17/10/2020

Apple Tart (with easy shortbread crust)

Name: Apple Tart with easy shortbread crust
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 70 g butter (plus extra for greasing the tin); 60 g plain white flour; 50 g plain wholemeal flour; 30 g medium oatmeal; 1 pinch salt; 70 g caster sugar; 750 g apples; 25 g Demerara sugar; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 40 g butter

Apple Tart is always a crowd pleaser. Sweet-tart apples, cooked to soft perfection, caramelized with a cinnamon and sugar topping.

But what about the base? In this version, you can forget making pastry, rolling and cutting out. That’s because a simple shortbread type dough is pressed into the baking tin. As the apples cook and release their juices, they form a wonderfully chewy crust with toffee apple flavours.

Slicing the apples and laying them over the base is the only thing that takes a little time. But it’s so worth it for this fantastic tasting and impressive looking Apple Tart.

Jump to Recipe

Hard to believe, but I first made a version of this beautiful Apple Tart over twenty-five years ago.

I’d spotted a magazine recipe which incorporated amaretti biscuits into a crumbly base before baking with sliced apples on top.

I’ve long since lost that cut-out recipe, but still love making my version of it.

EASY SHORTBREAD CRUST

Instead of amaretti biscuits, I make what I think of as a rustic crust which is more like buttery shortbread.

All you do is rub the butter into flour, stir in sugar, then press it over the base of a greased tin. Easy!

I use a mix of plain white and wholemeal flours as well as oatmeal. This gives interesting texture and a little more complex flavour but still allows the apples to be the star of the show.

APPLES

You can use almost any eating apples for this recipe. These tend to hold together better than cooking apples such as Bramleys.

For the Apple Tart in this post I used wonderful Pitmaston Pineapple apples from my Moorland Veg Box.

When you consider the poor choice of British apples in supermarkets, even at the height of the season, it’s hard to believe that we once led the world in the number of varieties grown.

So it always pleases me when I come across one I haven’t heard of before, like the Pitmaston Pineapple.

Some say its name comes from a slight pineapple flavour. Others that it’s just due to the yellow colour and oval shape of some of the fruits.

I’m not sure I could taste pineapple, but they’re certainly a lovely tasting apple. Sweet, but with a slight sharpness, they were just right for my Apple Tart.

APPLE TOPPING

To be honest, the cutting up of the apples is a little time-consuming. But with all the other elements being quick, please don’t let that put you off.

Taking a quarter of a peeled and cored apple at a time, you slice it thinly. But keep hold of it in one piece, then press them out into a sort of fan shape.

This may sound fiddly, but it does make placing the apples over the base easier in the long run.

I make concentric circles of apple slices, but create any fancy pattern you like if you have a little more patience than I.

At first, you may think that all the apples will never fit on in one layer. But trust me. They will.

Uncooked, the topping might look a bit higgledy-piggledy. Perhaps there’s even a few brown spots on your apples.

But don’t worry. I find it always ends up looking good once baked.

All that’s left to do then is brush some melted butter over the apples and sprinkle with a combination of sugar and cinnamon.

I use Demerara sugar as I like some crunch, but ordinary caster sugar is fine too.

Then it’s into the oven for 35-40 minutes.

After this time the apples should be soft and caramelized.

When you smell the wonderful aromas of warm apple and cinnamon, you might be tempted to have a slice right away. Don’t!

PATIENCE IS REWARDED

Dig in immediately and the still-fragile, shortbread-like base could collapse. So just put the tin on a wire rack to cool and walk away.

The cooling process is also important as we want all those lovely apple juices that have bubbled up to sink down into the base. The result is a wonderfully chewy crust imbued with caramelized apple flavour.

In case it wasn’t obvious already, I should perhaps say that if you’re looking for a fancy French type apple tart with a crisp pastry crust then you’ve come to the wrong place. This gorgeous but simple tart is much more rustic (and easier!) than that.

So, leave in the tin until cold, then run a knife around the edge and carefully turn out.

Just look at the edges of the tart in the image below. The crumble-like base has fused with the sugary apple juice to form a delicious sticky delight!

So, forget comparisons with hot apple pie or apple crumble, accept this Apple Tart on its own terms and eat at room temperature.

Lovely just as it is with a cuppa, you can also add a slick of double cream to turn it into a knee-tremblingly good dessert.

Have you made this Apple Tart with easy shortbread crust?