Apple Crumble Tart
Now that it's fall and October and all, it's time for the bombardment of pumpkin and ginger and pears and, of course, apples.
Not that I meant "bombardment" to lend a negative connotation to any of these things. Except maybe with regards to the pumpkin. I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you. I've just never been very excited about the pumpkin-spice-everything onslaught that begins each September. Which is why I don't really post more than a couple pumpkin recipes every year.
But back to the apples and ginger. Those are two things that definitely agree with me. And today's apple crumble tart has both.
Now, I know the idea of a tart might scare some of you away. But please hear me out. This apple crumble tart, although by all appearances complicated and time-consuming to make, is anything but that.
If you've got yourself a tart pan, you're already halfway there. It's not like this tart necessitates a tricky crust that requires the dough to be mixed in a food processor and chilled in the fridge before being rolled out and pressed neatly into the tart pan and blind baked. Na.
This is the type of dough that's mixed together in a bowl just like the dough for a basic cookie. The mixture is then simply pressed into the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan. No food processor, no chilling, no rolling, and no blind baking. Just plain old mixing and dumping and pressing.
But wait. It gets even better.
That simple mixture that you've just made for the crust is used for the crumble as well. Yes, the very same one! You just press half of the mixture into the pan, layer the apples over it, and sprinkle the rest over the apples as the generous crumble. That is my kind of two-birds-with-one-stone situation.
And so, with the same basic mixture used for both the crust and the crumble, this apple crumble tart is soooooo much quicker and easier to make than it looks.
Obbbbbbbviously, this recipe affords you a very generous amount of crust and crumble in every bite. You shouldn't expect otherwise from a crumble recipe of mine. Because crumble, not the fruit, is always my favorite part of any fruit crumble.
So maybe we should discuss the actual crust/crumble (same mixture, remember?) now. K, let's.
It's sweet and crispy and crunchy and dairy-free and tender and tasty and rich thanks to ingredients such as brown sugar and eggs and oil and vanilla extract. The crumble gets all nice and golden and crispy in the oven and the crust remains tender from all the juicy, fresh apples sitting on top of it.
As for those juicy, fresh apples. You'll be taking three tart apples of your choice and slicing them up. And you'll be mixing those slices in brown sugar and lemon juice and water and vanilla extract and cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger. All of which allows the apples to get super tender and juicy and sweet and spicy and flavorful whilst baking.
Crust, apples, crumble. Encased in a beautiful tart pan. Yielding a perfect apple crumble tart. Happiness, is what it is.
Apple Crumble Tart
Yield: 8" tart
Crust and Crumble:
1 ¾ cups packed flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
½ cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Apple Filling:
3 tart apples
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
Juice of ½ a lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons water
¼ teaspoon cinnamon powder
¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
¼ teaspoon ginger powder
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease an 8” tart pan with a removable bottom well.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Add in the egg, oil, and vanilla extract and mix till crumble forms.
3. Press half of crumble mixture firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan.
4. Peel and slice apples into thin wedges and add to a large bowl. Add rest of filling ingredients into bowl with apples and stir until apples are evenly coated.
5. Pour apple mixture over crust evenly. Sprinkle remaining crumble over the apples.
6. Bake on lower oven rack for 35-45 minutes, until edges and top of crumble are a deep golden brown. Let the crumble cool completely before releasing it from the pan. Serve warm or room temperature, with ice cream if desired.
