An Apple a Day the Otaheite Way

They're everywhere, even at the traffic light. One of my favorite fruits, otaheite apples, are in season. So this week, I decided to bake something with them. I took a recipe for a Rustic Pear Tart http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/healthy-appetite-with-ellie-krieger-/rustic-pear-tart-recipe/index.html
and used 3 otaheite apples instead of pears.

This recipe is by Ellie Krieger, one of the hosts on Food Network. Her show is about healthy eating, so her recipes usually have less fat and sugar than others. This is a risk because I find healthy is not always tasty. But it was a risk I was willing to take, I felt daring.

I started by whisking together the dry ingredients for the crust. Then I cut in the butter with my favorite tool, my hands. I used a fork to add the buttermilk and ice water mixture, formed it into a disk, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. While it was chilling I made the filling. I sliced up 3 apples and combined them with the lime juice, corn starch, brown sugar and cinnamon.



After the 30 minutes of refrigeration time was up, I removed the crust from the fridge and rolled it into a 9" (very approximate) circle on a floured cutting board. Then I transferred it to my lined baking sheet sprayed with baking PAM. Now it was time for filling and crust to meet. I made a neat pile of fruit in the centre of the crust with a 2" (another very approximate measure) border. I folded the edges over and put it in the oven.

I baked it for 15 minutes at 425F and then turn it down to 350 and baked it for 40 minutes more. The tart smelt amazing when it was baking. After I removed it from the oven I brushed it with the honey glaze, transfered it to a plate and cooled it for a bit. I was impressed by how lovely my rustic tart looked. Then I cut myself a slice.

When I tasted it, the lovely fresh taste of the apples came out. They were definitely the thing on show here. I think this recipe is best if you use the sweeter otaheite apples, the ones with the very dark purplish skin. This recipe is great as a healthy dessert but I did miss the sugar in the crust, I wanted it to be sweeter. I can imagine making a similar tart with a less healthy, sweeter dough that will be totally bad for me. I can also see myself making it with different fruits.

As more fruits come into season, I hope to find delicious ways to showcase them just as I did with the otaheite apple.