Apple and caramelized walnut pie en croûte

https://www.debuyer.com/fr/blog/post/pommes-et-noix-de-pecan-caramelisees-en-croute.html

One of the delights that cannot be missing from any recipe book of homemade sweets is apple pie. Whether in its most classic version with a puff pastry base or cooked upside down with the illustrious surname Tatin, any preparation that combines a crunchy dough with apples is a guaranteed success. And that is precisely what you are going to get with this apple and caramelized walnut cake en croûte .

Croûte or crust pastries are characterized by being wrapped in a crunchy dough that acts as a crust (croûte). This typical preparation of French cuisine dates back a few centuries and was mainly used in savory recipes as a way to preserve meat, since the dough acted as a protective wrapper.

In this apple and caramelized walnut cake en croûte , a sweet shortcrust pastry masterfully envelops a filling made of layers of caramelized apples and pecans , being covered by the caramel from the cooking of the apples. Pure fantasy!

And an important detail. If you want to achieve a great result, try to choose the right apple variety. You will need firm, sweet pieces that resist the cooking process well. So, if you can, choose Golden, Reineta or Granny Smith.

The recipe for this delicious caramelized apple and walnut cake en croûte is courtesy of Fabien Pairon, Meilleur Ouvrier de France in 2011. The French brand designed and created the Geoforme perforated rectangular mold in collaboration with Fabien Pairon.

Ingredients

For the sweet shortcrust pastry

• 500g flour
• 250 g butter at room temperature, cut into small cubes
• 110 g whole milk
• 60 g icing sugar
• 4 g of salt
• 90 g eggs

For the interior of caramelized apples and pecans

• 3 kg of apples
• 150g sugar
• 120g butter
• 90 g lemon juice
• 200 g pecans

Preparation

From sweet shortcrust pastry

1. In a bowl , mix the flour with the butter until the texture is similar to sand. You can do it by hand, with your fingertips, or in the KitchenAid mixer with the mixing paddle on medium speed.
2. Dissolve the salt and sugar in the whole milk.
3. Add the milk and eggs and mix just enough to obtain a homogeneous dough.
4. Take the dough out of the bowl, form it into a ball and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
5. When the time has passed, take the dough out of the refrigerator and stretch it with a rolling pin forming a rectangle to line the L.35 cm GEOFORME mold.
6. Put the mold lined with the dough in the refrigerator until the dough takes shape again.
7. Take the mold out of the refrigerator. Before baking, place a sheet of baking paper covering the dough and fill the mold with baking weights so that the dough holds its shape (you can use dried chickpeas, or KitchenCraft's ceramic baking balls ). Bake for 40 minutes at 140°C.
8. After 40 minutes, cover the mold with aluminum foil and continue cooking for 20 more minutes.
9. Remove the mold from the oven and let it cool before filling.

From the filling of caramelized apples and pecans

1. Toast the pecans on a tray in the oven for 20 minutes at 140°C. Wait for them to cool and chop them coarsely.
2. Peel the apples, core them and cut them into 6 pieces.
3. In a large frying pan, put the butter, sugar and lemon juice to make the caramel.
4. When the caramel ingredients are integrated and you see the mixture beginning to brown, add the apples and cook without stirring much for approximately 10 minutes. Do it in two or three times if you can't fit all the apples in the pan, since if you put them all in at once they could crumble.
5. Put all the apple segments back in the pan and put the pan in the oven to continue cooking for a further 20 minutes, at 180°C.

Mounting

1. Let the apples and the mold with the dough cool before starting to place the filling.
2. Place a first layer of still warm caramelized apples in the mold and spread the pecans.
3. Repeat the process until you have 4 layers of apples, pressing between each layer. If you wish, you can reserve a piece of walnut for the final decoration.

Ending

1. Hydrate 3 g of gelatin leaves in very cold water.
2. Heat 300 g of the caramel from cooking the apples.
3. Drain the gelatin well and add it to the caramel, stirring well to break it up and integrate it completely.
4. Pour the caramel with the gelatin over the last layer of caramelized apple filling.
5. Place some pieces of pecan nuts (if you have reserved them).
6. Place the mold in the refrigerator and let it cool for a minimum of 8 hours, before unmolding and tasting. You can accompany it with a spoonful of whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Grades

• If you want to give an "extra" flavor to this magnificent mix of flavors, you can flavor both the dough and the filling with ground cinnamon or a little vanilla, adding them along with the rest of the ingredients when preparing the sweet dough and the apple filling. .
• The rest time in the refrigerator is necessary both to establish the flavors and to give it the necessary body so that it does not crumble when cut.
• For this type of croûte preparations, the De Buyer Geoforme perforated mold is perfect, because in addition to allowing uniform cooking of the dough, just by moving its 4 hinges it unfolds completely to easily remove the cake from its interior.