This recipe is perfect for Christmas dinner and can be made ahead of time and put in the oven an hour before you would like it to be served. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy!
Yield 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 1 unbaked, room-temperature 11-inch tart shell (see recipe below)
- 1 roll (about 7 ounces) almond paste
- 1 cup fresh or dried cranberries
- 5 medium-sized apples (preferably McIntosh), peeled and sliced to make approximately 5 cups. Due to availabilty, I substituted 5 McIntosh apples with 3 Granny Smith and 2 Pacific Rose apples
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup uncooked oats
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold or frozen
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds
- Vanilla ice cream (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Flatten almond paste on a sheet of wax paper with a rolling pin, to form an 8-inch circle. Press almond circle into the bottom of the unbaked tart shell.
- In a bowl, combine cranberries, apples, sugar and a half teaspoon of cinnamon. Pour on top of almond circle, into tart shell.
- In a bowl, combine the remaining cinnamon, oats, flour and brown sugar. Cut butter into very small pieces and stir into cinnamon mixture until crumbs form. Spoon crumb mixture evenly over the top of the apple mixture.
- Bake 50-60 minutes.
- Sprinkle with sliced almonds during the last 5 minutes of cooking time.
Recipe by Viking River Cruises
Recipe for Tart Shell
Whenever possible, I like to avoid store bought pie shell so this is the recipe for the unbaked tart shell.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening
- 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water
Special equipment: a pastry or bench scraper; an 11- by 1-inch fluted round tart pan with a removable bottom
Yield: Makes 1 (11-inch) tart shell
Directions
- Blend together flour, sugar, salt, butter, and shortening with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 3 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in food processor) until incorporated.
- Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn’t hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again. (If you overwork mixture, pastry will be tough.)
- Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface, with heel of your hand, smear once or twice in a forward motion. Gather dough together with scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 6-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
- Roll out dough with a floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface and fit into tart pan. Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang inward and press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Lightly prick bottom and sides with a fork. Chill 30 minutes.
Recipe by Epicurious
