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Recipes

40 min

Published March 2026

Our farmer Sébastien’s grandma’s apple tart 

The other day, our farmer Sébastien from Domaine Épicurien, shared a photo of his grandmother’s hand-written original apple tart recipe with us. His grandmother, Mamie Monique—affectionately called Momone by her family—is known for her delicious cooking, and this tart is a winter classic and proof that French grandmothers always have the best recipes! This tart, known as “Tarte aux Pommes à l’Alsacienne“, combines a buttery crust, sweet apples, and a rich custard topping, making it the perfect dessert to warm up your winter evenings. 

This versatile recipe also works just as well with pears! In fact, Sébastien has a project featuring a mixed box of apples and pears that you can order here, to try making one of each! Here’s how you can recreate this delicious tradition at home:  


Ingredients  

For the crust:

– 250g of flour  

– 125g of butter  

– ½ glass of water  


For the filling:

– 1kg of apples  

– 100g of sugar  


For the cream:

– 200g of fresh cream (crème fraîche)  

– 125g of sugar  

– 1 tablespoon of cornstarch  

– 2 eggs  


Instructions 
 

1. Prepare the crust: 

   Mix the flour, butter, and water to form a dough. Roll it out and place it in a round tart tin.  

2. Add the apples:  

   Slice the apples thinly and arrange them beautifully over the crust. Sprinkle 100g of sugar evenly on top.  

3. Bake the base: 

   Preheat your oven and bake the tart at a high temperature for 15 minutes.  

4. Make the cream:

   While the tart is baking, mix the eggs, fresh cream, sugar, and cornstarch to make the custard.  

5. Combine and finish baking:  

   Pour the custard mixture over the tart and return it to the oven. Bake until the crust is golden and the custard is set.  

Enjoy this delightful tart as a dessert or an afternoon snack. It’s a little slice of Alsace that Sébastien’s family has lovingly passed down—and now, it’s yours to share! 

 

Written by Emilia Aguirre

Emilia Aguirre

Emilia Aguirre is our Awareness & Advocacy specialist — which means she spends her days asking the uncomfortable questions about how our food is grown, priced, labeled, and sold. She hosts What The Field?!, a podcast packed with stories from the ground, hard-hitting research, and conversations with the people shaping the future of food (whether they like it or not).

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Recipes

40 min

Apple walnut tart recipe

With the holidays just around the corner, our farmer Kathrin Wiest from Biohof Hund has shared one of her favourite seasonal recipes: an apple walnut tart passed down through generations in her family.Kathrin grew up spending weekends on her grandparents’ farm, where she helped with the hay harvest, milking the cows, harvesting vegetables, and discovering early on the importance of knowing where your food comes from. “Good food doesn’t begin in the kitchen,” she says, “it begins in the field.”This profound appreciation for the land followed her through her career in gastronomy and now into her work at Biohof Hund, where she combines her diverse background in gastronomy, organic farming, and horticulture.For Kathryn, working on the farm is more than just a job: “It’s a return to my roots,” she says, “a conscious choice for sustainability and regionality, and a step toward a future that truly makes sense – for my family, for our farm, and for society as a whole.”For Kathrin, this recipe captures values she grew up with: simplicity, seasonality, and a meaningful connection to the land.In this simple and delicious recipe, apples are arranged on top of a rich walnut cream and soft buttery crust: the perfect dessert to have around this winter.Save this recipe for your next holiday gathering!Apple & Walnut TartIngredients:  300 g spelt flour (plus a little extra for dusting) 120 g soft brown sugar Pinch of salt 2 medium eggs 200 g butter (130 g cold, 70 g softened, plus a little extra for greasing) 1 kg tart apples 2 tbsp lemon juice 150 g walnut halves 1 sachet vanilla sugar 50 g honey 80 ml double cream 1 pinch ground cinnamon Preparation:Place 250 g of the flour, 70 g of the sugar, a pinch of salt, 1 egg and the 130 g cold butter (cut into pieces) in a bowl. First mix with the dough hooks of a hand mixer, then knead briefly by hand until you have a smooth dough. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.Peel the apples, quarter them, remove the cores and slice into thin wedges. Toss with the lemon juice.For the filling, finely grind 50 g of the walnuts in a food processor. Beat 50 g soft butter, 50 g sugar, the vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt with a hand mixer until very creamy. Beat in 1 egg. Add the ground nuts and 50 g flour and mix briefly.Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Roll out the chilled dough on a floured surface to about 30 cm in diameter and line a greased 28 cm tart or springform tin. Press the dough up the sides and prick the base several times with a fork.Spread the walnut cream over the base and arrange the apple slices on top. Bake on a rack set directly on the oven floor for 25 minutes.Meanwhile, for the nut topping, roughly chop the remaining 100 g walnuts. In a small saucepan, heat the honey, cream, cinnamon and 20 g butter, bring to the boil while stirring and simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in the walnuts.After the tart has baked for 25 minutes, spoon the nut mixture over the apples and bake for a further 10 minutes on the middle shelf.Leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack. Carefully remove from the tin and serve with whipped cream.

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