This Cinnamon Cardamom Apple Tart tastes like getting a warm hug from autumn. It’s the perfect seasonal dessert when you want the warmth of an apple pie without all the work. The open-face tart makes for a beautiful addition to a Thanksgiving spread with its carefully arranged apple slices. When it’s warmed up it goes great with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. But, this tart is also a great breakfast treat to pair with coffee in the morning.
We all know cinnamon and sugar pair well with apples, but cardamom adds a layer of complexity to this tart. Cardamom is a spice from India and Indonesia that is often used in Scandinavian baked goods. It has a floral, aromatic flavor with subtle citrus notes.
Picking your apples
To achieve the pretty design of this tart, you’ll need to opt for smaller apples than the basic varieties found at the grocery store year-round. In this recipe, I use Macoun apples from New York. They’re a cross between McIntosh and Jersey Blacks. If you can’t find Macouns, look for similarly sized apples. Smaller apples are better for stacking and arranging. The apples should be smaller than your fist.
If you can’t find smaller apples, you’ll want to flatten your design like so:
Baking a pâte sucrée
The crust for this Cinnamon Cardamom Apple Tart is a pâte sucrée, which is a fancy French way of saying a sweet dough. I tested this recipe a few ways and this crust paired the best with the weight of the apples and the sweetness.
This pâte sucrée is similar to a giant sugar cookie. (Sneak a taste and you’ll know exactly what I mean.) It can be a challenge to roll it out in one piece, but luckily if you crack or tear your dough it’s easy to patch up. You can press the dough into the tart pan like you would in a key lime pie graham cracker crust.
For the best shot at rolling your dough out in one piece, make sure your ingredients are very cold when you form the dough in your food processor.
Cinnamon Cardamom Apple Tart
Equipment
- 9-inch tart pan
- Food processor
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 stick of butter 1/2 cup
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
For the filling
- 2 tbsp apricot jam or preserves
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 4 small apples sliced
- 1 tbsp butter diced
Instructions
Prepare the crust
- Pulse 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt in a food processor. Dice 1 stick of butter into small pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times until it has the consistency of cotija cheese (or the butter is in pea-sized pieces).
- Add 1 egg yolk and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and pulse until incorporated.
- Transfer the dough mixture onto a floured work surface and form it with your hands. If the dough isn't coming together, add a few drops of cold water, but be careful not to overwork it.
- Form the dough into a flat disc, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least two hour or overnight.
Assemble the tart
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll out your dough on a heavily floured work surface. Don’t roll it out too thinly because it needs to support the weight of the apples. Drape the rolled-out dough on top of the tart pan and press it in with your fingertips.The likelihood of the dough cracking or tearing while you roll it out is high. If this happens, you can press it into the tart pan with your fingers as you would with any cookie tart crust.
- Once your dough is in the tart pan, lightly press a fork into the bottom to create little holes.
- Transfer the tart pan to the fridge while you slice the apples.
- Slice 4 small apples by cutting around the core so each apple has a flat side to work with. Keep the sliced apples together to easily arrange them later. You don’t want your slices to be too thin, but not too thick either.
- When your apples are sliced, take the tart pan out of the fridge.
- Spread 2 tbsp apricot jam or preserves on the bottom of the crust.
- In a small bowl combine 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1/2 tsp cardamom.
- Sprinkle half of the sugar and spice mixture on the bottom of the crust.
- Arrange the apples on top. You can put the apple slices in bunches together or fan them out for your design.
- Sprinkle the other half of the sugar and spice mixture on top of the apples.
- Dot the top with small diced pieces of 1 tbsp butter.
- Bake in the at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, take it out of the oven to cool. Serve as is or with vanilla ice cream.
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