Stumbling onto new varieties of apples is always such a wonderful treat. We keep mental notes of unique heirloom apple varieties, but because these varieties are often so difficult to source, we don’t often expect to find them even at our local farmers market. I’ve always had pink pearl apples on top of my wish list since I saw them featured in a magazine article long ago. Their pink flesh, delicate, pearly skin always reminded me of a fairy tale apple and I often find myself calling them Cinderella apples.
To my pleasant surprise, I stumbled on boxes of these beautiful specimens at Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco a few weeks ago while visiting for a shoot. When I recognized the beautiful skin of the apples from afar, I squealed out loud like a little girl finding a new barbie doll. Oh my goodness! Pink pearl apples….these are pink pearls! I’ve always wanted to bite into one and see if it really is as beautiful and delicious as everyone says!
I grabbed a bag and stuffed it full to three pounds worth of pink pearl jewels. They felt like jewels to me. It doesn’t take much to make me happy.
Before I could exit the store, I bit into an apple, negated all my proper lady-like manners and squealed out loud again with a mouth full of crisp, juicy tart flesh.
Oh it really is pink inside! It’s so gorgeous! I’m in love!
Take at the incredible flesh and beautiful skin of these apples. Aren’t they just stunning?
Never have I ever been so impressed with an apple that is not only gorgeous on the outside and inside, but also wonderful to eat as well. Often times, the most delicious heirloom apples I’ve had are the fugly ugly ones. Gorgeous, perfectly grown apples don’t impress me because rarely have I ever found one to taste as good as it looks.
But these pink pearl apples completely threw me off guard because I wasn’t expecting to find them, and when I did stumble on them, they were as beautiful as they were delicious.
After coming home from San Francisco, I wasn’t able to eat them fast enough. To make sure none of these apples went to waste, Todd made these fantastic butter rum apple crisp tarts with the pink pearls. Not only are they such a treat to eat fresh, they’re also perfect for baking because of their tart flavor.
These butter rum apple tarts are absolutely wonderful and now that Fall has arrived and a plethora of apples start inundating the farmers market, the options for these tarts are endless. Not only am I enjoying them for dessert, but I’m confident that they’ll pair wonderfully with my espresso tomorrow morning for breakfast. When possible, eat apple tarts for breakfast to start your day off right.
happy Fall,
diane
More apple recipes:
Yield: 8 TartletsTotal Time: 1 hourFor this recipe we used Pink Pearl apples, but feel free to use any good baking apple. You can easily make this recipe into 2 larger tarts instead of the little tartlets, but the smaller size is a nice for individual or party desserts. The recipe may look long, but it is actually fairly quick and easy to make. The directions are broken down into their groupings to help make efficient use the the crust and toppings texture gain by slightly cooling before rolling or baking. Make the dough, while that chills make the filling, while that cools, make the topping, while that chills, start rolling the dough and fill, then top and bake.
We love the dual texture of the tart bottom, and the crisp topping, but if pressed for time, one could always just make a crisp by filling a baking dish with the apple filling, topping with the oat topping, then bake. But if you have the extra 15 minutes and the tart pans, make the crust. It is delicious and easy to make and handle.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Set aside eight 4 3/4" x 3/4" or 4" x 1 1/4" tartlet pans
In a medium bowl, pinch together flour, butter pieces, salt, and sugar with your fingertips until most of the big chunks of butter are flattened or broken up.Whisk together egg yolks and cold water until combined. Incorporate into flour mix until flour binds together and forms a rough ball (you may need to gently knead the ball to get the last of the flour to incorporate into the ball.)Divide the ball into 8 equal pieces (@110g each) roll each into a ball then flatten slightly into disks. Set aside in refrigerator until filling and topping is made.Place sliced apples in a large bowl. Gently melt butter and add rum to butter. Set aside to cool slightly while combining other ingredients.Add brown sugar, flour and lemon juice to the apples. Toss gently to evenly coat apples. Pour in butter-rum mix to apples. Toss gently to mix and set aside.In a medium bowl, pinch together flour, brown sugar, salt, and butter until it resembles coarse sand. Using your hands, pinch and mix in oats until oats are evenly mixed and are in small clumps. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to top tarts.Lightly flour a work surface. One at a time, roll out crust dough disks until large enough to place in tartlet pans (@ 7" x 1/8"). Line dough into pans, pressing sides into grooves of pan. Remove excess dough edges by folding it out and pressing it against the tops of the molds. Dock (form little indentions) the base of the tarts with your fingertips. Repeat with remaining disks of dough.Layer in apple filling into each tart. Remove oat topping from refrigerator and divide topping between the tarts.Place pans on a sheet pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until crust and topping are golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly, then un-mold and serve.
Pearl River Bridge brand soy sauce is a highly recommended brand of soy sauce by many cooks and Asian cookbooks.
Ready in 1 Minute