hello november:
it being that season,
we’re busy.
sweet dw is sick,
but well on the mend.
i am of the mind that,
yes, he does need to slow down,
be gentle with himself,
nurture his immune system now
as we begin the long haul of cooler temps,
but we have plans!
museum meet ups
potlucks
voting
comedy shows
cookie baking
travel
that’s just for this month.

to kick off dw’s favorite season
i made a tart.
it took me all day saturday to make,
i’d never make it on
the Great British Bake Off.
a little goes a looong way with almond extract,
and hard effort pays off.
stay well, friends.

apple almond tart
inspiration drawn from: insideChic, wild wild whisk, and Tom Kerridge.
serves 8

*note: i cheated and used a pie crust bag. i still cried. pie crust is something that i loathe making, AND YET I STILL MAKE THEM. if dw hadn’t been sick i would’ve had him do this entire step, he’s the pie man in this relationship.

Almond Tart Crust
64 g sliced almonds
25 g sugar
132 g sprouted spelt flour
super healthy pinch of salt
1 stick of lactose free butter, cut into cubes, very cold
1 large egg yolk (keep the egg white for the almond paste)
2 TBL ice-cold vodka

in food processor, pulse almonds with sugar until the nuts are fine. add in the flour & salt and pulse quickly to combine. throw in the cold butter and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas. in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolk + vodka, and then add to the processor to pulse just until the entire thing comes together. transfer mixture onto a plastic wrap, gently mush together and shape into a disc. wrap in the plastic wrap and fridge for about an hour.

lightly flour pie crust bag. unwrap dough and place into the pie bag. roll out until it reaches the edge. if you need to cus the crust got all soft on you, put the crust still in the pie bag into the fridge to firm up. try not to cry, carefully transfer the dough onto 11″ fluted tart pan with removable bottom. gently press dough into the bottom and up the sides. trim any excess dough. prick bottom of tart shell with fork. fridge for 30 minutes.

preheat the oven to 375F.

top the pan with parchment paper and fill with dry beans or pie weights. bake for 13 minutes. remove from oven, carefully lift parchment paper with dried beans out and continue baking for another 7 minutes. remove pie from oven and allow to cool completely before filling etc.

lower heat to 335F.

Almond Paste/Frangipane
1 cup almond meal/flour
1/2 cup powder sugar
1 egg white
1/2 tsp almond extract
healthy pinch of salt

in bowl add all the ingredients and mix until combined. cover and fridge until ready to use.

Apple Topping
enough apples, cored & sliced thin via mandolin, to cover tart
powdered sugar sifted over top
coco whip, optional, to serve

while the crust is cooling from the blind bake and the almond paste is hanging out in the fridge, carefully core apples and slice. if you do this step earlier, keep the slices in some lemon water to prevent discoloration, but be sure to dab dry before put on tart.

when ready, carefully spread the almond paste onto pre-baked crust. it doesn’t have to be perfect, just spread as evenly as you can to cover the bottom of the tart.

layer the slices however you want to onto the tart.

bake for 45 – 50 minutes.

remove from oven and allow to cool.

serve topped with coco whip.

BAM!

3 years ago: calamansi olive oil bread
2 years ago: apparently i was reading
1 year ago: i only did one thing last year, a most worthwhile thing, vegan carrot wedding cake