I am wrapping up my 2016 Year of the Pie and I cannot leave this one out! Apples and cream; a marriage made in a cook’s heaven – the Alsation apple tart. It is from Annalise G. Roberts’s“ The Heirloom Collection” cookbook wherein she re-creates many classic recipes we all love but in a gluten free version.  It came out last year.  Everything I have made from this book is delicious. If you have her other cookbooks you will definitely want this one.

We enjoyed this tart two times last fall/winter.  It is a very easy recipe; make the tart shell and while it pre-bakes, peel and slice the apples and mix up the custard which you pour over the sliced fruit and carefully place in the oven for a transformational baking.

The baked filling has a lovely texture; the apple slices are soft but hold their shape and the custard is silky and subtle.  The long baking makes the crust very crisp.  No ice cream needed; this is perfect just by itself.

So freaking good; you must try it even if you use a wheat crust!

Alsation Apple Tart
6 large slices or 8 skinny ones

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 Tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbsp. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Spray a nine – ten inch tart pan that has a 1 ½ inch side with cooking spray, set aside.  I use a ceramic pan but if you have one of those tricky deep tart pans with a removable side that would work perfectly.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), or a pie bag. Do flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes.

Roll out the flattened ball into a pie crust in a pie bag or between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! Peel off one side of paper and place in the tart pan, be sure to center it.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

Filling:

4 medium-large sized apples, yellow delicious or fuji work well as they don’t squish down too much.

Peel apples, quarter, cut out core, slice into 1/2 inch thick slices (8 for a medium apple)

Mix in a medium  mixing bowl with:

6 tbsp. sugar

2 eggs; stir well

Add 1 cup heavy cream, 1 tbsp. milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, ¼ tsp. cinnamon.

Arrange the apple slices in the warm/hot tart shell, squash them close together.  Pour the custard filling over the apples.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 50-55 minutes until the custard is set and the crust is light brown

Cool the pie at least 1 hour before serving. You can sprinkle the slices with confectioner’s sugar if you like to guild the lily; not really necessary though.

Brown Rice Flour Mix (same as King Arthur GF Flour mix)
2 c brown rice flour, finely ground

2/3 c potato starch (Not potato flour)

1/3 c tapioca flour

Note: This recipe is from Annalise Roberts’ great cookbook: Gluten-Free Baking Classics – The Heirloom Collection.

Originally posted November 2015.