Apple custard tart

I was window shopping at one of my favourite pastry shops in Torino, Perino Vesco. In the window, I spied a tart with caramelised apples melting into a creamy vanilla custard cradled by crisp pastry. About the same time, a reader was asking me about fruit and custard tarts. By happy coincidence, when I got home I realised I somehow managed to accidentally order about 3 kilos of apples. I took this series of events to be a sign that I was to make apple-based desserts. First we made a lusciously creamy apple cake with Nutella that disappeared before it had a chance to cool. Sorry no photos of that one. I’ll have to try again. I then thought I would seize the opportunity to try making the apple custard tart I saw in Torino while praying the children were too full of apple cake to demolish the tart before I had a chance to shoot it.

Renetta apples – perfect for desserts

I have a long history with apple tarts as throughout my teen years I would resolutely order one in every restaurant I went to that had it on the menu. My brother used to laugh at me as I would peruse the dessert menu first to ensure that I would have enough space after my main course to accommodate a slice of apple tart if it were on offer.

Apple custard filled pastries

What I love about fruit tarts like this one is that you can change the fruit to whatever is at hand – pears, peaches or apples. I am going to try persimmons and a strawberry rhubarb combination next and will report back on the results.

The recipe is flexible in that the pastry can be made (or bought) up to a couple of days in advance. The custard can also be made in advance. When you want to make the tart, just roll the pastry out, fill it with custard, top with the cut fruit and brush on the apricot jam. Bake it to cook the fruit and its done.

Crostata di mele (apple custard tart)

If you want a lattice pastry top, double the recipe for the pastry. For illustrated step-by-step instructions, click here.

Pastry (pasta frolla):

150 grams butter, room temperature

120 grams sugar

57 grams egg yolk (3 large egg yolks)

5 grams baking powder

300 grams 00 or plain flour

Custard (crema pasticcera):

500 mls milk

150 grams sugar

125 grams egg yolks

20 grams rice flour

20 grams corn flour (corn starch)

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out

Tart:

750 grams apples (choose ones that cook well and keep their form like renette, granny smith or cox), peeled and sliced 4 mm thick

1 lemon, juiced

4 spoons apricot jam

Pastry:

Make the pastry by creaming together the butter and sugar until they lighten in colour. Add the yolks, one by one. Finally add the flour, baking powder and salt to combine. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour. For the illustrated step-by-step method, click here.

Custard:

Make the pastry cream by heating half the milk with the sugar and vanilla bean and seeds to 55C. Remove the vanilla bean and discard. Mix the rice flour, corn flour and egg yolks. Whisk in the remaining 250 mls cold milk to the yolks. Next add the hot milk to the yolks. In a double boiler, heat the mixture to 86C while stirring constantly until thick. Let it cool. For the illustrated step-by-step method, click here.

Tart:

Heat the oven to 180C. Toss the cut apples with the lemon juice. Rub a quarter sheet pan with oil or butter. On a floured board, roll out the pastry to 4 mm thick and large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. If you are making a lattice top, roll out the second half of the pastry and cut into 1 cm strips.

Roll the pastry around the rolling pin and unroll it into the pan. Prick the pastry all over with a fork. Cut off the sides with a sharp paring knife.

Spread the custard evenly into the pan. Add the apples, overlapping them to cover the custard. Heat the apricot jam a bit and brush it onto the apples. If you are doing the lattice top, start weaving the reserved strips. (See a guide here.) Bake the apple tart for 30 minutes. Remove when the apples are caramelised on the ends and the pastry is golden. Enjoy!

Comments

Charlotte says

March 21, 2017 at 5:25 pm

That would be a keeper recipe for me ! Cannot wait for apple season . Great find.
Grazie Torino, grazie Janet

- wooweiduan says
  
  March 22, 2017 at 4:37 am
  
  Glad you like it Charlotte. I will try the strawberry and rhubarb combo next and let you know how it comes out.
  
  - Antonio says
    
    March 31, 2017 at 7:40 pm
    
    I would love the recipe for the strawberry rhubarb tart. My rhubarb plants just woke up from their winter sleep. Thank you for your blog. I love it! Would love to see some posts of the Abruzzo region. My family roots are in LAquila, Pacentro.
    
    - wooweiduan says
      
      April 4, 2017 at 3:55 am
      
      Hi Antonio, Thanks for commenting. I was just thinking today when to make that version of the tart. I will let you know when I get it perfect. We were invited to harvest saffron in Abruzzo in October and my children really want to do it. Hopefully I will have some good photos for you from our little agricultural tour. What a lovely part of the country to have roots.
      
    - wooweiduan says
      
      April 12, 2017 at 4:53 am
      
      Hi, So I worked it out. I made 1.5 times to pastry to make a lattice top. You could do 2x the pastry and cover. Basically you take 400 grams chopped rhubarb and mix it with 250 grams of sugar, 2 eggs, 35 grams cornflour/cornstarch and a pinch of salt. Place the pastry in the baking pan, prick with a fork, top with the pastry cream, top that with the rhubarb mixture and add your lattice top. Bake at 180 C for 45 to 50 minutes. Serve with sliced strawberries or puree fresh strawberries in a coulis and serve with the tart. Strawberries and rhubarb are a match made in heaven. I’ll add it to the site when I manage to get the photos edited but I wanted to make sure you had it now as your rhubarb is ready. Enjoy!