I have been seeing a ton of pie-art types of posts on Instagram lately, so I wanted to give it a try as well. For my pie, I did a bee pollen pate sucre with brown butter-cinnamon poached apple slices, and instead of a lattice, I did more of a ribbon type of crust with a little flower as garnish. The main two recipes for this post I wanted to focus on were the crust and the filling. Honestly, the rest of it, you can customize however the hell you want. See if I give a shit if you adorn your apple tarts with cut outs of body parts.

I opted for using bee pollen in my pate sucre because that fragrance pairs well with the boring gala apples I chose to use for this dessert. Anything to really give the most basic of basic apples any help, I will give them. Hence why I poached the slices in brown butter. Gala apples, unlike granny smith apples, are just boring. You really do need to give them a lot of love and attention so that they can taste delicious, but the end result is typically something really delicious.

Bee pollen pate sucre:
1 stick unsalted butter; diced and chilled
1 1/4 cups flour + more for rolling
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons bee pollen
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup cold water (you can also use calvados, if you can find and/or purchase it)

Blitz together the ingredients, sans egg yolk and cold water, until it pulls together into Add those in slowly and continue blitzing until it forms into a dough. Dust with flour, wrap in plastic, and keep chilled for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to about 1/32th inch thickness, then place into a lightly floured tart pan. Keep refrigerated so that it stays cold and firm. Roll out the remaining dough and cut into whatever shapes you want.

Egg wash:
1 egg
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon water

Beat together. Brush onto the pastry on top of the tart before baking.

For the filling:
1 gala apple
3 tablespoons butter; browned
a pinch of cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar
a pinch of salt

Combine all of the ingredients besides the apple and keep warm. Peel and slice the apples on the mandolin. Gently stir the apples into the warmed sugar mixture and allow them to soften. Lay out and roll up the apples into roses and place into the tart. Top with the crusts, egg wash, and bake at 375 degrees F for 20-25 minutes for small tarts and 30-35 minutes for big ones.