Crostatina – Apple Tartlets
Top chef Antonia Klugman shared this recipe for this speciality from Fruili with us.
For the pastry:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 250 | g | butter |
| 60 | g | icing sugar |
| 1 | pinch(es) | salt |
| 1 | tablespoon(s) | Grappa |
| 1 | egg | |
| 250 | g | flour |
- In a food processor, beat the room temperature butter, icing sugar and salt with the whisk attachment until white and fluffy, adding the grappa.
- Continue whisking and slowly add the lightly beaten egg. Gradually mix in the flour.
- Fill the mixture into a piping bag and pipe four small rings (about 10 cm in diameter), preferably into a tartlet tin or onto a tartlet ring on baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 170 °C for about 17 minutes.
For the stewed apples:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 | apples | |
| 20 | g | sugar |
| ground cinnamon | ||
| juice of half a lemon | ||
| water | ||
- Peel the washed apples, cut them in half and cut each half into three wedges .
- Remove the core and cut the outside of the wedges round so that they will fit nicely on the tartlets later.
- Cover the apple wedges, peels and cores with water and bring to the boil with sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice; simmer until the apple wedges are cooked but not falling apart.
- Keep 14 apple slices.
For the apple sauce:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 100 | g | stewed apples |
| sugar | ||
| lemon juice | ||
| salt | ||
- Mix the remaining apple wedges with the sugar, lemon juice and a pinch of salt to make a puree.
For the apple caramel:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 150 | ml | liquid from cooking apples |
| 50 | g | sugar |
- Strain the apple stock and reduce with the sugar to a light brown caramel.
For the custard:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 100 | ml | milk |
| zest of a quarter of a lemon | ||
| 1 | cinnamon stick | |
| cinnamon, ground | ||
| 1 | egg yolk | |
| 30 | g | sugar |
| 15 | g | plain flour |
- Bring the milk, lemon zest, cinnamon stick and cinnamon to the boil in a saucepan. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, sugar and flour until smooth.
- Stir in the boiling cinnamon milk and then pour back into the saucepan. Slowly bring to the boil while stirring constantly until the mixture thickens; remove the thickened cream from the heat, pour through a sieve into a container and refrigerate.
For the cinnamon mousse:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 | gelatine sheets, soaked in cold water | |
| 75 | ml | whipping cream |
| 150 | g | custard |
- Squeeze the water out of the gelatine, then melt the squeezed gelatine over a low heat. Whip the cream to stiff peaks, mix in the melted gelatine.
- Carefully fold the stiffly whipped cream into the cinnamon custard and transfer into a piping bag.
To complete:
| Ingredients (4 servings) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 20 | g | white couverture chocolate, melted |
- Brush the tops of the baked Crostatina bases with melted chocolate and layer the apple puree and cinnamon mousse, one after the other.
- Cut the apple wedges in half and place them on top of the mousse, overlapping like a fan.
- Warm the caramel slightly and glaze the crostatine with it.