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Jan 22, 2013

French Apple Tart | TWD


French Apple Tart


This week the Tuesdays with Dorie group is baking a French Apple Tart from page 379 of the book Baking with Julia (as in Julia Child) by Dorie Greenspan.

I've been on vacation for a couple of weeks and wanted to make something impressive to take to my colleagues who helped keep things running smoothly.

French apple tart


Impressive, right?

This recipe involves making a pie dough, an apple puree, and an apple flower thingy on the top of the puree. I made this tart all at once, but you can make the pie dough and apple puree in advance and assemble the whole thing a couple of days later. In fact, the dough is freezable.

I followed this recipe pretty much as described in the book. Each bake in the oven took longer that the author described, but that seems to be a pattern with this book. (Although I've checked it, I may need to re-check my oven's temperature...) The one thing I did differently, which was probably not necessary, was to brush the top of the tart with an apricot glaze. I was a little worried that the apple slices were too dry from the extended baking.

The dough is really flaky and contains no sugar, so the contrast between the dough and the apple puree is just amazing.



So here's how it's done...

Make a really flaky savory dough and blind bake it (cover it in parchment and fill with rice, dried beans, or pie weights) in a nine inch tart pan.

Make an apple puree with roasted apples... really just homemade chunky applesauce. I kept mine really chunky.

Spread the puree in the dough lined tart pan.

Top with a floret of very thinly sliced apples.

Bake until the edges if the apple slices are kind of burned.

Cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar, (or in my case, spread with an apricot glaze), slice, and enjoy.

To make the optional apricot glaze, melt apricot jam with apple juice or cider, and brush over the apples after removing the tart from the oven.

As a side note, this pie dough was so easy to work with. It is a mixture of pastry flour, salt, butter, chilled shortening, and ice water. It requires very little handling and is amazingly, amazingly flaky. The only issue is that without the addition of sugar, it takes longer to brown.

To see the actual recipe, visit Laws of the Kitchen.

I am definitely making this again.

Would you like to comment?

  1. Lovely apple flower thingy! :-) I also found the actual baking times are longer than the times given in the recipe.

    The glaze probably gave the apple slices more colour? I brushed the slices with extra butter halfway through, which I think had a similar effect.

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    1. Oh that's a good idea! I kind of thought the glaze might take away from the tart but I was worried about the apples drying out. Thanks for letting me know about baking time too!

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  2. I made the tart dough three or four times and it is the only one I really master. Too fast browning is one of my major problems with other doughs and I never found out why that happen -but you have the clue: It's because there's no sugar in it! How simple! Still, I never thought of that. Thanks a lot!

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    1. You are welcome! I love this dough too. Soooo flaky.

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  3. Very impressive! I think the apricot glaze does add a bit of pizzazz to it. A truly beautiful tart!

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  4. A lovely and impressive tart! Your colleagues are very lucky to get to eat some of this delicious tart!

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    1. Thank you Kathy. They definitely enjoyed it. It was a much better crust than my last attempt.

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  5. Beautiful tart! What lucky coworkers you have!!! :o)
    My baking time was longer than the recipe called for too. But it always seems to be.

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  6. VERY impressive indeed! I love the glaze it adds color and makes it look even more delicious!

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  7. Karen, what a very lovely looking French Apple Tart you baked - this was a delicious recipe and I agree that the baking time was a bit longer than stated in the book. Your apricot glaze on the finished tart makes it look even prettier.
    Have a great Wednesday!

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    1. It's so nice to hear that many people had the baking time issue that I did. Such a great group!

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  8. Your tart looks wonderful. I think I will glaze mine next time too.

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    1. It was one of those "what if the apples are dried out" moments! They were probably fine, but I do like the shine and the flavor combination.

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  9. Looks great! I'm sure your colleagues loved this. I thought the same about the apples looking a bit dehydrated and thought next time I would add a glaze. It definitely brings the visual appearance up a notch.

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  10. That Apple tart looks absolutely beautiful.....not to mention delicious looking. I love apple desserts so I cannot wait to give this one a go and impress my family. :)

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  11. Dropping by from Pamela's Heavenly Treats Hop and this looks Heavenly:) I have never made a tart, even though I have 2 tart pans!! Will try one now!! This looks so good! Now following u~ Lynn H @ Turnips 2 Tangerines

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    1. Thanks Lynn! I had two tart pans too. No wait. Three. Oy! I'd only used one up to this point. And only once. Following you too now. Again, thanks!

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  12. Thanks so much for linking up your yummy treat at Heavenly Treats Link Party your yummy treat has been featured come on over today to get your featured button!

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    1. Thank you so much Pamela! I will do that. You are so sweet.

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  13. This tart is absolutely gorgeous! It's breathtaking and love the apple puree inside topped with apples. It's simply lovely!

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