Hidden Rose Apple Tart For Fall

This Hidden Rose Apple Tart has two main selling points: One, it’s amazingly delicious. And two, it’s so pretty it is guaranteed to surprise and wow everyone at your table.

The main draw is from these Hidden Rose apples, which are in season right now. Of course their perfect rose-blush hue makes them unique and appealing. But what you might not know is that they’re not just a pretty apple… They have an irresistibly sweet-tart flavor, and they are great for baking.

Making an Apple Tart

Normally when you make an apple tart you just want to get the apples peeled, cored, and sliced so you can get them into the pan. But with these apples, you want to maximize every bit of the beautiful flesh.. So the peeling and coring process might take a tad longer. You want to take care not to miss a centimeter of these rosy apples.

Apple tart before baking

This pattern might look as if it is difficult but it’s really not. All you have to do is pair up half a dozen or so slices, place them down in bunches, and alternate directions as you place them. We tried to match long slices with long ones, and short slices with short ones. And as it came together, the few leftover pieces helped fill in the spaces.

Unbaked tart dotted with butter

Hidden Apple Rose Tart Recipe

Print

Hidden Rose Apple Tart

An easy apple tart made with pink-fleshed Hidden Rose Apples

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword apple tart, hidden rose apple

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 8

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)

For the Filling

• 6 Hidden Rose apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Topping

• 1/4 cup maple syrup (scant)

Instructions

For the Crust

1. Stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Mix in the melted butter, stirring until thoroughly combined. (The dough will look like Play-Doh.) Press into the tart pan and set aside.

For the Filling

1. Stir together the apple slices, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, lemon juice, and vanilla. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes or so, then give it an extra stir.

Assembly and Baking

1. Gather six to eight similar-sized apple slices and set them gently in the tart pan on top of the crust. Then repeat with another group of slices, setting the so that they point in the opposite direction from the first group. Repeat untiil the tart pan is filled.

2. Cut the 1 tbsp. of butter into tiny squares. Place the butter in little pockets all around the apples. Sprinkle with the sugar.

3. Bake at 350 for about one hour, making sure that the apples are tender. (They will shrivel slightly.) Drizzle the maple syrup over the top. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Hidden Rose Apples Back Story

Where did these red-fleshed apples come from? And is the color artificial? Not at all! According to Dragonberry Produce, the exclusive marketer of Hidden Rose apples:

“The original tree from which today’s Hidden Rose Apple trees are grown was located on land belonging to Lucky and Audrey Newell in Airlie, Oregon. The “parent tree” of the unique apple known as the Newell-Kimzey variety grew in the middle of the Newells’ meadow just six feet from an abandoned, hand-dug well.

In the mid 1960s, the Newells moved to a large property and sold the eighty acres where this one and only red-fleshed apple tree stood.

Two decades later, Louis Kimzey, former field manager at Thomas Paine Farms, was walking through the Newells’ old orchards and picked an apple from a large tree. Biting into it, he was amazed to find the pink flesh of what would become known as the Hidden Rose Apple®.

Health Ads by

Hidden Rose Apple

The first Hidden Rose Apple® orchard was planted by Eric Schwartz in 1992. Eric enjoys farming in Oregon and Washington and has a particular fondness for growing fruit trees and protecting the environment. He is a conscientious grower who cares deeply about preservation of the land and minimal use of chemicals for all growing operations on his farms.

Thomas Paine Farms is the first farm in the United States to be certified for “sustainable agricultural practices.” The apple is certified “organic” by The Oregon Tilth Organization and the United States Department of Agriculture.”

Where to Find Hidden Rose Apples

Now – where to find Hidden Rose apples? We received these apples from Melissa’s Produce. (Note that they are generally only available in October and November.) Look for them in specialty grocery stores or those with well-stocked produce aisles – and if you don’t see them, ask your produce manager. Handy tip: You can look on the Specialty Produce page to see where others are spotting them in stores.

Furthermore, if you can’t find Hidden Rose apples, you can also look for Lucy Glo apples sold by Trader Joe’s in the fall.

And then once you find these beautiful pink- or red-fleshed apples, what can you make with them? Try our earlier Hidden Rose apple tart (with a heart in the middle) or this Apple Surprise Cake with Hidden Rose Apples.

Blogger disclosure: Melissa’s produce provided us with Hidden Rose apples. We did not receive compensation for this post. All opinions are ours.