French Apple Tart

I was watching the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network the other day and saw her making this. It looked so good that I had to make it. The recipe is in her latest cookbook, which is one of my favorites (I want to make just about all the recipes in there). Make sure that the sugar is not close to the edges or it will burn the sides. I had a little bit of burnt edges, but I just cut it off. For the glaze, I used rum instead of Calvados since it costs almost $30 for a 1/5 of the apple brandy. I am sure that the Calvados would have added a great complexity to the apples, but I thought that the rum was tasty enough and I already had it in my liquor cabinet. For a little added extra, a dollop of sweetened freshly whipped cream would be a great addition to this. She was really fancy with her cutting of the apples, but I didn't have a melon baller and didn't cut them like she did. It was still delicious, so I am not going to judge if your apples aren't perfect!

French Apple Tart from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

Ingredients

For the pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup ice water

For the apples:
4 Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, small diced
1/2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam
2 tablespoons Calvados, rum, or water

Directions
For the pastry, place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Roll the dough slightly larger than 10 by 14-inches. Using a ruler and a small knife, trim the edges. Place the dough on the prepared sheet pan and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.
Peel the apples and cut them in half through the stem. Remove the stems and cores with a sharp knife and a melon baler. Slice the apples crosswise in 1/4-inch thick slices. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices. (I tend not to use the apple ends in order to make the arrangement beautiful.) Sprinkle with the full 1/2 cup of sugar and dot with the butter.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. Rotate the pan once during cooking. If the pastry puffs up in one area, cut a little slit with a knife to let the air out. Don't worry! The apple juices will burn in the pan but the tart will be fine! When the tart's done, heat the apricot jelly together with the Calvados and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn't stick to the paper. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

Apple Turnovers

I am a HUGE fan of Ina Garten (aka Barefoot Contessa) for her mouthwatering, sophisticated recipes. I have yet to be disappointed in one of her recipes and she continues to make my family's stomachs happy. But I believe that she has outdone herself with her new cookbook Back to Basics. Everything in the cookbook looks so tasty and I am ready to make all the recipes soon!

Last night, I made her Apple Turnovers. OMG! I love this recipe because it uses frozen puff pastry, which is something that I always have on hand. I only made half this recipe since I didn't think that we would eat all eight of them and I figured that these are best served hot. Since the oranges at the grocery store looked sad, I used lemon instead (worked perfectly) and I skipped the dried cherries (since I didn't have any). Make this soon!!!

Apple Dried Cherry Turnovers adapted from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook

1 teaspoon grated orange zest (I substituted lemon)
3 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice (again lemon)
1 1/4 lbs tart apples (I used Golden Delicious)
3 tbs dried cherries (I omitted them this time. I am sure dried cranberries would be good too)
3 tbs sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1 tbs all-purpose flour
1/4 teas ground cinnamon
1/8 teas ground nutmeg
pinch of kosher salt
1 pkg frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), defrosted
1 egg beaten with a 1 tbs water, for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine zest and juice in a medium bowl. Peel, quarter and core the apples, then cut into 3/4-inch dice. Immediately toss the apples with zest and juice to prevent them from turning brown. Add the cherries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

Flour a board and lightly roll each sheet of puff pastry to a 12 x 12 square. Cut each sheet into 4 (6 x 6 inch) squares and keep chilled until ready to use.

Brush the edges of each square with the egg wash and neatly place about 1/3 cup of the apple mixture on half of the square. Fold the pastry diagonally over the apple mixture and seal by pressing the edges of the pastry with the tines of a fork. Transfer to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and make 2 small slits in each turnover. Bake for 20 minutes, until puffed and browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I Am SOOOO Making This!!

I love caramel and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE caramel apples. I don't eat them much because you can't always find great caramel apples, but I came across this recipe last night and now I am going to have to make them. The apples have been plentiful at the Farmer's Market. We picked up a variety of super delicious apples (for only $1/lb!) last Saturday and they were all gone by yesterday. Since we are leaving town tomorrow, we'll miss out on the delicious apples this weekend. I am hoping that there will still be plenty the following weekend because I am going to be buying lots more, so that I can make this recipe! Yummy!!!

Caramel Apples