Autumn is an awe-inspiring, beautiful season in most parts of the US. Brightly-colored leaves cover the trees, and we begin to see hints of crimson, yellow and orange dotting the landscape as winds clear the branches bare.
Apples of all kinds are begging to be plucked from their trees, and they’re plentiful and affordable in the markets too. It’s the time of year when I begin to dream up recipes that will utilize all of those fabulous apples. I scour my archives and cookbooks for ideas, creating a pile of ‘must-make’ recipes that is much too ambitious for the season. This one made it through first: Caramelized Apple Tart in Brown Butter Custard.
Crisp, Granny Smith’s are sauteed in bubbling butter & sugar until properly golden and covered in a drippy, caramelly syrup.
For the custard, sugar & eggs are beaten until thick and fluffy… then flour, salt and nutty browned butter are blended in. The custard is poured into an already baked tart shell, and the apples are placed on top in desired decorative fashion.
My apples sunk into the custard when I placed them, so I saved a handful and placed those into the tart after it had baked for about 15 minutes- at that point, the custard had firmed up slightly, and the apples were easily placed into the tart and stayed visible in the final baked product.
This tart can be made in a regular 11-inch-round tart pan. I thought it might be more interesting to make it in my rectangular tart pan, and it was easier (when chilled) to cut into bars for serving. You can’t really go wrong with browning butter… it seems to make everything taste way more amazing than expected (same goes for caramelizing). The tart crust was buttery and flaky. The custard wrapped itself around the caramelized apples and firmed up when baked. A little freshly whipped cream spooned on top and it was perfect.
This recipe can be found HERE.
41 Comments
Great photos and an awesome recipe. The tart looks just delicious.
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You are making me crave all of the apple treats that come around this time of year! Those photos are wonderfully mouth-watering!
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An absolute scrumptious pie……ready for some more fall recipes.Beautiful pics!
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Beautiful recipe Lori!! Perfect for fall, I just love this time of year for baking!
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I could just grab a fork and dig in. Looks scrumptious!
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Oh yeah. I am addicted to browning butter. It really goes one step farther than “Butter makes everything better”, and that’s a real good thing. I love the sound of this tart, looks great too!
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That’s gorgeous! And I can just taste the browned butter. Fabulous Fall dessert!
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that just looks so awesome. I don’t mind to skip dinner to enjoy more of that.m Lovely photos.
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That looks beautiful, and sounds mouth-wateringly delicious!!
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It is dishes like this that are what autumn is all about.
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I feel the same way about autumn – love it.
And I LOOOOVE that tart!!
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Oh yum! Apple desserts are my weakness, and even if I have some apple pie waiting for me, I am drooling over this.
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wow – that looks incredible. i am ready for fall flavors and this has it. love the apple pic!
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Love this Lori! So wishing for some wonderful fall weather to start enjoying some of these fall treats. This one is bookmarked!!!
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THis sounds amazing with the brown butter!
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Looks delicious! I will be trying this recipe this fall for sure!
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This looks incredible – a perfect depiction of Fall.
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oh this tart looks so nice. I m drooling! I m imagining its buttery taste and those apples
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Wow. That looks too good! Must add this to the list of even more things to bake this fall.
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Yum! I love the gorgeous golden brown color.
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You can’t beat the fall- and apples- and apple tarts. Yours looks fantastic and I will make it soon!
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I have an 11 inch pan but I think I need a rectangular one for this tart. The look is so elegant. What a beautiful dessert!
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Holy Moly, Lori! That custard really looks heavenly! I love the whole thing, but that custard I could just eat with a spoon!
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What a beautiful color photos. Your tart looks wonderful independently that I’m near of Spring, for this, all the year is good
Cheers!
Gera
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You had me at “brown butter custard.” This totally screams autumn. Delicious.
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How yummy.. and easy too. Thank you for sharing this!!
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That tart looks PERFECT! What a great idea for the apples I’ll be picking this weekend!
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OMG Lori that’s absolutely gorgeous! I’m hitting the apple orchard this weekend if we don’t get drenched with rain.
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Oh my that looks incredible!!! I love that you used a browned butter custard!
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Your bubbling apple pan shot was a pure joy to look at. I can smell the aroma over here. Beautiful job, Fall is here
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Fabulous way to start fall! I am a sucker for apples-I eat one every day..and if they are in a dessert even better. Ha!
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What a wonderful recipe to celebrate the start of fall and apple season. Every element of it sounds delicious!
Love the leaf and apple pics!
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This looks delicious!!! It really got me in the mood for fall and baking! Thank you for posting :O)
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can I make this same recipe with peaches? If so what should I do different.
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Lori Lange Reply:
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Lisa- I’m afraid I’ve never caramelized peaches, so I’m unable to answer your question on whether or not subbing peaches for the apples would work. Let me know if you try it & you’re successful!
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That is just gorgeous! We don’t get much of a fall here, but it’s still my favorite season. Love those apples!
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I just took the kids apple picking and have a boat load to cook with (that is if the kids don’t eat them all on me first.) I love the browned butter custard in this recipe. Beautiful!
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Holy cow, this looks SO good! I have already collected way too many apple recipes to try in the fall, but what’s one more? Hopefully I will get to this one soon!
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This looks delicious, Lori! Yet another reason I need to go buy some tart pans.
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LOVE this! Looks amazing! You sold me with the Browned Butter…..
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beautiful photos!! our leaves have yet to turn out west here…so i’m still hanging on to the last bits of warm weather for dear life. but am so looking forward to apple picking and tarts as amazing as yours!! browned butter makes everything better.
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Mmmm This really looks good. I want some!
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