Tuesday, February 15, 2011

French Apple Tart!

OH HAI THERE! I realized it had literally been a year since my last entry- ridiculous and COMPLETELY unacceptable. For Valentine's Day I made this heart-shaped French Apple Tart for my boyfriend and it was delicious and surprisingly easy. Look how cute! (Both the tarte and the boy.) Other miscellaneous reasons why I loved it: 1) I was watching the Grammys (Lady Gaga in an egg?? Yay Arcade Fire!) while cutting the apples (needless to say they were not the tidiest slices) but it didn't even matter after layering them, it still looked perfect! 2) Even though I am 100% Team Apple Pie, I have to say that the flavor of the apples shines through way better in this tart because they're not hidden in a heavy (albeit delicious) goo and a ton of crust. Bottom line: MAKE THE TART, LOVE THE TART.

French Apple Tart
(modified from Ina Garten's recipe)












Ingredients for the crust:
*You can also substitute a store-bought crust if necessary, but this is an easy and worthwhile one to make!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup ice water

Ingredients for the apples:
4-5 Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup of apricot jelly, or apple jelly (any kind of clearish jelly [but not Petroleum Jelly haha]) for glazing

Directions:
1. Mix flour, sugar, and salt together in a bowl. Cut in butter chunks with a sharp knife, or a fork, until the butter chunks are about pea-sized. Slowly pour in ice water just until the dough forms. Quickly knead into a ball, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a sheet pan or shaped pan with parchment paper. Roll out the dough to desired shape (rectangle, heart, circle, etc.).

3. Peel, core, and slice apples crosswise into 1/4" slices. Arrange the apples onto dough. (If you're doing a circle you can spiral them out from the center to look like a rose! Google French Apple Tart pictures to get ideas!)

4. Sprinkle the apples with the 1/2 cup of sugar and dot with butter.

5. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, and rotate the pan once. When cool, microwave the jelly until liquid and glaze apples.

ENJOY!