French Apple Tart

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