Julia Child's French Apple Tart

It has been a good month since my last post, and while I haven't been making cookies, I have been baking... pies that is!  For Thanksgiving this year I spent my first full Thanksgiving weekend with the Davie family.  While Adam cooked the Thanksgiving feast, I was in charge of the pies.  Now, I know there were only 5 of us... but in my family it is not Thanksgiving without Pumpkin and Apple Pies.  Plus Adam's brother's favorite is Pecan Pie... so 3 pies it is!  I wanted to do a new spin on the traditional pies so I tried all new recipes and each was AMAZING.  I used the Cooks Illustrated pumpkin pie recipe which mixes candied yams and pumpkin to make the silkiest pumpkin pie I have ever tasted.  And the pecan pie was without corn syrup, which I was hesitant about at first but turned out just as good.  The real beauty was the Apple Tart.

Sorry I slacked on pictures... I didn't realize I would be posting this, but it was too good not to post!

For our wedding my wonderful Aunts gave Adam and I a bunch of baking supplies and cookbooks.  One of these was called "Baking with Julia" and I have been salivating over her Apple Tart for months.  Since I finally had the time to give it a shot I woke up early Thanksgiving morning, ready to bake.  Tarts are just like pies, only they use a different pan that is not slanted and has a removable bottom.  Also, tart dough usually uses some sugar in it, but for this recipe it just needed the regular pie dough.

The special thing about this tart is that it has the gooey, apple sauce like middle, with the crunchy apple top.  It is the perfect combination.  Plus... it is SO beautiful! I almost didn't want to eat it, it was so pretty, but after one bite I couldn't stop.

Julia Child's French Apple Tart

1 Flaky Pie Dough Crust (any recipe will do! I used Julia Child's all butter recipe and liked it a lot.)

6 Granny Smith Apples

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp flour

Pinch of cinnamon

1/2 cup fluffy, fresh bread crumbs (I just blended a few slices of baguette)

2 tsps lemon juice

Make the dough and chill the crust for at least 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the pie lined with pie weights for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Let the crust cook on a cooling rack and lower the oven temp to 375 degrees.

Peel and core the apples and cut into small slivers.  Toss the apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon, and bread crumbs.  Add a squeeze of lemon juice.  Spread the apples on a jelly roll pan and bake for 15-20 minutes until the apples give up their juices and start to form a sauce and are soft enough to mash.  Scrape the apples into a bowl and mash (I used my pie dough cutter to mash).  Let the mashed apples cool for at least 15 minutes.  

Spoon the apple sauce/puree into the cooled tart pan and smooth with a spatula.  The filling should come to just below the rim.

Topping:

2 Granny Smith Apples

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp's butter melted

1 1/2 tsps sugar

Peel, core and quarter the apples and then cut them into small slices about 1/4 inch thick.  Toss the slices with lemon juice to prevent discolorization.  Working slowly start at the edge and arrange the apple in a circle on the puree.  The slices should overlap and points should just touch the crust.  The apples will shrink so make a well packed circle.  Lightly and evenly brush the apple slices with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake the tart for 25-30 more minutes at 375 degrees until the top is beautifully glazed and turning brown.  Check that the apples are baked through by piecing a couple with the tip of a knife.  Cover with foil if it is not baked through.  Transfer to a cooling rack and remove the tart from the pan before serving.  I recommend whip cream or vanilla ice cream.  Yum!

Be ready for some Christmas cookie blog posts in the near future!!!