Strawberry and Apple Crumble

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced, plus sliced strawberries for garnish
• 1/2 pound cooking apples, like Granny Smith and Jonathan, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup crushed walnut halves
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 pre-baked (4-inch) tart shells, recipe follows
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 9 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• Confectioners' sugar, for garnish
• Serving suggestion: Vanilla ice cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the strawberries, apples, granulated sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in a saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft.

Divide the strawberry-apples mixture among the tart shells.

Sift the flour into a bowl, rub the butter in until it looks like fine bread crumbs and add the oatmeal. Gently mix in the brown sugar. Sprinkle a thick layer of the crumble mixture on top of the fruit. Arrange the crumbles on a baking sheet and bake until lightly browned and hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Divide the crumbles among plates, place a scoop of ice cream on the top of each, sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Garnish with strawberry slices.

Tart Shells:

• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 2 beaten egg yolks
• 1 dash cream
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar; then add the eggs slowly, mixing well. Add the cream. Add the flour all at once and mix to a smooth dough. Divide the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the dough into a large square, about 1/8 inch thick. (Freeze the other half of the dough for another use.) Cut the dough into 4 parts and line 4 (4-inch) tart pans. Line each tart with parchment paper and fill with dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the parchment and beans, and bake for 15 minutes more.

Let cool on a rack.

Yield: 4 to 8 (4-inch) tart shells