Castellon's Kitchen: Rustic Apple Torta

You've probably noticed that the last few recipes I've shared have been by Teri Appleton Villanueva. Chef Teri was my instructor for the last 3 months when I took her Pro Chef Series at Chef Tech Cooking School, here in Long Beach. She is an amazing chef, excellent teacher, and an accomplished recipe developer. All of the dishes we prepared in class were hers. It was such a great experience and I learned so much that I've decided to pick out my favorite recipes from class and blog them starting with this Rustic Apple Torta.
Confession...I'm not much of a dessert gal and I know this is going to be completely un-American, but I don't like apple pie either. *cringe*
Don't hate me...I'm not sure why, I just never liked the apple and cinnamon flavors together in an apple pie. I love the smell of a cinnamon apple candle. I can burn that thing all day, everyday, but the flavors? Not so much.
So here is quite possibly the closest thing to apple pie as I'll get. And in my opinion, it's absolutely the best-est apple pie-like dessert. The apples hold up and aren't soggy or watery. It's not too sweet, no cinnamon and the crust is so buttery and flaky and just about the best thing ever. I can go on and on, but rather than talking about how good it is, it's time to make it and see for yourself. Enjoy!

Rustic Apple Torta

(recipe from Teri Appleton Villanueva)

Sour Cream Pie dough
7 oz. unsalted butter, cubed, cold (14 Tbsp)
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
generous 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Cut butter into cubes and freeze for 10 minutes. In food processor, pulse together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar until well combined. Scatter half the butter over the flour and pulse about 6-8 times until it resembles course corn meal. Add remaining butter and pulse 3-5 times until butter is pea-sized. Transfer from processor to a medium bowl and stir in the sour cream. Knead by hand just until dough comes together. Pat into a flat disk, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Almond Cream
1/4 cup dry roasted, unsalted almonds
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla

In a food processor, grind the almonds together with sugar and flour to a fine powder. Add butter and process until well mixed. Add egg and vanilla and process until well mixed. Scrape into a small bowl and refrigerate unitl firm, about 30 minutes.

Prep apples:
2 Granny Smith apples
2 Golden Delicious apples

Adjust oven rack into lower middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and core apples and cut into thin slices. Set aside.

1 egg whisked with 1 T water
Brown Sugar

Roll sour cream dough to a 1/4 inch thick, 14 inch circle. Place on parchment lined tray.

Spread almond butter out to a 12 inch circle. Fan apples out decoratively on dough, leaving a 1 inch border to flip up and over the edges of the apples to form a rustic looking tart. If you look closely you will see that I alternated each row with Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apple slices. Too pretty.