Travel France from your kitchen: Normandy Apple Tart recipe

It is thought that apple tart reached France from England sometime during the Middle Ages. But it wasn't until Antonin Carême perfected his recipe for flaky pastry in the 1800s that it became a classic.

There are numerous recipes calling for shortcrust or flaky pastry, caramelised apples or the addition of spices and cream.

But the original version is quite plain, and apple tarts from Normandy always use cream. Leaving the skin on adds extra decoration (and fibre!)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 roll of pâte sablée (a sweetened short crust pastry)
3 eggs
20cl of crème liquide
1 pinch of cinnamon (or more if you like it)
3 soup spoons of sugar
3 apples
1 sachet vanilla sugar

Method

Line a quiche or tart dish with the pastry.

Peel, core, quarter and finely slice the apples.

Arrange them in overlapping circles on the pastry.

Combine the eggs, sugar (but not the sachet), cream and cinnamon in a bowl and pour the mixture over the apples.

Bake at 210 degrees for around 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle the sachet of vanilla sugar over the tart and return to oven for 10 minutes to brown.

Serve hot or cold with ice cream.

Related recipes in our lockdown cooking series

For those with a sweet tooth, you could also try your hand at clafoutis from Nouvelle Aquitaine, some boozy Rum Babas from Paris or this Corsican take on cheesecake. Who knew lockdown could taste so sweet?