Ingredients
Tart Dough
- 3¾cups bread flour
- Pinch of sea salt
- 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 6 tablespoons cold water
- Dash of white vinegar
- Flour (for dusting)
- ½cup melted butter (for brushing pies before baking)
Apple Filling
1 pound apples such as Golden Delicious, Granny Smith or Fuji, diced 3½ tablespoons sugar
Pinch each of salt, ground allspice, ground cardamom, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, ground ginger and ground nutmeg
Dash of vanilla extract2 tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
To make tart dough, combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Add butter and mix until a coarse meal forms.Combine egg, water and vinegar in another bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ones, mixing only until the dough comes together, adding more cold water as needed. Roll the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until ready to use, at least 30 minutes.
To make apple filling, place apples in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add all remaining ingredients except cornstarch. Stir well to combine. Cook until apples begin to soften. Remove from heat. Strain all liquid from apples into another container, reserving apples. Pour the liquid back into the pot and warm the liquid over medium heat.
Combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water into a slurry (thin paste). Once the liquid on the stove has warmed, slowly add the slurry, stirring continuously until smooth.
Remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool completely. Once cooled, add back to the apples and stir to thoroughly incorporate. Refrigerate until chilled.
To prepare tarts, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1⁄8 inch thick. Mold dough into 6-inch flat rounds.Fill the tart rounds with 1 tablespoon of the apple filling. Crimp the edges of the tarts, using the tines of a fork. If preparing in advance, freeze until ready to bake.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325°. Brush both sides of each tart with melted butter. Bake 20 to 25 minutes on a rimmed cookie sheet; bake 7 to 10 minutes longer if the pies are frozen. Serve hot. Sprinkle each tart liberally with cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar glaze and top with cinnamon ice cream, if desired (see recipes below)
Cinnamon Ice Cream
Let ½ gallon of your favorite store-bought vanilla ice cream soften a bit (you don’t want it completely melted). Place softened ice cream in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and gently fold in 4 to 6 teaspoons ground cinnamon, a splash of vanilla and a few tablespoons of bourbon. Refreeze and serve on top of the hot apple pies.
Cinnamon Sugar
Blend together ½ cup sugar and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
Powdered Sugar Glaze
Combine ½ cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons warm water. Whisk until smooth. Add another little dash of bourbon, if so inclined!