Book: The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
“She had become a master baker and had no fear when the cook gave her a test. There was a stone baker’s house that hadn’t been used for some time where the stove was heated by logs. Ava was made to collect wood and fire up the old stove. Then she must bake ten tartes out of paltry ingredients: four cups of flour, ten bitter apples, sixteen chestnuts, unroasted and plucked from nearby trees. The results were stupendous and mouthwatering.”
The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman
Mini Summary: Ava is a golem created to protect Lea, a 12 year old German Jew living in the ghetto with her mother in 1941. This book follows their journey and collects characters along their path to survive.
Fantastical, with all the harsh edges of truth. Alice Hoffman weaves together the haunting realities of France and Germany in the midst of World War II with the lives of a handful of fighters. They fight in their own ways.
Womanhood and motherhood are potent features in this story. I loved reading what Jamie Wendt had to say about it in her article on Jewish Book Council. Women in their various roles and positions were presented, within the realms of their own personalities, as fierce, loyal, brave, and tender.
Ava is child-like in her first animated moments as a golem. But, like the earth she is made from, she absorbs every new experience and uses it to fulfill her purpose. Although Lea’s safety is her supreme directive, she uses her growing store of skills to help them along. Her culinary creativity is epic, which makes their continued survival possible as they move through enemy lines.
So I’ll just tell you right out, Ava is the stuff of legend (quite literally). With only flour, bitter apples, and raw chestnuts, I don’t think I could have made anything “stupendous” or “mouthwatering.” But with flour, sour-ish apples, chestnuts that were once raw, and a few other helpful ingredients, I have for you my Apple Chestnut Tart inspired by the beautiful book, The World That We Knew, and the Jewish Folkloric Champion, Ava.
Apple Chestnut Tart
Course: Dessert, BreakfastCuisine: FrenchDifficulty: intermediate10
servings55
minutes1
hourA beautifully browned apple tart with a tender, sweet crust and creamy chestnut frangipane
Ingredients
- For the Sugar Crust
175 grams flour, about 1 1/3 cups
45 grams sugar, about 4 tablespoons
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- For the Frangipane
5-6 ounces peeled, roasted chestnuts (often in the Kosher section of the grocers)
1 egg
78 grams sugar, about 7 tablespoons
3 tablespoons honey
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup salted butter, cut into 8 pats
1 tablespoon flour
- For the Apple Top
4-6 large granny smith apples, peeled, quartered, and thinly sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup apricot jam, strained to separate the syrup-y liquid
Directions
- Sugar Crust
- Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar together. Add the cold cubed butter and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
- Beat the egg, water, and vanilla lightly then add it into the crust. Mix the crust with a spoon until it comes together then quickly knead a few times to create a well-combined dough. It will be softer than a typical pie crust dough because of the sugar.
- Form the crust into a round disk. Wrap the crust in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours. This can be made a couple days ahead.
- Frangipane
- In the bowl of a food processor, process the chestnuts until it resembles a not-sparkly brown sugar.
- Add in the honey, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pulse a few times and slide a rubber spatula around the edge. Pulse again.
- Add the egg and a couple pats of butter and process. Continue adding pats of butter until all the butter is incorporated and the mixture is creamy, stopping to scrape the edges with the spatula. This can be made up to two days ahead and refrigerated.
- Construct the Tart
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll out the cold sugar crust quickly and transfer it to a 11 inch x 1.125 inch loose bottom tart pan. See Note 1.
- Blind bake the crust in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Remove the pie weights and prick the crust with a fork a few times. Return it to the oven for 6 more minutes. See Notes 2 and 3.
- Remove the frangipane from the fridge and let both the crust and the frangipane rest for about 20 minutes to cool down/warm up.
- Put the tart pan on a baking sheet. Carefully spread the frangipane evenly over the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the apples in a rose pattern, nestling them into the frangipane. Starting on the edge of the shell, overlap the slices while you make a tight spiral toward the center.
- Sprinkle the 1/2 cup sugar evenly over the apples and bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes, until the apples are caramelizing on some of the edges. Cover the crust edges with foil if they are getting too dark.
- Remove the tart pan to a wire rack. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the strained apricot liquid over the apples. Let the tart cool for 1/2 an hour then carefully remove the ring around the outside of the pan. Then, using a thin spatula, loosen the tart from the base and carefully slide it onto the rack to cool completely. See Note 4:
Notes
- Note 1: Okay, so this dough is soft so work quickly. If it just tears, no worries! Put it in as quickly and best as you can and press it into the pan. Worst case scenario: just drop clumps of it all over the pan and press it with your fingers, trying to maintain an even thickness.
- Note 2: Blind Baking is when a baker puts something in the bottom of an empty crust while it bakes to help it hold its shape. Since this crust is a bit soft, make sure your pie weights are supporting the edges well.
- Note 3: I don’t have pie weights, but I do have a jar of beans that work fabulously for me. To use beans, put a large piece of parchment paper over the shaped raw crust, making sure the paper will completely cover the pan. Pour 1 lb dry beans onto the parchment then gently move the beans to the edges of your crust. When it’s time to remove the “weights” (beans), just lift them carefully out of the crust and proceed with the recipe. Set the parchment with the beans to the side until you can store them for later blind baking.
- Note 4: IF you’re worried about it breaking, you can let it cool in the pan before removing.
Sugar Crust recipe is gratefully borrowed from the lovely Julia Child’s book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking.