If you want a wow fruit dessert, but aren’t into the whole
pie thing, you will love this French apple tart. The crust is buttery, but light and crisp, the apples
are tart with added texture, and the glaze adds sweetness. The best part is it’s easy to make, but everyone
will think you spent hours on it.
If you don’t have time to make the crust, defrosted frozen
puff pastry works well in its place (but the crust is so easy, you won’t mind
making it). The tart is best when served
at room temperature. Enjoy!
French Apple Tart (from Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics,
page 191)
Pastry:
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
½ cup ice water
Apples:
4 granny smith apples
½ cup sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, small diced
½ cup apricot jelly or jam
For the pastry, place flour, salt, sugar in the bowl of a
food processor fitted with a steel blade
Pulse a few seconds until combined
Add the butter and pulse 10-12 times, until butter is the
size of peas
With the motor running, add the water and process until it
just becomes a ball of dough
Dump onto a floured surface, work into a ball, wrap in
plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight
Preheat oven to 400
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper (do not forget to do
this- you will have a mess on your pan if the parchment is not included)
Roll the dough to 10x14 and trim the edges
Place dough on sheet pan
Peel the apples, cut them in half through the stem, and
remove the core and stem
Slice apples into ¼ inch slices
Place overlapping slices of apples in rows on the dough,
making sure the dough is covered in apples (I didn’t use the ends of the slices
since they didn’t look as pretty)
Sprinkle with the full ½ cup sugar and dot with butter
Bake for 45-60 minutes until pastry is browned and the edges
of the apples start to brown, rotate once during cooking
Don’t worry if the apple juices burn in the pan- the tart
will be fine
When the tart is done, heat the apricot jelly or jam until runny and
brush evenly over the apples and the tart
Loosen the tart from the parchment paper and place on a
wooden board (or somewhere you can slice it)
Serve at room temperature
