Tuesdays with Dorie BWD: Szarlotka

September 25, 2023 at 8:27 pm | Posted in BWD, cakes & tortes, groups, pies & tarts, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 Comments
Tags: baking, scones

What is a Szarlotka? It’s a traditional Polish apple dessert that’s kind of a cake and kind of a pie. Kind of, kind of. It actually reminds me more of jam bars I like to make that use the same dough for both the crust and the topping than either of those. Here, a sticky, sweet dough is rolled out and pressed into a cake pan, filled with a mix of sweetened apples and raisins and then sprinkled with more of that dough, grated this time for a crumbly topping.

I thought I got a bit of the “French bake” on the sides and bottom of my szarlotka, where the dough was in contact with the metal cake pan, and I was worried it was too dark. Thankfully, it didn’t taste over-toasted at all and was super good, with the consistency of a cakey cookie. Every September, I hold off on buying apples until there is pretty much no other trace of summer fruit left to be found, so this was my first apple dessert of autumn 2023, and I’d say it was a winner.

If you don’t have the book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple by Dorie Greenspan, get it and join us as we bake through it every second and fourth Tuesdays. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and all the other participation deets over on Tuesdays with Dorie!

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It all looks perfect to me. What is the “French Bake” you described in your post? Or is that a silly question and I should already know that or figured it out along the way?

Comment by Kayte Gerth— October 10, 2023 #

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- french bake means extra dark 🙂
  
  Comment by steph (whisk/spoon)— October 10, 2023 #
  
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  - “French bake” – yes it’s a thing! And yours looks absolutelyperfect!!
    
    Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— October 11, 2023 #
  - Thanks…got it.
    
    Comment by Kayte Gerth— October 11, 2023 #
What a winner of a recipe for the first fruits of fall!! Yours looks delicious and I don’t think too French haha.

Comment by Kim— October 10, 2023 #

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That center cut photo is wonderful. I am the same way I buy summer fruit until the bitter end. I am knee deep in pumpkin baking at the moment.

Comment by Diane Zwang— October 10, 2023 #

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Looking at my Szarlotka and yours, I think I like your darker version better. A longer bake seems to work better here!

Comment by Shirley @ EverOpenSauce— October 11, 2023 #

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