For this challenge I wanted to celebrate the last bit of fall that's been hanging on here in Boston so I decided to make version 1 of the pasta frolla, fill it with vanilla pastry cream and top it off with caramelized apples.
All-in-all this was really easy to make and tasted delicious! I followed the pastry cream recipe provided by Simona and just added a bit of vanilla extract and although it was delicious I think it tasted much more like a custard than a cream with a very pronounced egg flavor which definitely reminded me of custard.
Pasta Frolla
Ingredients:
1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon Powdered Sugar
1 3/4 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
Pinch of Salt
8 tbsp Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces
Grated Zest of Half a Lemon
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl
1) Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
2) Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
3) Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
4) Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
5) Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
6) Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
7) Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
Pastry Cream
Ingredients:
2 Extra-Large Eggs
1/3 cup Sugar
500 ml Milk (slightly more than 2 cups)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract3 tbsp Pastry Flour
1) Pour the milk into a pan, add the vanilla extract and warm up to to well below boiling point.
2) In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is bubbly.
3) Sift the flour over the egg mixture and beat briefly until it is incorporated.
4) Temper the egg mixture with a small quantity of milk, then slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing with a wooden spoon.
5) Pour the mixture into the pan and set it to very low heat, stirring at least every couple of minutes.
7) When the crema reaches boiling temperature and thickens, cook briefly (1-2 minutes), then remove the pan from the heat, place the saucepan in a cold water bath and stir the crema to bring down its temperature.
8) While the crema cools down, stir it every now and then to prevent the formation of a film over it.
Assembling and Baking the Crostata con la Crema:
1) Heat the oven to 350ºF.
2) Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
3) To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
4) Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
5) If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
6) Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
7) If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
8) Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
9) Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
10) Take out of the fridge the reserved pasta frolla you had cut away earlier. Roll it with your pin and cut into strips or use cookie cutters to make small shapes (this is not traditional, but it looks cute); or roll with your hands into ropes.
11) Cover the bottom of the crostata crust evenly with the pastry cream.
12) Brush the border and strips of dough with the reserved beaten eggs. You can add a drop or two of water to the beaten eggs if you don’t have enough liquid.
13) Put the tart in the oven and bake for 30 minutes (while the tart was baking I made the caramelized apples).
14) After 35 minutes, check the tart, and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue.
14) When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring. Make sure the tart is completely cool before slicing and serving.
Caramelized Apples:
Ingredients:
3 tbsp Butter
5 spicy-sweet, crisp apples (Jonagold, Crispin, Honeycrisp), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 tbsp plus 2 tbsp Granulated Sugar, Divided
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1/3 cup apple cider
1) Add the apples to the pan and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Sauté the apples, stirring frequently, for 6-8 minutes, until they just start to turn tender.
4) Transfer the apples from the skillet to a serving bowl with a slotted spoon. Turn the heat to high and add the apple cider to the skillet, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce the heat slightly and allow the cider and the pan juices to simmer for 1-3 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly. 5) If you desire a thicker sauce, dissolve the cornstarch in a teaspoon of water, stir it into the sauce, and allow it to thicken for a moment. Pour the finished sauce over the warm apples and top crostata with them once cooled.
6) Slice, serve and enjoy :)
