Small Normand pies

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Or the Normandie at the Viking’s place :p It’s a bit more than 6 months since we arrived in Sweden, it went by so fast! I have never been in the mood for preparing Normand pie before (not my favorite dessert, I prefer the classical apple pie, easier to make and better, according to me :p). But it seems that it’s when we are far from certain things that we miss them the most ;)

I have to say that we had a Swedish guest of honor for the occasion, and I was thrilled to have him taste one of our Normand specialties (even if it was my first try, no fear^^). But unfortunately, it seems that the Normand pie looks like the Swedish “äpplepaj” (I have to dig more on this subject!). Perhaps a trace of French culture brought by Charles XIV John, king of Sweden (and Norway) in the 19^th century and French! For the record, it is probably thanks to this man that some words from the Swedish language are really close to French ones. And it sometimes helps me out :p Anyway, I’ll stop  bothering you with this historical episode, we are on a cooking blog, aren’t we? Finally it’s just to say that even if I was quite disappointed with my pastry, which was a bit soft according to me, we still enjoyed it :D

Revisited version :p

Let’s go for the recipe for 4 little tarts:

• 4 pastry cases of cookie dough (I will soon give you a good recipe, which won’t be soft, I promise :p)
• 2 apples
• 10g flour
• 15g sugar
• 75ml crème fraiche
• 1 big tsp of almond powder
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp Calvados (optional)
• Some vanilla sugar (about ½ packet, or 4g)

We start by preparing the liquid mixture:

Mix together crème fraiche, white sugar, flour and almond powder. Add the egg and mix again. You can add the teaspoonful of Calva if you want, the taste is really light, I advise you to try it if you have some.

Then, we take care of the apples:

Peel and cut in half the apples. Remove the middle and slice them thinly.

Preparing the little tarts:

Keep the slivers stuck and put them in the middle of the tart and then pour the liquid mixture prepared before. Sprinkle with a bit of vanilla sugar.  

COOKING

Bake between 30 and 40 minutes on the oven preheated to 180°C.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

So here are 2 different ways to serve it:

Tradition says to eat it slightly warm, so you can serve it the day of the cooking just after letting it cool down a bit. Otherwise, you can reheat it a few minutes in a low oven (not more than 150°C). The best is to serve it with a vanilla ice cream or some crème anglaise (light custard sauce). The contrast between temperatures is really good :)

And then there is my way: eat the tart well cooled :D I’m not fond of warm desserts, especially when it contains fruits. But it’s just a question of taste and you still can serve it with some ice cream you know :p

TIPS AND TRICKS

I had a bit of apple and liquid mixture left: everything in a muffin mould, 30 minutes to 180°C, a few raisins on top of it (after it has cooled down ;), a cool compote to accompany it and here is a small unexpected extra dessert :D

Here you go my fond of food friends! I wish you a good appetizing break and see you soon!

Rose.

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