Recipe: Glazed Apple Tart

Last updated on October 19th, 2015

WHAT CAN YOU DO with a little pastry dough, two apples, and a jar of apricot preserves? Why, you can turn them into a fabulous French apple tart. Folks, I’m talking about a tart with major crunch-appeal. A tart with a sweet, glistening glaze. A tart that is elegant to behold…yet is surprisingly easy to make:

This tart presents only one challenge: Keeping yourself from eating the whole thing.

I hope your will-power is stronger than mine.

Burp.

Glazed Apple Tart
Ingredients for 4 servings
For the Pate Brisee Sucree pastry shell:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter
1/3 cup ice water

For the apple topping:
2 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples
2 Tablespoons sugar

For the apricot glaze:
1 18-oz. jar apricot preserves (or jam)
3 Tablespoons sugar

The Pate Brisee Sucree crust – Pour flour, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Process for 2 seconds.

Next, add a stick of cold, diced butter, and then pulse (flick the machine on and off)  5-10 times to roughly break up the butter. Go easy here — bits of butter should be visible after processing.

With the machine running, add ice water through the processor’s feed-tube. Then immediately turn the machine off.

Remove the cover, and test the dough. If it holds together when pressed with your fingers, it’s ready to go. If it’s too dry to hold together, pulse in a little more water, one tablespoon at a time.

This next step is very important. Eat the piece of dough you pressed with your fingers.  It’s profoundly delicious even when raw. Dump the dough onto your work surface…

And form it into a disk.

If your dough looks like mine — that is, if bits of butter are clearly visible — you can be sure it is properly — not overly — mixed. The dough will bake up light, flaky, and tender.

Seal the disk in a plastic bag, and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Note: You can refrigerate Pate Brisee Sucree for up to 3 days. Or, you can freeze it for several months.

Forming the tart shell – On a lightly floured board, roll out a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle. Then, using a sharp knife or a pastry cutter (I used the latter), trim to 5 1/2 inches by 15 inches.

Save the trimmings! Gather them together, seal them in a bag, and refrigerate or freeze them for future use.

Roll the dough onto your pin…

And  unroll it onto a buttered (or non-stick-sprayed) rimless baking surface.

What’s that?

You don’t own a rimless baking surface?

Then do what I do, and use an upside-down baking sheet.

Next, using your prettiest pastry brush, paint a one-inch strip of cold water on the rectangle all around.

Then cut off a half-inch square from each corner…

And fold 1/2-inch of the dough over the sides and ends, to create an edge.

And by the way, please don’t let the edge-making business scare you. It’s really easy to do, even without practice.

Seal the edge all around with the tines of a fork.

Then, holding the fork vertically, press the back of the tines against the outside wall of the shell. It helps to hold the dough with one hand, while forking with the other.

At half-inch intervals, pierce the inside of the shell with a fork.

And that’s it! Refrigerate  the shell for 15 minutes, or until you are ready to top it with apples.

And speaking of apples…based on my own experience, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Crispums are the best apples for tarts. Why? Because they hold their shape during baking. I used two Granny Smiths for this recipe.

Preparing the apples – Peel, core and halve the apples. Then cut the apples crosswise into 1/8-inch slices, as above.

Assembling and baking the tart – Sprinkle the inside of the chilled pastry shell with sugar…

And place the apple-halves on top.

As you can see, I fanned-out my apples slightly, and arranged them to face opposite directions.

Sprinkle sugar over the apples…

And then bake the tart on the middle rack of a preheated 375 oven for 30-35 minutes.

The apricot glaze – While the tart bakes, make the glaze. For this you will need a jar of apricot preserves.

As you can see, the label on my preserves says “Naturally fat free.”

Obviously, this tart is healthy to eat.

Remove the lid from the jar, and heat the contents — still in the jar — in the microwave for 60-90 seconds.

Then pour the warmed contents into a sieve set over a small saucepan.  Mash the preserves with the back of a spoon to strain-out the apricot peel (apricot preserves always contain peel). I promise you this step is easier than it sounds.

You just have to trust me.

Add some sugar to the strained preserves…

And then set the saucepan over a medium flame. While stirring constantly, let the preserves boil until the sugar dissolves, and the syrup, when drizzled from a spoon,  seems thick.

Poof! The apricot glaze is done.

Let the glaze cool for one minute, and then pour it into a clean screw top jar (I use the same jar from whence my preserves came).

Tip #1: Apricot glaze will keep for months without refrigeration.

Tip #2: If you have Pate Brisee Sucree in your freezer,  and apricot glaze in your pantry, it will take you all of 10 minutes to prepare this tart.

When the tart has finished baking — meaning the pastry has colored slightly, and the apples feel tender when pierced with a fork — slide it onto a wire rack.

Lightly paint the apples and the pastry with the warm apricot glaze…

And then stand back, and notice how beautifully the tart shimmers.

Oh, how it also glistens.

Oh, how it gleams.

Oh, how it beckons.

I can tell you this tart tastes delicious with coffee in the morning, and with champagne at night.

It also tastes delicious with champagne in the morning, and coffee at night.

Can I offer you a slice?

Need a copy-and-paste version of the above deliciousness? Here we go:

Glazed Apple Tart
Ingredients for 4 servings
For the Pate Brisee Sucree pastry shell:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter
1/3 cup ice water

For the apple topping:
2 Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples
2 Tablespoons sugar

For the apricot glaze:
1 18-oz. jar apricot preserves (or jam)
3 Tablespoons sugar

The Pate Brisee Sucree – Pour the flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Blend for a second just to combine. Then add the cold butter, and pulse the machine 5-10 to roughly break up the butter. Take care not to overmix! With the machine running, pour in the ice water, and then immediately turn the machine off. Test the dough — if it holds together when pressed with the fingers, it is good to go. If the dough is too dry to hold together, pulse in one or two tablepoons of additional ice water.

Empty the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface; roughly form it into ball, and press it into a disk. Seal in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer. (The dough can be frozen for months.)

Forming the pastry shell – Roll the chilled dough into an 1/8-inch thick rectangle; trim to 5 1/2 inches by 15 inches.  Roll the dough onto your pin, and then unroll it onto a buttered (non-stick-sprayed), upside-down baking sheet.  Paint a 1-inch wide strip of cold water all over the edge of the pastry shell. Then cut out a 1/2 inch square from each corner, and fold the 1/2-inch edges over the dough. Seal the edges with the tines of fork. Then, holding the fork in a vertical position, press the back-side of the tines against the outside wall of the tart. At half-inch intvervals, piece the inside of the shell with the fork. Chill the dough for 15 minutes.

The apples – Peel, core and halve the apples. Then cut the the halves crosswise into 1/8-thick slices.

Filling the shell – Sprinkle the shell with one tablespoon of sugar, and then set the sliced apple halves on top. Fan-out the slices a little to make them fit. Sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar of the apples.

Baking – Set the tart — still on the upside-down baking sheet — on the middle rack of a preheated 375 oven. Bake until the pastry begins to color, and apples, when poked with a fork, feel tender — 30-35 minutes. Slide the tart onto a wire cooling rack.

Making the glaze – Remove the lid from the apricot preserves, and microwave them — still in the jar — for 60-90 seconds. Pour the preserves into a wire-mesh sieve set over a small saucepan. Use the back of a spoon to press the preserves through the sieve, leaving the apricot skins behind. Discard (or eat) the strained-out skins. Set the saucepan over a medium flame, add 3 tablespoons of sugar, and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Boil until the sugar dissolves, and syrup seems thick when drizzled from a spoon — about 3 minutes.

Finishing the tart – Lightly paint the apples and tart shell with the warm apricot glaze until it glistens like starlight.

Serving: Cut the tart into four equal portions (the apple-halves will serve as a cutting-guide), and serve warm or cold with coffee or champagne.

In the comments field below, let me know if you plan to try this better-than-sex magnificent apple tart. Your comments never fail to brighten my day.

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Need a perfect main-course to precede the Glazed Apple Tart? I can offer you three:
Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Poulet au Vin Blanc
Cod en Papillote for Two