Lemon and apple bars with yogurt

Personally I find this to be a perfect flavor combination, although for those who don't like crystals in their parfait I suggest that 5gr of gelatin sheets are added in the recipe for the yogurt mousse and chilling is omitted.

                           Lemon cake

                           250gr                                                             flour

                           68gr                                                               butter

                           68gr                                                               yogurt

                           205gr                                                             sugar

                           4                                                                    small

                           85gr                                                               lemon juice

                           1 tsp                                                               baking powder

                           2                                                                     zested lemons

                          40gr                                                                 coarsely chopped almonds

                          480gr +                                                            apple pie filling

                         
                          Crumble

                          100gr                                                                flour

                          80gr                                                                  sugar

                          80gr                                                                  melted butter

                          80gr                                                                  almond powder

                          Frozen yogurt mousse
                          400gr                                                                strained yogurt
                          80gr                                                                  powdered sugar
                         150gr                                                                 heavy cream
                         (5gr                                                                   gelatin sheets)

      

For the yogurt mousse mix half of the sugar with the yogurt and whip the rest with the cream until almost hard peaks are formed. Fold the whipped cream into the other mixture and freeze until set. Alternatively add the gelatin to the yogurt after dissolving it in a minimum amount of hot water and finally refrigerate. To prepare the crumble just combine the ingredients and refrigerate until hard. For the bars, beat butter until soft, add sugar, zest and yogurt and keep beating until homogeneous.

Add the eggs one at a time, pour in the lemon juice and shift in the flour and baking powder. Mix at medium speed for a few seconds for the ingredients to come together and stir in the almonds after roasting in the preheating oven.Spread the batter in a 22cmx24cm pan and bake at 180C for 25min. Then remove from the oven, spread the apple filling on top and use a grater to brake the crumble and cover the surface. Return to the oven at 190C and bake for another 20min until golden on top. Let cool and cut to individual pieces.

Apple tart with almond and apricot cream

Because of a current obsession with apple desserts and although more of them are to be tried, I've already discriminate this  particular one among the rest of its kind. However for those who dislike any crunchiness left in the baked apples I suggest sauteing the slices with 1-2Tbs of butter and for anyone unkeen of the apricot cream I could easilly recommend a fruit jam. Overall it's a great, almost too easy and quick dessert with components I repeatedly use.

                       Tart dough

                       1                                         portion pasta flora dough from ''Apple pasta flora'' post

                      

                       Filling

                       790gr                                 granny smith and northern spy (net w.)apples                                 

                       75gr                                   melted butter

                       3                                        eggs

                       130gr                                  brown sugar

                       150gr                                  ground almonds

                       40gr                                    cornstarch

                       1/2tsp                                cannelle

                       as prefered                         vanille powder or extract

                       8-10Tbs                              apricot cream from ''Croissant'' post

                                                                                                                            

First prepare the dough as described in previous post and chill until less soft for about 30min. Meanwhile, core, peal and slice the apples, tossing the slices in some lemon juice.

When finished, roll the dough on the bottom of a 24x20cm pan and return in fridge. Proceed with the almond filling by whisking the eggs with the sugar to thick ribbon stage (it doesn't matter if doesn't get that stiff, it may be the used type of sugar).

Fold the ground almond, cornstarch, butter, cannelle and vanille in the beaten eggs and spread the apricot cream on the bottom tart crust. Pour in the filling, tightly arrange the apple slices in rows and optionally sprinkle some additional sugar on top.

Finally bake at a preheated oven to 190C for about 50min, reducing gradually the temperature to the lowest point of 160C if the fruit on top starts to get burnt. Let the tart cool and maybe brush with some of the cream (or jam) or dust with powdered sugar.





Apple pasta flora

   I know you may have heard it as pasta frolla (actually it's our greek version), and that also it shouldn't be posted as a DB challenge, for the reason it's just inspired from it. However the truth is I was too busy to try all the recipes I wanted this month and finally ended up with this applle pasta flora with almond topping as a variation of our DB crostata! 

               Pasta flora dough

               170gr                                             cake flour

               75gr                                               butter

               60gr                                               granulated sugar

               1/2tsp                                            baking powder

               1                                                   big egg

               as preferred                                   vanilla powder

               Filling

               650gr                                             granny smith apples (net weight)

               60gr                                               molasses

               100ml                                             apple juice

               43gr                                               vanilla custard powder

               1/4                                                lemon (juice)

               up to 80gr                                       powdered sugar

              Almond topping

              200gr                                              almond flour

              50gr                                               granulated sugar

              40gr                                               powdered sugar

              1                                                    egg white

              6Tbs                                               cogniac

First prepare the cake base by beating butter with sugar and vanilla powder untill fluffy. Then add the egg and continue beating in order to fully incorporate it. Shift in the flour with baking powder, mix just until combined and refrigerate for 30min. Meanwhile cut the peeled and cored apples in slices, cook them with the juice until tender and let them drain keeping 50gr of their juice. In a separate bowl combine molasses, the remaining juice you've kept, the cooked apples and lemon, and  mash them with a hand blender. Shift in the vanilla powder and blend it in the mixture. As for the powdered sugar, you can add as much as you want from the given quantity gradually and tasting after each addition. When ready, roll  out the dough, cover the bottom of a 20x24cm pan (or ring with the same area) and prepare the topping. Mix the powdered sugar in the almond flour and use a blender to make it finer if necessary. Then moisten with the cogniac in order to make a paste and beat the egg white with sugar to meringue. Fold the meringue in the almond paste and fill a pastry bag. Pour the apple filling in the pan, pipe on top of it almond stripes and bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 25min and at 160C for another 10min.

Apple strudel

 In this version phyllo dough is used to minimize preparation time and ensure flakiness. It can also be combined with yogurt ice cream or a spoonfull of crème anglaise and it's preferably served warm.  
   
      Ingredients
     360gr (net weight)                         Granny smith apples                         

     1/2                                               lemon (juice)

     120gr                                            granulated sugar

     30gr                                              raisins

     1/2 Tbs                                         orange zest

     56gr                                              melted butter

     15gr                                              hazelnuts, ground

     6 sheets                                        phyllo dough

Sink the raisins in hot water or juice of an orange and let them swell until soft. Slice the apples, cut them in pieces and toss them with lemon juice and half of the sugar in a bowl. Let them stand for 30min and drain off the liquid that forms. At this point, the recipe calls for adding the rest of ingredients. However if you want to ensure that the apples are not crunchy after baking, cook them alone in a saucepan until soft and pale. Continue combining them with raisins, rest of sugar, orange zest and if you want to amplify the flavor, add 2-3 Tbs of apricot jam. Prepare the phyllo dough by laying one sheet on a piece of parchment paper. Brush with melted butter and cover with the second sheet. Follow the same proccess until all the sheets are used, sprinkling on top of each buttered sheet 1/5 of the hazelnuts. Place the apple mixture along the sort edge of the dough and use the paper on bottom to roll the sheets around the filling. Brush the surface with butter and bake at 190C until golden brown for about 30min.

Apple pie with hazelnut
     

More like a coffee cake, this pie has a soft texture and quite moist dough. For the filling I often use a thickened applesauce that can easily be substituted by any kind of jam.

              Cake

               320gr                   self raising flour

               50gr                     almond flour

               50gr                     hazelnuts

               140gr                   butter

               100gr                   powdered sugar

               50gr                    milk

               1                        egg

            

              Filling

             400gr                    granny smith apples

             400gr plus 3Tbs      apple juice

             80gr                     granulated sugar

             1/2                      lemon (juice and rind)

             20gr                     corn flour

             as preffered         cinnamon

      

Starting with the filling, peel and cut the apples to small cubes adding some of the lemon juice.Warm the apple juice in a saucepan with cinnamon, rind and the rest of the lemon juice and dissolve corn flour with the 3Tbs in a cup. Pour the content of the cup in the saucepan and let the mixture boil for 2min. Add the apples and let them boil for 8min until they have softened but not dissolved. Refrigerate the filling in a jar untill set. For the cake beat and cream butter with 80gr of the sugar. Powder hazelnuts with almond and 20gr sugar until a thick paste forms (as shown in the image below). Continue whipping the butter adding the nut paste. Blend in half of the needed flour and the milk, whip the egg white with a tsp of caster sugar to meringue and fold it to the mixture. Add the rest of the flour, homogenise gently,wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

To finish, preheat the oven to 180C and cover the bottom of a 20cm-diametre ring with half of the dough. Sread the filling on top, cover with dough strips, apply egg wash using the remaining egg yolk and bake for 35min.