The Crostata is a baked tart originating from Italy going back to the 1400's and is the same as what the French call a Galette.  These desserts are both rustic and elegant in taste.  This works well for other fruits like peach, cherries, blueberries and raspberries. This dough recipe is also the same for a double crusted pie.  I usually double this recipe to make a Crostata and also have 2 discs left for a pie to freeze for another day.  So don’t let the last of your fall apples go to waste…. Impress your family with an Apple Crostata!                                                   
                            
APPLE CRUMB CROSTATA
CRUST -
 1 ¼ AP flour
 1T white sugar
½ t salt
1 stick unsalted butter cubed and kept cold
1 t vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar)
½ c ice cold water

1 egg beaten
Sugar for sprinkling

FILLING - 
5 or 6 Braeburn or other baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced. About 6 cups
¼ c brown sugar
1 T flour
½ t ground cinnamon
Juice from ½ lemon
¼ t vanilla

CRUMBLE -
¼ c white sugar
¼ c br sugar
1 ½ c AP flour
¼ t ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter melted and cooled

 STEP 1 - MAKE DOUGH FOR CRUST
Combine flour, sugar, salt in a food processor and pulse for 5 seconds. Add the butter cubes and pulse again until the mixture is the size of small peas.  Add most of the water and the vinegar and pulse until the mixture comes together in moist clumps.  Add more water if needed. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured counter and gather into a round disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or overnight.  This recipe is for one crostata or a double crusted single pie.  
STEP 2 - MAKE FILLING
Toss apple slices with the other filling ingredients and set aside
STEP 3 - MAKE CRUMBLE
In a medium bowl combine everything for the crumble except the butter.  Drizzle the butter over the dry ingredients and mix until crumbly and the flour is incorporated. 
STEP 4 - ASSEMBLING THE CROSTATA    
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Remove dough from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a 14 inch circle and place in the center of a baking sheet covered with a teflon or silpat sheet. 
Arrange filling, saving out some juice, evenly in the center of the dough, leaving about 4 inches around the edge. Fold the dough around the crostata and pinch about every 2 inches.  Pour remaining juice over the apples.  Brush the edges with the beaten egg and sprinkle the edges with the white sugar.  Cover the entire area of fruit with the crumble as best you can.  It should take most of the crumble but if there is any left it would be a great topping for muffins!
STEP 5 - BAKE THE CROSTATA
Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until brown and bubbling, about 40 - 50 minutes.  Test with a fork or pull a slice of apple out to test for doneness.  

Serve warm with ice cream or toffee or caramel.  Take a picture and send it to us! 

Baked apples are so simple that I like to bake them once a week while apples are good.  Choose any apple except Red Delicious. Michigan-grown Ida Reds, Jonagolds and Fuji are just a few of my favorites for baking. Do not leave out on the nuts! This is best warm out of the oven, so put it in before you sit down to dinner and serve it with a scoop of Palazzolo’s Gelato for dessert.  Get ready for applause!
 
Yield: 10 servings
Time: 1 hour 10 min
 
Ingredients:
3 T butter
1 t orange zest
1 t lemon zest
1 t grated fresh ginger
1/8 t salt
¼ c Crane’s Cider Syrup
¼ c brown sugar
1 cup nuts chopped in smaller pieces; can be walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts or a combo
½ c Crane’s dried tart cherries plumped up in hot water or cognac or bourbon; drain
10 Michigan baking apples washed and cored; skins left on
 
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat together the first seven ingredients until smooth.  Stir in the nuts and the cherries until well incorporated. 
Step 2
Fill centers of apples with 2 or 3 T filling and place apples in a large, shallow baking dish and place in the center of the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Cover apples with foil and bake until apples are soft- about another 20 minutes.

Do you ever have extra apples and wonder what to make next with them?  Apple butter is a sweetly spiced concentration that is smoother than jam on buttered toast or biscuits. It can also be thinned down for a sauce for pork.  It isn’t a butter at all!  You can run this through a food mill or sieve for a smooth apple butter or leave it chunky and these apples cook with the skins and cores for the extra flavor. Any kind of apple will make apple butter!  By cooking in the crock pot, it eliminates the need to watch for burning and your house will smell like no candle ever made!
 
Cooking Time – 6 hours
Yield – 4 cups
 
Ingredients:
10 to 12 medium apples washed and cut into 2 in chunks, leaving them unpeeled and uncored
4 cups apple cider
2 - 2 inch sticks of cinnamon (can sub 2 t ground cinnamon
1 inch peeled ginger, sliced (can sub 1 t ground ginger)
3 allspice berries (can sub ½ t ground allspice)
2 whole cloves (can sub ¼ t ground cloves)
1 ¼ cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
 
Put all ingredients except the sugars in a crock pot and cook on high for 2 hours or until apples are soft.  Remove from crock pot and take out the whole spices and run the apple pulp through a food mill or a sieve, or if you prefer a chunky apple butter and just remove the spices.  Return the sauce to the crock pot and add both sugars and stir to mix.  Cook on low for another 3 to 4 hours or until the sauce is thick and not runny.  Will keep for weeks if stored in the refrigerator in a covered container.