Apple Tart With Crumb Topping

We do not eat a lot of sweet desserts in my family and in fact if we plan to enjoy something after our meal it is most often fresh fruit. Every so often though, I get a craving to make an old fashioned fruit tart or pie. My grandson was staying with us recently and he loves apples so I pulled out an old recipe from my files for an apple tart with a crumb crust.

It turned out as delicious as I remember and my grandson was thrilled until he realized he was missing vanilla ice cream to go along with the apple tart. The ice cream did get made the following day so he had his ice cream for his apple tart and he was happy once again.

I used a fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, but you could use a basic pie pan if you wanted to. You could also use shortening in place of the butter, but do refrigerate it before using. As with most pastry crusts, the less you handle this one the more tender it will be. To save time, I used my food processor to make the pastry but you certainly could make the pastry by hand instead using a pastry blender.

Vanilla Gelato Made To Accompany The Apple Tart

Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele 

Apple Tart With Crumb Topping

Apple Tart With Crumb Topping

Yield: Makes 1 (9 Inch Tart)
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

A tasty tart with a tender pastry crust, apple filling and crumbly topping.

Ingredients

Pastry:

  • 2 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Cup (2 Sticks) Cold Unsalted Butter Cut Into Pieces
  • 1/2 Cup Ice Water

Filling:

  • 8 Firm Apples Of Choice (I Prefer Granny Smith)
  • 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 2 Tablespoons Cold Unsalted Butter Cut Into Small Dice

Crumb Topping:

  • 3/4 Cup (1 1/2 Sticks) Cold, Unsalted Butter
  • 1 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
  • 3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1/3 Cup Finely Chopped Walnuts

Instructions

  1. For the pastry, place the flour and salt in the food processor, then add the pieces of butter (or shortening) and briefly pulse for 5 to 10 seconds or until the mixture looks like coarse meal.
  2. Add the ice water spoonful by spoonful, pulsing briefly a second or two after each addition until the dough just holds together.
  3. Empty the dough out onto a lightly floured hard surface and shape the dough into a flat disk.
  4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour.
  5. Roll out the dough into a circle with a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch.
  6. Center the dough in a 9 inch tart or pie pan.
  7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  8. For the apples, peel, remove the cores, and slice thinly.
  9. Mix the apple slices together with the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
  10. Pour the apples into the prepared pie crust, dot the apples with butter, and trim the edges of the pie with a sharp knife.
  11. For the topping, in a food processor, mix the flour, brown sugar and butter together until crumbly.
  12. Stir in the walnuts and spoon the topping over the apples in the prepared pie crust.
  13. Bake the tart for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until the crust is light brown and the apple filling is bubbly.
  14. Cool for at least 15 minutes and serve.

Did you make this recipe?

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3 Comments

  1. Love to make this but unsure what size/depth of tart pan to use. I have two types of fluted tart pans 1″deep and 2″deep. Can you tell me the approximate depth of the fluted tart pan you used for this recipe?
    Thanks in advance:)

  2. Deborah,
    I’ve made your Apple Crumb Tart3 times. Such a good dessert !! Easy to make and not too sweet. Thanks for sharing.
    Cheers, Mary Anne

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