For me, apple pie brings back fond memories…of making a fool of myself on national television. Besides the fact that apple tarte tatin lives rent free in my head and nightmares, I do love the idea of roasted apples and a buttery pastry, regardless of if those things are directly related to one of the most traumatic moments that have ever been immortalized for me. That being said, this dessert is just peachy! I made a rough puff pastry as the crust, because I love using puff pastry for tarts where I can, and I flavored layers of thinly slices apples with a milk tea powder made from roasted miso paste, toasted milk powder, hojicha, and sugar, just to give it a lot of complexity. This recipe makes 2 apple tarts, each of which can feed up to 6 people, easily, so please keep that in mind when preparing this recipe! If you make too much milk tea sugar, just do what I do, which is mix it with warm milk and then you’d have milk tea!

Makes 2 apple tarts:

For the miso milk tea sugar:
1 tbsp miso paste
1/4 cup non-fat milk powder
1/4 cup hojicha powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar

On a lined sheet tray, spread 1 tbsp of miso paste into a thin layer. On another tray, spread out the milk powder. Roast both in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Transfer both mixtures, along with the other ingredients, into a blender and blend on high speed until it forms a fine powder. Store in an airtight container. When not using the powder for this specific recipe, you can mix 1 tbsp of the powder with 1 cup of milk to create a delicious milk tea!

For the puff pastry:
1/2 cup cold water
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tspn salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks unsalted butter, diced and kept cold

Dissolve salt into cold water and vinegar. In a bowl, toss flour with butter until the butter is coated with the flour. Form a well and pour in the cold water mixture. Knead until it forms a dough(it should be craggy with large chunks of butter still in there), and pour onto a sheet tray. Roll out into a vaguely-rectangular shape and place into the freezer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, roll out the dough to be about 1 ft by 6 inches. Fold it into thirds, brochure-style, and rotate the dough by 90 degrees. Freeze for another 20 minutes. Repeat this process another four times. Afterwards, divide the dough into two pieces, and roll each out out to be about 1 ft by 6 inches as well.

For the apples:
3 green apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thinly
1/4 cup miso milk tea sugar
1 egg yolk

Toss the apples with the sugar and let them sit in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, covered. Reserve the liquid that drains out of them and mix that with an egg yolk to form your egg wash. Arrange the apples themselves onto the rolled out puff pastry and fold the edges over the apples to form your tarts. Brush with egg wash and bake at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes.