An Apple Surprise

Today, I made a apple tart at my very first cooking lesson with Macy. She has her own blog and it is http://macybakes.blogspot.com/. We first made the dough, then the filling. Finally, the glaze. This tart is about the pure, clear taste of apples, sugar, and a little bit of butter. There are no spices to muddle the flavors; here the apples truly shine. I found the recipe in "My Berlin Kitchen" by Luisa Weiss. She also has her own blog. It is http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/. 3 tablespoons of sugar may look like a lot (as you can see from the picture below) but it comes out fabulous!  Overall, this was DELICIOUS!!!!!! The recipe is to follow.



Apple Tart (My Berlin Kitchen)
Serves 6

    Dough

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1-inch pieces

    Filling

• 2 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and sliced ( do not discard the peels and cores)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3-5 tablespoons sugar, depending on your sweet tooth

     Glaze

• 1/2 cup sugar

Apple Tart


1. Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter. Pulse the food processor a few times, only until the butter is broken down into lima-bean sized pieces, no smaller.

2. Drizzle in up to 3 1/2 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time processing or stirring after each addition until the dough just holds together. You may need a little more or less water depending o the weather where you are. We needed a lot more water to make it hold together but use as little as possible.

3. Dump the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface, and working quickly, gather it together and flatten it into a four inch wide disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least thirty minutes and up to three days.

4. When your ready to bake, heat the oven to 400 degrees and prepare a lightly floured work surface. Then remove the dough from the fridge. Unwrap the dough and begin to roll it out with a pin, turning it over and over so that it doesn't stick to the counter as it gets thinner.  Flour as needed. When the dough is a fourteen inch round and about 1/8 of an inch thick, dust the excess flour from the dough.

5. Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet. Place the apple slices in overlapping circles on the dough, weaving a two inch border, crowd as many apple slices as you possibly can on to the dough, they will cook down in the oven. Fold the edges of the dough over the apples to create a rustic crust leaving the center of the tart uncovered.

6. Brush the melted butter over the apples and on to the crust of the tart. Sprinkle the sugar over the crust and the apples.

Before it has been cooked

7. Slide the baking sheet on to the center rack of the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, rotating half way through until the apples are soft with browned edges and the crust has turned a dark, golden, brown.

The Glaze

8. In the meantime, for the glaze, put the reserved peels and cores in a saucepan along with the sugar. Pour in just enough water to cover and bring to a boil. Then cook for 30 minutes. Strain the liquid. Discard the apple trimmings and return the liquid to the pan and bring it to a low boil. Reduce until thickened and syrupy, another 10-15 minutes.

9. When the tart is finished pull the parchment paper and the tart on to a cooling rack. Let cool for about 15 minutes and brush the apple glaze over the apples. Serve warm or at room temperature.

After it has been cooked

After with the glaze

It was so good, this was what was left after 5 minutes