Apple Kuchen (Apple-Custard Tourte)

A lemony short crust, custard filling, and heaps of apples: they all sounded good together. We were attending a potluck and offered to bring a dessert, and this kuchen, from a trusted author, fit the bill for being impressive and homey. Alas, it was a bit of a disappointment and didn’t meet my expectations.

This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook about desserts that people in France might make at home. I followed it verbatim with the exception of not using raisins.

From looking at the Tuesdays with Dorie people who made this on Sept 22, 2015, many of them complained about the crust. It’s definitely soft and tricky to work with, and I don’t think anyone just pressed the round into the springform without it tearing. For a dough this pliable, you definitely have to chill it to firm it up before baking.

Pre-roasting the apples (I used Honeycrisp) gives them a head start, and is key for many baked apple desserts. Unfortunely, mine stayed quite firm and that’s likely the root of what I didn’t like about this dessert. Dorie’s headnote says that “what’s inside the crust is almost spoonable and certainly comforting”. I imagined a more homogenous texture but my tourte turned out to have a clear distinction between fruit and custard.