Celebrating Autumn - Caramel Apple Tart

I had to live 21 years to decide which season was my favourite. Autumn won. Lot of people go for spring, but that's the season I particularly don't like. It's the end of the winter, but still SO cold for several weeks, then you just can't tell whether it's gonna be hot or chilly that day. With Autumn, it's different - it's cold. Maybe there is a little bit of sunshine, but still cold. Festive season is coming, or is already here, the colours are amazing, and there is rain. My favourite type of weather. I just adore the smell of wet fallen leaves in the park, when it's still not freezing, but you already got red cheeks. Oh my.

And as a baker, this is the best season EVER. Baking over the summer is such a pain, with heating up the already hot house and all that. During winter it is really lovely, but the rage of ingredients are wider during the autumn, so it is the best. And all these fruits and veggies - apples, pears, grapes, squash, nuts etc - are the best to combine with spices like cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger.

This tart is very simple but yet has a special kick with the bottom caramel layer. You can't exactly feel the caramer cracking, as it melts in the oven and merges with the apples, but it still has that lovely flavour what makes this tart stand out.
It takes quite a long time to grate the apples - if you don't have much time, just cut into small pieces.

Ingredients
Crust:
300 g all purpose flour
200 g butter
100 g icing sugar

Filling:
100 + 30 g caster sugar
5 middle size apples, peeled and grated
10 g butter
1 tsp cinnamon



Method
Mix the flour with the icing sugar. Cut the butter into tiny cubes, and add it to the flour mixture. Crumble the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Add some cold water to form a dough. Put it in the fridge for a little while.
Melt the butter in a pan, and add grated apple, cinammon and 30 g sugar. Cook until it losts half of its size,
Grease a normal tart form, and preheat the oven for 175 C. Separate the dough into two parts; it should be 1/3 and 2/3. Roll the bigger one and place it in the form. Place baking paper on the dough, then some baking beans or rice (these could not be used as beans or rice anymore so I suggest to keep them after baking for another time!). Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the beans and bake for an other 5 minutes.
While the crust is in the oven, separate the smaller dough, roll them and cut them into stripes.
When the crust is ready, put 100 g caster sugar into a pan and let it melt on medium heat. Do not mix until it all melted. When it is all melted, as quick as possible pour it onto the crust. It hardens very fast! Spread it as much as you can. Place the cooked apples on the caramel, then finish it with the dough stripes. Put it back into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Spicy squash pie

I made this pie for Thanksgiving but forgot that I actually made photos too. (...) Reviewing them I remember how good this pie was, so I will redo it very soon. During the autumn, I made many versions of squash pies but this one turned out to be the best. This is one of the variations of the classic pie I bake very often - it is kinda impossible to forget the recipe as it follows the 3:2:1 rule; 30 dkg flour, 20 dkg butter and 10 dkg sugar. Well, these amounts apply for a classic, big ceramic pie chart - which I do not have at the moment, so I used a small one, halving everything The pastry was still a bit more than I needed, you can see on the pictures how tall it is.

Happy baking!

Spicy squash pie (for a 30 cm pie chart)
30 dkg flour
20 dkg butter
10 dkg icing sugar
1 egg

1 small butternut squash
2 eggs
1 tbsp fresh ginger
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 dl cream

Mix the icing sugar with the flour. Chop the butter into tiny cubes and using your fingers, mix it together with the flour-sugar mixture. Add the egg and knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic foil and put in the fridge until the batter is ready.
If you have time, simply put the whole squash in the oven and bake on 180 C for about an hour or until it's soft. Then cut it into half, remove the seeds and simply spoon the inside into a bowl. You may cut the squash into half and remove the seeds, then cut into pieces before putting into the oven - in that case it will be ready quicker. Leave the oven on 180 C.
Once the soft, baked squash is a bit chilled, mix it with an electric food blender until smooth (I don't have one, and a fork worked as well). Add the cream, spices and eggs and mix with and electric hand mixer until smooth. 
Grease the pie chart, and using the 2/3 of the chilled dough, roll a circle and place it to the bottom. Use the remain of the dough for the sides. Gently squeeze the dough together everywhere. Place baking paper and baking beans/rice on the dough and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes. Pour the squash mixture into the dough and bake on 180 C for 35-40 minutes or until the middle is set. Serve it hot or cold.