High-Rise Apple Financier Tart

Store-Bought Puff Pastry + Apples = Fabulous Fall Desserts

11/06/23

I know this is not a classic look for a tart, but it was one of my accidental creations that turned out to be a family favorite. Occasionally, but not very often, accidents or mistakes in the pastry kitchen are winners. This is one.

High-Rise Apple Financier Tart

Last Thanksgiving, I wasn’t feeling my best, and since I’m always the one responsible for family desserts, I was looking for shortcuts. Luckily, I am fortunate enough to have a freezer in the garage for pastries. I keep all kinds of things in there, whatever I am baking at the time, such as brownies, cookies, cakes, pies, tarts, scones, or muffins. But, in addition, whenever I make dessert components such as buttercream, ganache, glazes, fillings etc., I always make extra for the freezer. So, I went digging around in there to see what I could piece together to make a dessert. I found containers of Financier Batter and Chunky Apple Filling that I could use for a tart. But what about the crust? Alas, I had no tart dough, no pâté sablé, no pâté sucrée, nada. But I did have frozen store-bought puff pastry.

Apple Variety: Honey Crisp

Remembering that we used to use puff pastry a lot for individual tarts in the restaurant where I was pastry chef, I felt confident that I could make it work for a whole tart. After thawing all the components overnight in the refrigerator, I was ready to assemble my tart.

When it came to the apple filling, I had more than I really needed for a tart, so I thought what the heck, I’m just going to use all of it and see what happens. When you do things like this in pastry, you must be prepared for failure. But it didn’t fail this time. I kept peeking in the oven to see what was happening. It kept rising and rising and rising. When it had finished baking, the tart was a stunning golden brown high-rise dream. The two photos below show what the tart looks like before and after baking. The unbaked version shows how to do the ruffling of the crust. The baked version shows how much rise I got.

Before and After Baking

How to Buy and Work with Frozen Puff Pastry

1.     Buy All-Butter Puff. For the best results and best flavor, buy only all-butter puff pastry. There’s a couple of brands that I can recommend: DuFour (one folded sheet) and Trader Joe’s (2 rolled sheets.) Both are all-butter. When you look at the ingredient list, butter should be the top one or two listed. In a grocery store, you will usually find boxes of puff pastry in the freezer section next to frozen desserts and frozen fruit.

2.     Freeze | Defrost in Fridge. Keep puff pastry frozen until ready to use it. Plan on defrosting overnight in the refrigerator before using. Don’t defrost at room temperature.

3.     Handle Carefully | Use Flour. When you take it out of the box, it will be rolled or folded with paper between layers. If sticky, dust with a little flour. Carefully unroll or unfold onto floured workspace and remove the paper. Pat out and smooth any fold marks or creases. Sprinkle flour on top and continue to add flour underneath or on top anytime it starts to stick.

4.     Roll out gently. Using a rolling pin, gently roll out into a smooth sheet to whatever dimensions your recipe calls for. For this one, it’s 15” (38 cm) square. Always roll from the center out all the way around, using a light touch. Applying too much pressure or stretching the dough may cause rips or tears.

5.     Keep it cold. Puff pastry should be kept cold when working with it. If at any point it feels too soft, put it back in the refrigerator or freezer briefly until it firms up.

6.     Egg Wash. Many puff pastry applications require an egg wash. That’s how you get that burnished golden brown look. If you want a light brown crust, brush cold or frozen puff with egg wash once, just before putting in the oven. For a darker crust, egg wash twice. After the first egg wash, put in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, then egg wash again before putting in the oven.

    My formula for Egg Wash: 1 egg, 1 egg yolk, 1 Tablespoon heavy cream, and 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt. Whisk in a small bowl until smooth.

7.     Bake. Puff pastry should be baked at a high oven temperature, 400°- 425° F (204°-218° C), in order to get a good rise. Cover with a loose foil tent if your product is getting too brown.

“A Recipe Should do more than one thing”

I once took a professional plated dessert class from a famous pastry chef at the French Pastry School in Chicago. The class of about 12 people, mostly pastry chefs, made all the components for the plated desserts from his recipes and then he showed us ideas for plating them up. The whole class was very inspiring, but especially the part which was devoted to hearing his philosophy about recipes, desserts, and other pastry chef topics. I remember many of the ideas that I gleaned from that class, but one concept that stuck to me like glue was this: he was adamant about creating recipes that could “do more than one thing.” The two recipes in this newsletter do just that; here are some examples:

       Financier Batter─ High-Rise Apple Tart, Individual Apple Financiers, French Apple Pie, Mini Financiers baked in mini muffin pans

     Chunky Apple Filling─ High-Rise Apple Tart, Individual Apple Financiers, French Apple Pie, A Traditional Apple Pie, Breakfast Pastries, Hand Pies

Apple Financier Cakes

For the recipe, as well as step-by-step photos showing how to assemble these little cakes, go to my website: https://shirlgard.com/ or use the direct link above.

The photo on the left shows just baked Apple Financier Cakes. The right-hand photo reveals the Chunky Apple Filling sandwiched between the 2 layers of Financier Batter when you cut them open.

French Apple Pie

Click here if you prefer the look of a traditional apple pie, but with a French twist. On my website, you can print the recipe, as well as see step-by-step photos for assembling the pie. It uses the same components of Financier Batter and Chunky Apple Filling as my High-Rise Apple Tart.

A Slice of French Apple Pie

Tart Recipe:

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High-Rise Apple Financier Tart

AUTHOR: Shirl Gard\

This accidental tart is composed of two layers of Financier Batter and a thick layer of Chunky Apple Filling sandwiched between them. The filling is snuggled into a crust of puff pastry that rises beyond expectation in the oven.

YIELD: ONE 9" TART - 10 TO 12 SERVINGS

INGREDIENTS

TART FILLING:

570 grams Financier Batter

- One recipe yields 575g (1# 4 oz) batter, divided into two portions: 285g (10 oz)    

  each, for 2 layers

775 grams Chunky Apple Filling (1# 11 oz)

- One recipe yields 775g (1# 11 oz), for 1 layer

1345 grams = Total Filling 47 oz (2# 15 oz)

TOPPING:

40 grams sliced blanched almonds (1/4 cup heaping)

EGG WASH: 1 egg beaten with 1 yolk, 1 tablespoon heavy cream, and 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

TART CRUST:

400 grams all-butter puff pastry (14 oz). One sheet. Recommend DuFour brand or Trader Joe’s.

INSTRUCTIONS

1.      FINANCIER BATTER. Make according to the recipe and refrigerate. Can be refrigerated for up to two weeks.

2.      CHUNKY APPLE FILLING. Cook or bake according to the recipe and cool. Can be refrigerated for up to one week.

3.      PUFF PASTRY. Roll out chilled dough to a 15” (38 cm) square. Fill a 9" tart pan with the rolled-out dough. Push the dough down inside the tart pan, leaving the dough overhanging by 1 ½" all around. Do not blind-bake; the crust will be baked with the filling.

4.      ASSEMBLE TART. Spread 285g (10 oz) Financier Batter in the bottom of the unbaked pie shell. Spread 630g (1# 6 oz) Chunky Apple Filling over the Financier Batter. Spread the second portion of 285g (10 oz) Financier Batter over the apples. Smooth top with small offset spatula.

5.      SCATTER sliced almonds over the top of the filling.

6.      FOLD the overhanging pie dough over the filling and towards the center of the pie, ruffled neatly.

7.      BRUSH egg wash on the crust, being careful not to let it drip between the crust and the pie plate.

8.      CHILL the pie 30 minutes in refrigerator before baking until the crust feels firm or freeze for 15 minutes.

9.      PRE-HEAT OVEN to 400° F (204° C).

10.  PLACE the tart on a parchment-lined half sheet pan.

11.  BAKE about 50 minutes until the top of the pie and the crust are both golden brown, rotating the tart halfway through baking. Cover loosely with aluminum foil during the last 10-15 minutes if the tart is starting to over-brown.

12.  COOL the pie to room temperature.

13.  CUT into 10 wedges. A pie cut warm or at room temperature will be a little ragged and rustic. If you want clean sharp edges on the slices, refrigerate the pie and cut while cold.

14.  SERVE cold, at room temperature, or warm, depending on your preference. I like it warmed up a little and served with ice cream.

Recipe Ancestry Notes:

This is a recipe created by Shirl Gard for the family Thanksgiving 2022, where it was the favorite dessert. It was an accidental happenstance kind of recipe, where I pulled three things from my pastry freezer, put them together, and made a tart. The three components are: Financier Batter, Chunky Apple Filling, and Store-Bought Frozen Puff Pastry. It wasn’t like so many other recipes where I’ve made them multiple times and then tweaked those umpteen times. I could have called this Serendipity Tart.

Shirl Gard Recipe High Rise Apple Financier Tart

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Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy! Until next rime.