Thursday, October 29, 2009

French Apple Tart

I have so many apples in my fruits compartment and they are all getting wrinkly and drying up. I have to find a quick way to use it up before it goes bad. I made this very simple French Apple Tarts using Ina Garten recipe. As usual her recipe never fails me. The crust came out perfectly flaky, buttery and delicious. I’m sure it would be equally delicious with whipped cream or some really good ice cream on top. I love the simple rustic nature of this tart, and the burned sugar on the top and edges of the crust. This is one of those recipes I'm going to keep in my arsenal for those times when I want to make a great impression without a lot of effort.

For the pastry:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks/170 grm) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup ice water

For the apples:

4 Granny Smith apples or any type of apples
1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup)
4 tablespoons cold butter - small diced (I used 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam
2 tablespoons rum, or water

1. For the pastry, place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll the dough to about 1/4" thick and place the dough in a tart pan. Refrigerate the dough while you prepare the apples.
3. Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife. Slice the apples crosswise in 1/4-inch thick slices.
4. Place overlapping slices of apples to top of the pastry until the pastry is covered with apple slices. Sprinkle with the sugar on top and dot with the butter.
5. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. Rotate the pan once during cooking.
6. When the tart's done, heat the apricot jelly together with rum or water and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature

19 comments:

vanillasugarblog said...

isn't that pretty. I love the layering, almost too pretty to eat--almost. LOL

Elin Chia said...

Gert,this tart looks great. How I wish I just lived next door :p So can drool thru the computer window

Chocolate Shavings said...

classic apple tarts are the best! i like the rectangular shape of yours!

Dori said...

Wow, it looks so pretty :)

Quinn said...

Gertrude,

I love french apple tart and I love yours more cuz they are not round, not so common eh!

Shereen said...

As always,everything looks good if you got a hand in it.I love apple tart/pie but usually I will be the only one eating it and you know why.Usually my crust will be the store bought ones as am too lazy to do from scratch.Permission to drool at yours,ya?

Kitchen Corner said...

I like french apple tart. It's so simple and nice served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream yum yum!!

Noob Cook said...

What a great use of the leftover apples. They are so nicely arranged :)

Вера said...

Great recipes!

ICook4Fun said...

Dawn, I love the layering too but it is meant for the stomach so we devour it right out of the oven ha ha

Elin, thank you. This tart is pretty light except for the butter in the pastry :)

Chocolate Shaving, thank you.

Meeso, thank you.

Quinn, yea I like the shape too compare to the regular round shape.

Shereen, store bought pastry will be good for the tart too. Too bad the 2 boys tak suka fruits ha ha..

Kitchen Corner, yes it will be really good with ice cream yum yum!

Noobcook, thank you.

Vera, thank you.

mycookinghut said...

I love tart...not to say apple tart, it's one of my favs! :)

tracieMoo said...

Apple tart is my all time favourite.. Apple and cinnamon goes great together =) the one u make looks fab. thanks for the recipe!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Pretty apple tart!

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

Ina Garten is really a genius. Her recipes are always fail proof. Glad you showed us how you did this tart. Beautifully browned and very inviting!

Anonymous said...

Yummy! That apple tart looks amazing and delicious! ps: I really like your beautiful photos!

Ciao Chow Linda said...

I've seen that tart on Ina Garten's show and yours looks every bit as pretty as hers.

ICook4Fun said...

Leemei, mine too :)

Traciemoo, thank you.

Little Teochew, she is one of my fav too.

Frockandfork,thank you :)

Linda, thank you :)

Christelle said...

Ah you put me to blogger shame with all these new posts!

I looove apple tart!!!

MizReeney said...

Hi, just stumbled on your blog, love all the recipes you have. I just tried this apple tart recipe and it was wonderful. Thank you so much for putting up the recipe.