This cake may well be a tart. The dough qualifies as “tart dough”. It wasn’t meant to be, just as it wasn’t a cheese cake, as I intended. The baking spree got to me after sunset, I didn’t find cottage cheese at any of the neighborhood stores, so I quickly switched to apples. I peeled the apples from the basket (I keep my apples in a basket) and I drizzled lemon juice over them before grating them.
I split the apples in two. I coarsely grated half of them, directly in the skillet.
The other half – they were turned into small cubes with a knife. Why? For two reasons: first, because they lose less juice when they’re baking and second, because it’s nice to feel pieces of apple when you eat. Regarding the remaining cores, I put all of them in a pot with water and a stick of cinnamon. I made compote out of them.
I put all the apples in a skillet, I sprinkles a teaspoon of cinnamon over them, I added three tablespoons of honey and then I placed the skillet on the stove.
I kept the apples on low heat, for a quarter of an hour or maybe longer. I obtained a sort of sauce in which apple pieces were bathing.
I moved to the dough. I used half a kilogram of wholegrain flour, a pack of baking powder, five tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of cocoa. If you put a lot of cocoa, be careful, as the dough can harden too much while baking.
Normally, for 500 grams of flour, I should have added 250 grams of melted butter. I only had 200 grams of butter and I added a cup of milk (about 150 milliliters). I started kneading.
After the melted butter cooled a bit, I added two hours and I kept on kneading.
I obtained a well tied, but not too elastic dough. I put it in the fridge for half an hour.
I split the dough in two. Using a rolling pin, I stretched a part of the dough in a one centimeter thick sheet, which I put in a tray, over a piece of parchment paper. Over the sheet I put the apples and over the apples I put the other half of the dough, which a coarsely grated. Why would I do this? Because, the top surface being uneven, the apple juice evaporates during baking and I have a well baked cake with no unbaked parts. Not to mention that I eat less dough, which isn’t bad at all.
I kept the cake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. After taking it out of the oven, I powdered it with sugar.
My mother uses this dough for the cottage cheese cake, which is one of the family favorites. The cocoa dough and the cottage cheese make a delicious contrast.
Stay healthy!
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