German Apple Cookie Crust Cake

An out-of-the-ordinary recipe, the layers in this cake (a butter cookie crust, apples, sour cream custard and an apricot glaze) look so nice when sliced up. The flavors are wonderful -- rich, but not too sweet. And it's even prettier with white decorator icing used to pipe flowers, designs, a lattice criss-cross, or a piped edging around the top and bottom. It's from one of my favorite cook books, The Creative Chef 2. The time includes chilling time for the cookie crust dough. There will be leftover dough from the cookie crust, which I usually use to make butter cookies.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 10 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• COOKIE CRUST

• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 1  large egg
• 2  cups butter or 2  cups margarine, softened
• 3  cups all-purpose flour

• APPLE LAYER

• 4 -5  large baking apples
• 1⁄2 cup  plain breadcrumbs (see bottom of recipe)
•  cinnamon-sugar mixture (see bottom or recipe) (optional)

• SOUR CREAM CUSTARD LAYER

• 1  cup sour cream
• 1⁄2 cup heavy cream
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 1  lemon, juice only
• 1  tablespoon cornstarch
• 1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• APRICOT GLAZE

• 1⁄2 cup  apricot preserves

Directions

1. Butter Cookie Crust: In a large bowl, combine the sugar, egg, butter& flour.
2. Using your fingertips, work the mixture together until the mixture resembles crumbs (as if for pastry).
3. Cover the dough& refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until slightly firm.
4. Preheat oven to 375, lightly butter a 9" springform pan and dustly lightly with flour, tapping out any excess.
5. Press about half of the dough into the pan, covering the bottom and reaching about halfway up the sides.
6. Save the remaining dough for another use.
7. Peel and core the apples, and cut them in half lengthwise; then, with the point of a small knife, cut out small v-shaped strips (the cuts should be wider on the exposed skin-side of the apple and come to a v shape when you cut into the fruit, approximately 3/4 to an inch deep).
8. Sprinkle the bottom of the cookie crust with the breadcrumbs (see note at bottom of recipe) to form a thin, even layer.
9. Arrange the apples, rounded sides up, on top of the breadcrumbs.
10. Using leftover apples, cut them to fill in any empty space with pieces as large as possible, as you don't want any gaps.
11. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, heavy cream, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, cornstarch& vanilla until well-blended.
12. Pour this mixture over the apples and bake for 60-90 minutes, or until the apples are tender and the filling is set.
13. Remove the pan from the oven& set on a wire rack to cool (do not remove from the pan at this point).
14. In a small saucepan, heat and stir the apricot preserves over medium heat until warm.
15. When the cake has cooled slightly, brush the preserves carefully over the top to form a glaze.
16. Remove the cake from the pan after the cake has cooled completely.
17. Note: I add a little sugar& cinnamon to the breadcrumbs to make them a bit sweeter and more flavorful, since it is not too sweet a cake to begin with (I use about a tbs. of sugar and about 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, but you can omit this completely, or use amounts to your own taste).