french apple tart

  a perfect autumn day...

picking mutsu apples and then baking.

this is another one of our favourite desserts to enjoy with friends.

so delicious...simple yet exquisite.

french apple tart 

the recipe is from ina garten's barefoot contessa back to basics cook book.

what you will need....

1 sheet of packaged frozen butter puff pastry, defrosted.

(the pastry i buy comes in packages of 2 so i always double the recipe)

4 mutsu apples 

(granny smith, golden delicious, ida red and cortland will work too) 

1/2 cup of sugar

4 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter

 1/2 cup of apricot jam that has been sieved so it is free of lumps.

preheat your oven to 400˚

roll out the dough to a rectangle

about 10 x 14 inches on the parchment paper it comes with.

 place on a cookie sheet. 

peel, slice and core the apples.

if you don’t have one of those amazing machines,

 just slice them and simply remove the cores with a melon baller.

arrange the apple slices diagonally down the centre, overlapping a little.

continue making rows on both sides, covering the pastry. 

sprinkle with the sugar and evenly grate the cold butter overtop of the entire tart. 

(ina dots her tart with little cubes of butter,

 but i found that the butter puddles and burns this way.)

that is one thing i love about ina...she loves butter as much as i do!

bake for about 45 minutes, until the pastry is browned

 and the edges of the apples are starting to brown.

 keep a close eye…it is really easy to burn the pastry.

the apple juices will burn on the cookie sheet, 

but the tart will be fine. 

when you take out the tart, heat the apricot jam.

brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jam.

loosen the tart with a spatula so it doesn’t stick to the paper.

let it cool. cut into 9 pieces with a sharp knife.

transfer the tart to a serving platter. 

although it is best enjoyed an hour or two

after it comes out of the oven,

 this tart makes a wonderful morning treat with coffee.

listening to édith piaf makes the tart taste even better!

i just love how my hydrangeas

 and the mutsus share the same colours!

hope you are enjoying these gorgeous warm autumn days!

warm farm hugs,

laura

carl laidlaw orchards