Nurturing my inner... rustic pie baker

Fancy, I am not.  I don't decorate with a bunch of flair and I certainly don't dress with a ton of wow factor either.  I am a proponent of easy, simple and natural looking.  In my cooking world, I tend to subscribe to this philosophy: if it appears to be too hard to make, I'm probably not going to even try.  Not without a tutor and stunt double anyway.

Here we are, shortly into September and it's well into apple season already.  This brings great joy to my heart and tummy and certainly makes the transition out of summer more palatable.

Apples, along with pumpkins and leaves, are the ambassadors of fall.  I love apples presented in their many forms.  Warm mulled cider.  Caramel coated.  Flaky crust-ensconced.  But not so sure I own a pie plate.  (Yet I own pie weights.  Go figure.)  I saw someone somewhere at sometime (Clearly I'm engaging my photographic like memory recall.) make a rustic tart.  And I loved that idea!  It was kind of a pie-like package.  A fruit bundle.  Sans pie dish.  Which is good when you, like me, may strangely not own a pie dish and you're still not sure why.  So, off to research I went.

For some reason, I am the Doctor Frankenstein of recipes.  I can't just take one as is and follow to the letter.  I have to combine three or more of them to get the ultimate creation.  This adventure would be no exception to my mad scientist penchant for building the perfect dessert.  (Moo ha ha ha!!! *Insert thunder cracking sound.*)

Rustic Apple Tart

Pie Crust

Any recipe you have will do.  My friend who was daring enough to do this cooking thing with me at a moment's notice had found this one in her old go to book.  You can also use ready made if you don't want to take the time.  No one is judging you if you do that.  (Least of all me, who can barely scramble an egg without the Fire and Rescue Department showing up.)

1/2 cup cold butter cut into pieces
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (I like King Arthur.)
1 beaten egg yolk (Save the white for later, you'll need it.)
2-3 tsp ice water

Into the mixer you go!

Mix  cold (Important!) butter and flour in mixer (That makes sense.) on low until it's like pebbly sand.  Add egg yolk and water and continue to mix until it forms a ball.  Wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge.  Pie crust gets flaky because of the little beads of butter that get trapped in between the flour and make thin layers.  (You always wondered how that happened, now you know.)

Apple Filling

6 peeled and sliced Honey Crisp Apples (Those are my favorite that I got at the Farmers' Market the day before.)
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
2 tsp white sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp melted butter

Honey Crisp apples, how I love you so.

Use an apple slicer thingie to core apples.  I used my friend's device, as I don't own one, and it worked pretty well to get me started.  I finished them off with a pairing knife to cut off peel and slice into thinner pieces.  Then I put them in a large glass bowl.

Apples in the nude. (Sounds like the
name of a Gauguin painting.)

Add lemon juice, sugars, spices, salt and butter.  Mix with your hands.  (Or a spoon if you want to be boring.  Using hands is much more fun.  It's like you're a kid!)  Make sure all apple slices are well coated.

Apples in a flurry of cinnamon and sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray cookie sheet with non stick spray.

Flour your work area.

Granite is nice for rolling out pie dough because
it's cold, but you still want to make sure you
have enough flour so it doesn't stick.

 
Roll out dough until thin.  Your preference.  Probably 1/8th inch for us.  (But I didn't have a Civil Engineer handy to confirm.)

Note the crazy amoeba-like shape.
Free form pie crust art!

Roll crust onto the rolling pin for easy transfer.  Then unroll onto the cookie sheet that you have sprayed lightly with nonstick spray.

Crust may go over edges right now.
Not to worry!

Pile apples in the center of the dough.  You don't have to use them all.  We can find another use for any extras.

Goodness has begun.

Gently fold up sides leaving the center of the pie open.  Sort of like a delicious pie volcano.  Please make sure to pinch together any holes around the bottom otherwise juices will leak out.  (Learn from my mistakes.)  Then brush top with beaten egg white and sprinkle with Turbinado Raw Sugar.  Raw sugar stays in tact through the baking process and adds a nice sparkle and crunch when your treat comes out of the oven!

A giant dumpling covered in sugar glitter.

We baked it for about 40ish minutes.  That really is going to depend on your oven.  When it's bubbly, golden brown on top and the apples have softened, you're good to get 'er out.

Oh, so this is cool.  My friend had this ginormous spatula.  The likes of which I had never seen.  She thinks her husband has it for grilling.  (Grilling what?  Brontosaurus burgers?  You could lift a Smart Fortwo with that tool.)

For comparison, that is a regular-sized
mixing spatula next to it.  Good gravy!

It worked perfectly to transfer the tart to this here lovely dish, so I'm not going to poke fun of the Spatulasaurus.

You can smell the apples and cinnamon,
can't you.

At this time, you'll realize that probably five apples would actually have been enough (But what's the fun in that!), because you had left over apples you didn't tell your reading audience about until now.  Have no fear, nothing will go to waste.

Individual Apple Crumbles

Remaining apple mixture
sprinkle of raisins
sprinkle of toasted pecans
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp flour
1 tsp plain oats
2 small pats of butter

Mix apples, raisins and pecans.  Place in cute, small, oven safe French porcelain containers.

My friend wanted hers plain. Not me!
Bring on the added textures.

In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and oats to liking.  Pack on top of apples.  Top with butter.  Bake in the same oven at 350 for 20/25 min or until bubbly.

Every bit of the apples used in slightly
different ways.

Add ice cream if you have it because, well, why wouldn't you.

You can't go wrong with apples, cinnamon and sugar.  Per your own taste, you may like it sweeter or you may want to add more spices.  Apples are so forgiving.  Stay tuned for another apple recipe coming up soon.

Me, blurry action shot.