It’s that time of year, of course, for making wonderful things with apples. One of my favorite baking blogs to read is Confessions of a Tart. Great pictures and inspiring recipes. A few days ago, she posted this apple tartlet recipe which I knew instantly I had to try. I mean, how could I not?
Obviously, I need more practice at this one to get the ratio of apples to ricotta correct. But it was a fun and quick recipe to whip up on a cold, cloudy autumn morning, while contractors were tearing out my bathroom (finally!). I had to slice the apples very thin, as I was using a big old Mutsu. Next time, definitely more apple, even if I have to slice them paper thin like this.
Irene wasn’t kidding when she said her house filled with the scent of baking apples and vanilla. Right now, ours is redolent with the same.
Thanks, Irene, for hosting such a great site! Also, your chocolate cupcakes were a big hit here at the house a few weeks ago.
Oh, those look amazing!! Nom nom nom.
They’re wonderful! I’ll have to let you know how good they are with more apple slices.
Oh wow, those sound wonderful – both the taste and the smell. (And the smell really is a key part of baking anything!)
They are so good! And as Irene says on her blog, they’re perfect little companions to a nice cup of tea.
They look too cute! Thanks for making them and thank you for your so so kind words about my site!
By the way, an old friend of mine uses finely ground breadcrumbs on her apple cake to keep the slices from falling out. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds like it could work (referring to your lovely apple and pear cake below).
Thank you! Your photographs and well-written recipes really are an inspiration. Mostly these days I’m struggling with taking good pictures.
The next time I make these, which might be tomorrow, a small batch with my remaining apple and a pear or two, I plan to use a lot more slices.
Do you whisk the ricotta? I found it to be a bit grainy still, even after baking.
I’ll have to try the bread crumb trick, we certainly have enough of those around here. Thanks for the suggestion. The pear version of Clotilde’s cake was really a stunner when it came to flavor; the pears were at the perfect pitch of ripeness and I was able to incorporate some of their juice into the batter. I highly recommend trying it out as a pear cake for something different.
Bread crumbs on the bottom of the cake pan, I meant, not on top :)
Got it!
And really, I can’t say enough how much those chocolate cupcakes made people’s eyes roll back in their heads with pure joy. A friend came over while I was making them, and as we licked the bowl we determined that if we were still uh… smokers, that none of them would have even made it into the oven. It would have been spoons at midnight!
I’m so glad!!! Were they the Guinness chocolate cupcakes from Smitten Kitchen, or the other ones I made a few weeks ago with strawberry buttercream? My husband is a HUGE fan of the Guinness ones. I know what you mean about them making it into the oven. ;)
I did whisk the ricotta with the egg and sugar; mine wasn’t grainy, but it wasn’t custard smooth, but I think that’s just the nature of the cheese itself and I liked the contrast in texture between that and the apples. I’ve made Clotilde’s pear cake before and it was heaven.
I have not SEEN the Guinness ones! I only began reading your blog when I was looking for… hrm, what was it? Ah! I remember, Cynthia wanted lime whipped cream to put on our chocolate ganache birthday tarte, so a-googling I went, and I’m sure you know exactly which entry I landed on.
So yeah, the rapturous cupcakes were the strawberry buttercream frosted ones. I was smitten with them on sight, and conveniently, a friend visiting from out of town had a birthday that needed something sweet. There I was around 10pm or so on a Saturday night without any fruit (but plenty of chocolate, of course) nor any shops open to just pop out for a pint of berries, instead I whipped up a quick batch of mocha frosting, which sufficed.
I am really having a tortured grammar day, I know that shit looks bad up there, but I can’t even begin to think my way out of it.
As for the ricotta, it wasn’t an unpleasant graininess, maybe next time I’ll use my egg whisk instead of my sauce one.