SYLVIANE NUCCIO

My Homemade Apple Tarte From Scratch

September 14, 2012 French Cuisine

I have to admit that I am a decent cook and baker, but I don’t take any credit for it, because I was raised by a mother who used to be an excellent cook and baker.  Yes, a “cordon bleu” as we call excellent cooks in France. She was so good that people always used to tell her, why don’t you open your own restaurant?

Everything I Know About Cooking I Know it From my Mother

I grew up seeing my mother make just about everything under the sun, but butter.  She used to even make her own bread and yogurts as well as ice cream, sometimes.  And many kind of deserts.  And last but not least every type of home meals we ever had.  Everything my mother made was from scratch. She absolutely never, ever, bought any pre-made anything.  She used to even make the pasta of her lasagnas. So, you could say that I was raised in the best cooking school in town.

When you spend years seeing your mother cook this way, even if you’re not crazy about cooking, like me, you’re bound to know some and you will find yourself cooking.  So, thanks to my cooking knowledge inheritance I’ve been cooking from scratch pretty much my whole life as well.  Some of my recipes are right from my mother and others are my own.

Today, I wanted to reveal my homemade apple tarte from scratch.  When I say scratch, I mean I also make the crust and use fresh apples, only.  Nothing canned or pre-made here.  So, if you are up to the challenge, I am going to give you the recipe of my homemade apple tarte from scratch.

By the way, I’ve posted the picture of this tarte that I made this pas Sunday, on Facebook, and I’ve got a few feedbacks.

This recipe is for a tarte for 6-8 people.

The Crust

  • 2 cups of flower
  • 1 stick of butter
  • A pinch of salt
  • 2 table spoons of sugar
  • 1 egg
  • Half a glass of water

The Filling

  • 5 big apples (golden apples best)
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • A coffee spoon of vanilla extract
  • Half a cup of water

 Preparing the Crust

Pour the flower in a bowl and mix it with the salt and sugar very thoroughly with your hand (thoroughly clean of course).

Then add a stick of butter that has been left at room temperature for a couple of hours, and mix the butter thoroughly, with your hands as well, until completely blinded with the flour.

Then add the egg and mix it until completely blended as well. Then add the water and start assembling the dough together without working it too much at all.  It’s very important that you do not work the dough as it will make your crust hard.  You should have a very supple dough ball.

As soon as you’ve got your dough together, spread a handful of flour on a very cleaned and sanitized kitchen counter and start flattening the ball with a rolling pin. Make sure you do not push down to hard as it would be sticky and you won’t be able to lift the dough into the tart mold.

Once your dough is spread about to the size of your mold, roll it around the rolling pin and un-roll it into the mold to fit. (Don’t forget to spread the mold with butter and flour).  Cut off all the extra dough at the edge of the mold.

Preparing the Filling

Peel and cut four of the five apples, rinse them and cute them in pieces.  Pour them into a pot with the sugar and vanilla extract. Cook until the apple chunks become soft enough that you can crush them into a puree by pressing on them with a crushing kitchen tool.

While the apple puree is cook it’s a good time to prepare the crust.

By the time you’re done with the crust your apple puree should be ready as well.  Once the crust and apple puree are ready, turn your oven on at 350°, and cut the last apple in two and slice it into thin slices.  Pour the puree into the curst and spread evenly.  Then, decorate with the apple slices.  Put in the oven for about 30-35 minutes or until the top of your tarte become golden color.

It may seem like a lot of work, but with a bit of practice it doesn’t take me more than 30 minutes to make that tarte from start to finish.  With apple season starting, I hope you will enjoy making this delicious dessert. Let me know what you think, and if you have any questions as well.  Just use the comment area below, I get back to everyone!

Enjoy!

 

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19 thoughts on “My Homemade Apple Tarte From Scratch”

  1. That looks so good Sylviane and you are very fortunate that your Mom was that type of cook. I love my Mom to death as you very well know but bless her heart. She was/is the most boring cook around. Maybe it was because she was always so budget conscious that what she cooked was the bare minimum. I don’t know but I certainly didn’t learn anything fabulous from her.

    My neighbor though, who also happens to be my best friend, is a fabulous cook and he’s always wanting to try new things. Perhaps I’ll have him try this one although I could give it a try. I mean I’m not horrible when given a recipe. It’s so yummy I’m tempted to give this one a go myself.

    Thank you so much for sharing the recipe with us. Yummy…

    ~Adrienne
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    1. Hi Adrienne,

      Well, I guess I was born in the right country to have a mom like this. As a matter of fact, all my aunts, cousins, neighbors, every females I’ve ever known in France did cook. It took me to come to the US to meet more women that don’t cook than women that do cook. It’s a culture thing I guess.

      As a matter of fact, I have never been or felt thankful for my background when I was living in France, but I sure started to become when I moved to the States.

      Also, and that doesn’t include all women, don’t get me wrong, but I meet a lot of lazy women here 🙂 You see, where I’m from there was no room for laziness. You’d grow up learning the value of cooking, cleaning and all that fun house work 🙂 Therefore, you’d never got to question it, EVER. HUmmmmm do I want to do this or not??? Ahahah, not such things there. You just did it, and as a matter of fact, didn’t mind it either. I do appreciate that now very much, indeed.

  2. Wow, that looks so good it should be on the cover of a magazine! I want to climb through the computer screen and eat it right now 🙂 I always make things from scratch. I’m not a fan of anything in cans or premade. In fact, I used to make cake all the time from a box and then I stopped and started making my own. Then one day I got lazy and I said ok, I’m just going to make a really quick cake from the mix in the box. And I didn’t like it anymore at all! Real cooking is so much better. And the best thing is when you read the ingredients they are so simple. There’s nothing complicated, no crazy things you never heard of. Real apples! And it’s the perfect season for it, too. I’m going to try this but I have to warn you, it’s probably not going to look as beautiful as yours!
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  3. Hey Sylviane, This recipe sounds delicious. In fact all my kids are coming this weekend and this is surly going to be on my list to make. Thank you for sharing, I always love good recipes especially when someone else recommends them.

    1. Hi Carol and welcome here!

      I’m very glad if you like it and if you try it, please, let me know how it went!

  4. Hi Sylviane,

    what a mouth-watering story and recipe. We’ve got quite a few French cook books and my wife and I both love to cook. And we definitely love apple pie and we have plenty of apples here ! We will let you know how it works for us. If you publish recipes, you may want to look into Evernote and Evernote Food.

    Bon appétit !

    Oliver

    1. Hi Oliver,

      Sure, let me know how it goes. I use Evernote, but what is Evernote Food?

      Thanks for coming 🙂

        1. No, I don’t mind the links at all, thank you! Those crepes look delicious and looks like the German word for crepes is crepes 🙂

          Thanks Oliver!

          1. Hi Sylviane,

            thank you. Yes, we usually say “crêpes”. We also use the word “pancake” but these are way thicker than “crêpes”. Pancakes and crêpes are just not the same.

            Best,

            Oliver

        2. That’s right, crepe and pancake are not the same. (I couldn’t put the accent with my keyboard on crepe here, but of course it’s got the accent. I would have to go fetch it and it’s not worth it in this case 🙂 )

  5. Mmm…that looks delicious Sylviane! I have spent quite a bit of time in France and they make the best patisserie in the world, in my opinion. You are very lucky to have learned how to cook from your mother. Sadly it is a dying art, so thank you for passing on this recipe for us all to try. I will definitely give it a go one weekend soon when I’m in a baking mood. Home made is always the best. Thanks again for sharing.
    Louise
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    1. Hi Louise,

      Well, without sounding partial I would agree that French pastry (patisserie 🙂 )is, indeed the best in the world and that’s after having tasted some from different countries as well. There is none like the fine French pastry 🙂

      Yes, I am glad that I’ve learned the cooking skills from my mother.

      Thanks for coming.

  6. Hi Sylviane

    That does look very beautiful and I am not really a sweet eater. I have a bad habit of wanting to try my husband’s when we go out but seldom eat a sweet of my own. Because I do not like them much I never cook them.

    My mother was a pretty good cook too but it did not rub off on me. Well the baking side anyway. I used to love cooking food other than sweets but over the years I have lost interest. I love good food and love it more when someone else cooks it 🙂

    I do love French food and am very fond of the cheeses.

    Thanks for sharing this with us.

    Sue
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    1. Hi Sue,

      Well, sweet is not very good for you, so, all the better if you don’t like it. However, my sweets are no way near as sweet as American pastry, which is nothing but cooked sugar in my book 🙂

      Thanks for coming, Sue 🙂

  7. Looks great! With the easy-to buy canned stuff we get in supermarkets we rare see anyone bake things from scratch. Hats off to your patience and perseverance. It has surely yielded great results. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!

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