Hopelessly Devoted to Pink Ladies

The Kitchen Aid got another work out today, this time to make an Apple Crostata! We had some Pink Lady apples in the fridge that had seen better days, which when found has been known to spark my baking bug. Normally I make an Apple Crumble when confronted with this type of fruit phenomenon, but since I need to expand my dessert repertoire, I went hunting for new recipes. I was very pleased with this dessert in the end - it was easy to make, presented well and was just a little different than a tradtional apple pie. For a dinner party, it would be great as it is quite a cute dessert, presents beautifully and is perfect for Autumn/Winter, the aromas heavenly.

What is a Crostata? Isn't it just a pie? Wikipedia, my humble and reliable online companion, cites: a crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the fruit filling, creating a more "rough" look, rather than a uniform, circular shape. The fruit can be anything from apple to mixed berry to peaches.

Ingredients & Preparation:

Short Crust Pastry (from Bill Granger's Bills Sydney Food):

2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup icing sugar (confectioners' sugar)

a pinch of salt

180g (11 3/4 oz) unsalted butter, cubed

1/4 cup (2 fl oz) cream

Filling:

3-4 Pink Lady apples, sliced thinly

Juice of 1 lemon

Lemon Zest of half a lemon

3 tbsp white sugar

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Demerara Sugar (to sprinkle)

1 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed

1 egg yolk

1 tsp cold water

For the pastry: Place flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add butter and rub through the mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add just enough cream for the mixture to form a ball. I made the pastry with my Kitchen Aid, using the dough hook. Refrigerate pastry for at least 30 minutes before rolling. Ensure that you have a perfectly round sphere before rolling out the pastry on a lightly floured surface - this will ensure that your pastry rolls out into a round shape.

For the filling: Toss the sliced apples with the lemon juice and zest. Add the cinnamon and white sugar, then gently combine.

To assemble: Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place the rolled pastry in a pie plate or on a flat cookie sheet. Arrange apples within the pastry, leaving 5 cm on the outside if using a cookie sheet. If you are using a pie plate, ensure that there is at least 5 cm of extra pastry on the outside of the pie plate.

Once the apples are arranged on the pastry, fold the pastry edges in to the centre. Dust pastry edges with egg yolk mixed with water. Sprinkle demerarra sugar on top of the crostata. Drop tiny cubes of the butter on the apples just prior to baking.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until crust is lightly golden. Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm.

Bon Appetit!