This is a plated dessert disguised as a biscuit. A thin homemade petit beurre, the Breton butter biscuit every French child grows up on, stacked with apples sauteed in Bordier Madagascar vanilla butter, a scoop of dulce de leche ice cream and a drizzle of salted butter caramel. The biscuit dough takes ten minutes and then rests in the fridge, so the assembly is the only part that has to happen at the last second. Bordier puts the preparation at 20 minutes.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Medium
- Serves: 4
- Active time: 20 minutes, plus chilling time for the dough
- Cook: 10 minutes at 180°C / 356°F (gas mark 6), plus a few minutes for the apples
- Key ingredient: Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter
Why this works
Bordier's Madagascar vanilla butter dates from 2010. It is unsalted butter worked with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, which means it is doing two jobs at once here: it is the fat and it is the flavouring. In the biscuit dough it replaces plain butter and a vanilla pod in one move. In the pan with the apples it caramelises faster than plain butter would, because the brown sugar already in the butter starts colouring before the apples release their own sugar. That is why the apples go golden in a few minutes rather than sitting pale and steaming.
The structure of the dessert is a deliberate temperature contrast. Warm apples on the bottom, cold ice cream in the middle, a crisp room-temperature biscuit as the lid, caramel over the top. Nothing sits still: the ice cream begins to soften into the warm apples as soon as it is plated, which is exactly the point, and why this dessert is assembled at the table rather than in advance. The biscuit is rolled to 2 mm so it stays snappy under all of that.
Ingredients
Note that the vanilla butter is used twice, once in the biscuit dough and once in the pan with the apples.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Madagascar vanilla Bordier butter | 40 g and 100 g | 1.4 oz and 3.5 oz |
| White flour | 40 g | 1.4 oz (about 1/3 cup) |
| Caster sugar | 20 g | 3/4 oz (about 1 1/2 tbsp) |
| Baking powder | 2 g | 1/2 tsp |
| Egg yolks (one for the dough, one for the wash) | 2 | 2 |
| Single (light) cream | 15 g | 1/2 oz (about 1 tbsp) |
| Royal Gala apples | 4 | 4 |
| Light brown sugar | 40 g | 1.4 oz (about 3 tbsp) |
| Dulce de leche ice cream | To serve | To serve |
| Salted butter caramel sauce | To serve | To serve |
| Slivered almonds | To finish | To finish |
Method
Step 1: Make and chill the biscuit dough
Mix the softened vanilla butter with the sugar and one egg yolk, then work in the flour and baking powder, and finish with the cream. The dough should come together smooth. Roll it out to 2 mm, about one tenth of an inch, between two sheets of parchment paper, and refrigerate it.
Step 2: Bake the biscuits and caramelise the apples
Using a cutter or a knife, cut out four biscuits. Brush them with the second egg yolk, beaten as a wash, and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake for 10 minutes at 180°C / 356°F (gas mark 6). Meanwhile, dice the apples and saute them in the vanilla butter. Sprinkle with brown sugar and keep them moving until golden brown.
Step 3: Assemble and serve
Arrange the warm apples in a circle on a slate or a plate, set a biscuit on top, and sprinkle with slivered almonds. Just before serving, add a scoop of dulce de leche ice cream and lay the biscuit back over it. Finish with a drizzle of caramel sauce, a little cream and a physalis.
Tips from our kitchen
- Split the butter 40 g for the dough, 100 g for the apples. The ingredient list gives both figures on one line without saying which goes where. Reading the method, the 40 g is the biscuit dough, since it sits alongside 40 g of flour and 20 g of sugar, and the 100 g is for the pan. Treat that split as our reading rather than Bordier's instruction.
- The brown sugar is used twice too. It goes on the biscuits before baking and over the apples in the pan, with 40 g given as the total. Our guidance is roughly a teaspoon across the four biscuits and the rest with the apples.
- Roll between parchment, and chill hard. At 2 mm this dough is too soft and too rich to handle warm. Roll it between the sheets, slide the whole thing onto a tray, and give it at least 30 minutes in the fridge. Cut the shapes while the dough is still cold and firm, and they will hold their edges in the oven.
- Watch the biscuits from minute eight. Thin, sugary, egg-washed dough goes from golden to burnt in well under a minute. They should be an even light brown and still slightly soft when they come out. They crisp as they cool.
- Dice the apples evenly and do not crowd the pan. Royal Gala holds its shape, but only if the pan is hot and there is room between the pieces. Crowded apples steam in their own juice, go grey, and never take colour. Use a wide pan and cook them in one layer.
- Assemble at the last moment. The whole dessert depends on the biscuit being crisp against warm apples and cold ice cream. Build it more than a minute or two ahead and the biscuit softens.
How to serve it
Serve it straight away, one per person, with a small spoon and no accompaniment. A cup of black coffee is the right partner, and a glass of cider works if you are serving it after a long lunch. Bordier finishes the plate with a physalis, which is decoration rather than flavour, so skip it without regret if you cannot find one. If the vanilla butter is new to you, our Madagascar vanilla butter brioche is the other recipe worth making with the same block.
Where to buy Bordier Madagascar Vanilla Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Madagascar Vanilla Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): unsalted butter worked with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, created in 2010.
For the rest of the range, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier vanilla butter do I need?
The recipe uses 140 g in total, 40 g in the biscuit dough and 100 g with the apples. A Bordier block is 4.4 oz (125 g), so you need two blocks for one round of this dessert. There will be a good half block left over, which is not a problem: it is very good on toast.
Can I substitute another butter?
The closest option is plain Bordier salted butter with a scraped vanilla pod and a teaspoon of brown sugar added to the pan, though the biscuit will taste noticeably less of vanilla because there is nowhere for a pod to infuse. The seasonal chocolate and cacao nib butter makes a different but good dessert with the same apples.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it wrapped and refrigerated, and cut only what you need. Vanilla butter takes on neighbouring smells fast, so keep it away from cheese and anything cured. Fold the paper back against the cut face after each use.
Does Bordier butter need refrigeration?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as it arrives, and soften only the 40 g destined for the biscuit dough at room temperature.
What kind of cream goes on at the end?
Bordier's final step calls for a little cream over the assembled dessert, but the ingredient list only accounts for the 15 g in the dough. We read the finishing cream as a separate pour of pouring cream or creme fraiche, not part of that 15 g, and that is our interpretation rather than something the source states.
Can I make the biscuits ahead?
Yes. The dough keeps a day in the fridge rolled and wrapped, and the baked biscuits keep two or three days in an airtight tin. The apples and the assembly have to be done to order.
Related reading
- Madagascar Vanilla Butter Brioche
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- Alain Milliat Jams
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.