French Apple Tart

I’ve always wanted to make one of those beautiful french fruit tarts – the ones with the thinly sliced apple, or pear, or anything, golden brown with a shiny glaze – the ones that look like beautiful pieces of art.

I don’t think I’m quite there yet; this was my first attempt, after all. I’ll keep on keeping on and remind myself that practice makes perfect. First, I’ll give you the easy (semi-homemade) recipe, & then I’ll tell you what I’ll be doing differently next time.

Recipe: French Apple Tart
adapted from Saveur

You’ll need:
1 store-bought pie crust (you can always make your own, but I was focusing all of my efforts on the fruit this time)
6-8 golden delicious apples
1/4 cup of sugar
6 tbsp of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of apricot jam

1. Before you do ANYTHING, click through this slideshow. It will make all the difference, promise. Then preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Roll out pie crust and gently place into pie or tart pan. Set aside.
3. Peel the apples. Cut them in half, and use a melon scoop to core. Thinly slice each half, careful not to cut all the way through to the bottom. (This is where the slideshow linked above will come in handy.) Arrange the apple slices into the pie, as tightly as you can. They’ll shrink up when they bake.
4. Sprinkle sugar over the tart, then scatter small pieces of butter over the top, and bake for 65 minutes, or until golden brown.
5. Optional: heat apricot jam in small saucepan. Once the mixture is looser and easier to work with, strain into a bowl. Brush the strained jam over the tart for shine.

Next time:
– I’ll pack the apples even tighter. There’s a few gaps ‘OCDriving me crazy’ in there.
– As much as I love that shine, I’ll skip the glaze. Even after straining, the jam can still clump over the apples.

I think I’ll give it another try with pears in the winter… we’ll see how it turns out!