Recipes from Home: Apple Tart
Kevin O’Connor, chef de cuisine (Bon Appétit Management Co.), San Jose, Calif., says: “This recipe was birthed out of necessity for my father to use all the apples from the tree at his house. Every winter our tiny tree would have dozens of apples.
One year my dad made an apple tart, which we thought would be just another mediocre apple dessert. However, at first taste we knew this was a hit. Our family now has this dessert at every winter holiday.”
Ingredients
Tart pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, diced
1⁄2 cup ice water
Apples:
5 Granny Smith apples
1⁄2 cup sugar
4 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbsp. Calvados rum (or other flavored alcohol if desired)
6 oz. apricot jam or jelly
Steps
1. For pastry: Place flour, salt and sugar in food processor with steel blade. Pulse to combine, then add butter and pulse until small bits the size of peas.
2. Add ice water with food processor running, until dough starts to come together. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or overnight.
3. For apples: Roll dough on piece of parchment paper. Dough should measure approximately 10-by-14-inches. Transfer to 12-by-16-inch jelly roll pan.
4. Peel, core and cut apples about 1/8-inch thick, then cut in half. Place apples in diagonal rows across middle of tart and on either side of middle row until tart is covered.
5. Sprinkle with ½ cup of sugar and dot with butter. Bake at 400°F about 45 to 60 minutes, until tart edges and apples have slightly browned. Be sure to turn tart about halfway through cooking time.
6. While tart is cooking, mix Calvados and jam until combined. Keep mixture warm on low, and then glaze tart about 5 minutes after tart comes out of oven.