Jasmine and Apple Creme Tart
Jasmine Shortcrust Pastry
This crust is inspired by these Jasmine Shortbread Cookies I developed for Sunset Magazine last year! I remember the shoot so well because it was the first time I was on a professional photoshoot outside of my dining room and someone else was taking the photo! I miss other people and the world outside of my house…
Both the cookies and this crust are butter and the jasmine perfumes the crust and then your kitchen while it’s in the oven. A little lemon zest adds brightness and compliments the fruitiness of the apples and tart creaminess of the creme fraiche.
I opted to freeze the pastry once it was set in the tart pan because I don’t have pie weights. Pastry tends to shrink in the oven because the butter melts, but if you freeze the pastry first and bake with foil pressed against it, the butter won’t melt quite as fast and won’t shrink as much! Maybe one day I’ll like pie enough to invest in some pie weights…
Apple Hearts and Roses
Once the crust is baked and cooled, it’s filled with slightly sweetened creme fraiche for a delicious and effortless no-bake filling! Lovely swirls of thinly sliced apples are then set and swirled in the cream fraiche. I used Autumn Glory Apples again because I’m still not over their natural flavors of cinnamon and caramel.
I sliced the apples on a mandoline to get consistently thin slices but a steady hand and a really sharp knife will do the trick. They do need to be thin enough that they bend easily. To prevent the apples from browning, which these apples don’t actually brown that much, they are tossed in lemon juice. The lemon projects the flesh from oxidizing while also giving them a little tartness.
To make roses and hearts, I line up and overlap thin slices of apples in row and carefully roll them up. If you roll up tightly you’ll get a rose! If you leave the end of it unraveled it creates half of a heart. To create the other half, roll up another set of slices but make sure to mirror it!
Start your design by place down a heart or rosette and continue to build on it! You can fill up the whole tart with apples if you like, or stop when you’re over rolling up apple slices and infill the rest with sliced almonds!
Jasmine Apple Creme Tart
Makes one 9-inch tart
Jasmine Shortcrust Pastry:
113g (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
45g (1/3 cup) powdered sugar
190g (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
3.5g (2 tsp) jasmine tea leaves
1 tsp lemon zest
45g (3 tablespoons) cold water or milk
Filling:
12oz creme fraiche
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 autumn glory apples, thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lemon
Sliced almonds, for garnish
Steps:
In the bowl of a food processor, combine cubed butter, powdered sugar, flour, tea leaves, and lemon zest. Pulse a few times to incorporate. Add water or milk and until to process until a cohesive dough forms, avoid over-processing. Alternatively, you can make the dough by hand in a large bowl with a pastry cutter and kneading my hand.
On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a neat round. Roll out the dough into a 10” circle and carefully lift and place over a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Gently press the dough into the pan, pressing up against the sides. Trim off excess dough. Prick the surface of the pastry with a fork. Freeze the tart shell until solid, 30 minutes.
If you have pie weights (I do not) then you can skip the freezing step and go straight to baking by filling the foil with your weights.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and press a sheet of foil over the pastry. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking until lightly golden brown, another 12 to 18 minutes. Allow the pastry to full cool on a wire rack before assembling.
While the crust is cooling, mix to combine creme fraiche and powdered sugar in a medium bowl. In another bowl, combine apple slices with lemon juice to prevent browning.
Spread the sweetened creme fraiche over the pastry, filling up to the edges of the tart. Decorate the tart with apple slices, arranging overlapping slices into the creme fraiche. Roll up some of the slices to form rosettes or hearts.
Serve the tart immediately or cover and store in the fridge until ready to serve.