POMME BRULÉE TART

Credits: Paolo Picciotto

Method

Short Pastry

Weigh all the ingredients, place in the stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until the dough is smooth and relatively pale. Place the dough in a plastic bag, compress it to form a square loaf, seal and let rest in the fridge for two hours.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry to a thickness of 3.2 mm and pierce it evenly. Cut out rounds with a 20 cm diameter circle cookie cutter, then place in 18 cm pastry rings.

Cut a few 22-cm diameter paper circles with wide 'fringe’ on the edges. Place them in the rings with the crust, like a lining, then fill them with cherry pits up to the height of the ring to obtain a regular form when baked.

Place in a 210°C oven, lower to 175°C and bake for 25 minutes. Once they've cooled, remove the cherry pits and paper.

Crema Catalana

Rehydrate the gelatine in cold water. Mix the sugar with the starch, add the cream, egg yolk and the cut and grated vanilla. Blend with a hand blender until uniform.

Bring to 84°C and blend again. Add gelatine and pass through a chinois.

Place half of the custard in a blast chiller to cool. Use the remaining custard to fill rings that are 2.5 cm high and 16 cm in diameter, cover them with acetate, and place in a blast freezer.

Apples and filling

Caramelise the sugar using the dry method, add the butter, the apples cut into 1/8th slices, and the vanilla pod and fry until the apples are warm inside and soft outside. Spread out on a baking tray and let cool. Add the remaining cream to the bottom of the pastry rounds and the apples in a circle, keeping about a third of the apples aside for the garnish. Bake for 45 minutes in a 200°C oven. Blast chill and store until ready to add the topping.

Corn Streusel

Whisk all the ingredients together in a stand mixer. Sprinkle onto a Teflon-coated baking sheet and bake at 175°C for 15 minutes. Once cooled, seal the streusel in a bag and store in a cool, dry place.

Assembly

Remove the creme brulée from the rings, sprinkle with brown sugar and caramelise with a blowtorch. Repeat to create a sufficiently thick and appetising caramel. Place the discs on top of the baked and flash-chilled tarts. Arrange the apples around the column of crème brulée, sprinkle with streusel and dust with icing sugar.