flour and almond flour and mix lightly until combined.
- Take the pastry dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper, bring it into a ball without kneeding or handling it too much.
- Flatten the dough and add another parchment sheet on top.
- With a rolling pin flatten further into a disc of approximately 5 mm thickness.
- Place the dough in the fridge for 2 hours. If you are making ahead, you can leave it for a few days.
Make the apple filling
- Start by peeling the apples, remove the cores then slice them slightly thinly.
- In a medium sauce pan, saute the apple slices on a medium heat for 5 minutes with sugar and a little butter. Take care when stirring them, so you don't break them too much.
- Once they have softened and are slightly sticky take them off the heat. Set them aside to cool down.
Make the crisp (crumble topping)
- Preheat the oven at 190°C or 375 ℉.
- In a large bowl, make the crumble by mixing flour, oats, sugar and cold, cubed butter together with a butter knife to avoid the butter getting to soft.
- Finish the crumble by rubbing it with the tips of your fingers briefly until they resemble breadcrumbs.
- Tip the crumble on a parchment paper on a baking tray and bake at 175°C or 350 ℉ fan for 5-7 minutes.
- Take the crumble out of the oven and set aside for 5 minutes or so until is cooled down.
- Once it's cool to the touch, you can crumble it further as it will have set in a crunchy biscuit like sheet.
Form the tart bases
- Work quickly here and don't handle the dough too much. You only need a very fine sprinkle of flour on the rolling pin to help with the pastry sticking.
- Take the dough out of the fridge, divide in 6 balls and shape each ball in 5 inches flat circles to fit in your tart tins.
- Push gently with your fingers to fit the pastry in the tin's grooves. Scrape the excess dough with a small knife.
- Prick each base with a fork then put the tart tins in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Assemble and bake!
- Preheat the oven to 175°C or 350℉.
- If you are using a preheated cookie sheet place it in the oven now.
- Whilst the oven is heating up, fill the tarts with the apple filling, making sure the filling is leveled.
- Scatter the crumble and pat it down gently so it covers and sticks to the apple filling.
- Put the tins straight onto the oven shelf or on the preheated cookie sheet if using.
- Bake the apple crumble tartlets at 175 ° c for 25 to 30 minutes until they are golden and crispy and oozing with caramel apple goodness.
Serve hot or cold!
- Once out of the oven, let them cool down fully before taking them out of the tins. Push each tart from the bottom up then gently remove the bottom.
- Serve the tarts with ice cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce or maple syrup. Or a pool of custard! 😋
Video
Notes
If the apples don't have enough moisture, add a tablespoon of water to avoid sticking to the pan.
Bake the crumble topping on its own to help with the crunch factor. If you make the crisp topping ahead, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for 3 months.
You don't need to blind bake the tarts and it doesn't matter if they are not perfect. Once they are baked they will be golden and beautiful.
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