An Apple Tart

Sometimes you have a bowl filled with apples that are just begging you to do something with them . . . apple cake, apple pie, apple sauce . . . or lovely apple tarts.

My Todd loves apple pie. It's one of his most favourite of all desserts. I love apple pie too, but I'm afraid we differ quite a bit on what each of considers to be an apple pie, me being North American and him being British.

His mother made lovely apple pies as did mine. His mother's were stuffed with tart Bramley apples, cut into chunks, heavily flavoured with cloves, and baked, the filling quite solid and full of chunks. My mother's were stogged full of Granny Smiths and Cortlands, thinly sliced and cooked until they melted together sweet and all soft inside her tender crusts. Two completely different pies. Two completely different tastes.

And so I don't even try.



Instead I make apple tarts. With flakey puffed pastry. One cannot call it a pie and it is completely different than either one of our mom's. He doesn't complain in the least.

*Apple Tart*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

This is a wonderful tart. A puff pastry base filled with chunky sweet apple and apricot jam, makes it pretty hard to resist!

8 ounces of prepared all butter puff pastry
Filling:
4 dessert apples, peeled and cut into chunks
2 TBS caster sugar
6 tsp Calvados (apple brandy)
1 generous cup of Apricot jam, seived
To glaze:
1 large egg, beaten

Heat the oven to 200*C/400*F. Roll out the pastry 1/4 inch thick into a generous 12 inch round. Line a 10 inch tart tin with it. Place back into the refrigerator and chill again until firm.

Once it is chilled remove from the fridge and scatter the apple chunks inside. Sprinkle with the sugar. Stir together the apricot jam and the calvados. Pour this over and around the apple chunks. Brush the edges of the pastry with the beaten egg.

Bake in the heated oven for 20 minutes, until the pastry is well browned. Remove from the oven. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Serve at room temperature, cut into wedges with some creme fraiche on the side for spooning over top.