Currently cooking from The Carefree Cook by Rick Rodgers.
I like apple pie. I like custard. I like nutmeg. But I hated this crostata. Don’t let its looks fool you (or the heavenly smell of it baking). Underneath that flaky crust, is curdled custard swimming in butter.
The premise of this crostata is that it delivers an apple pie in a much easier form. It starts out by making a standard pastry dough with butter. You roll the dough out in to a 12-inch circle, sprinkle some sugar on it and then arrange apple slices on it. A little more sugar is sprinkled over the apples and then the edges of the dough are folded up and over the apples. This gets baked for about 15 minutes to set the crust, and then you pour a simple egg/cream/nutmeg custard over the apples and bake until the apples are tender and the custard is set.
The first indication that all was not well with my crostata was seeing the custard start to bubble. Bubbling custard usually equals scrambled eggs. The crust didn’t bake up as brown as I would have liked; I think brushing it with egg whites or milk would have helped that. The other major problem I had was that a bunch of the butter leaked out of the crust and into the custard, making it somewhat greasy.
I liked the idea of this crostata. Next time, I’ll simply leave out the custard and server it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I was interested to learn: “Bubbling custard usually equals scrambled eggs.” I never heard this before. I love reading your blog. I always learn so much from you. This sounds delicious. I wonder if you had a different custard if it would work better. I love apple pie too. I think this would be perfect for our tea party when I come out… some day.
I didn’t know where to write this but Trista brought me the most heavenly cake for my birthday. It was so good. Chocolate and carmel together and absolutely wonderful. I ate two pieces of it and now I definitely will have to work hard tomorrow, but well worth it.
But it looks so yummy. I guess looks can be deceiving!