apple-pomegranate birthday tart

Baking in Estonia can be quite a challenge- and finding the right ingredients to bake a birthday cake is impossible, especially in the winter time, when the fruit section of the grocery store is quite limited. Fortunately there is never a shortage of apples so I decided, for my friend Valerie's birthday, to make an apple-pomegranate birthday tart. It was quite fun, and the ingredients are extremely easy to find, even in the most limited of Eastern European grocery stores.

For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups butter (a bit more than 150 grams)
2 tbls heavy whipping cream
3 tbls water

For the filling:
3 large apples, sliced but not peeled
1 pomegranate
1/2 cup raspberry preserves
1 tbls butter
a bit of sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon

Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter. When the butter, salt, and flour combination are completely mixed, add the whipping cream and water. Mix to create a dough-like consistency. Let sit for an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F (about 176 degrees C). When the hour is up, mold the dough into a tart shell and bake for 25 minutes, or until the shell is golden. While the shell is baking, melt the butter in a large sauce pan. Add the apples, some sugar and brown sugar. Cook the apples, turning occasionally, until they are soft all the way through. Cut the pomegranate in half and empty the seeds into a bowl with a spoon.

When the shell is finished baking, remove it from the oven and let it sit until it reaches room temperature. Spread a thin layer of raspberry preserves on the bottom of the tart. Lay the apple slices on top of the raspberry preserves in a fan-like pattern. When the tart is covered in apples, sprinkle the pomegranate seeds on top of the apples. Add a dash of cinnamon. You can serve it immediately or let it cool. Best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with brown sugar or cardamom. Enjoy!