½ cup cold unsalted butter (plus 3 tbsps.) – cut into small cubes
4 -5 Granny Smith Apples – peeled, quartered and sliced 1/8 inch thick
Apricot Marmalade
Grand Marnier
Directions
Preheat oven to 400. Place flour, 1 tbsp sugar, salt, zest and 1/2 cup butter in food processor.
Blend in pulses until mixture resembles small crumbs. Slowly add a tbsp of cold water at a time and blend in pulses. Once dough starts to come off the sides into a ball its ready.
Turn dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, flatten into a round disc and chill for 1 hr.
When ready to form the tart, butter the inside of tart pans. Roll dough starting from the middle moving out exerting even pressure throughout. Stop often to rotate a quarter turn and continue rolling. If dough sticks add flour to dough and work surface.
Transfer dough to tart pan making sure the edges extend a half inch or so over the edge. Gently push the dough into the sides of the tart pan so it fits snug. Fold any overhang in pressing with your thumb to shape an edge. Place tart in refrigerator to set up.
Blind Baking Technique: Remove from refrigerator, prick the dough all over gently with a fork, place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough, cover with dry beans or ceramic pie weights and bake 10-12 minutes. The purpose of this is so the dough doesn’t rise when baking.
Remove parchment/weights and cook a few more minutes until dough begins to color some.
While the tart dough is resting, peel and cut apples. Place overlapping apple slices in a concentric form until the pastry is completely covered. Sprinkle remaining butter and sugar all over the apple slices and bake 30-45 minutes until golden and browned.
While tart is cooling heat apricot marmalade with Grand Marnier until liquefied like a glaze.
Brush the apples and pastry completely with the marmalade glaze. Allow the tart to cool and serve warm or at room temperature. Garnishes include mint, whipped cream, ice cream, salted caramel, and dehydrated apple chips. Enjoy!
Lemon Berry Tart
Ingredients (for a 9-10 inch tart)
Same as above
Directions
Follow the same directions as above (#1 thru #7). Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Ingredients (for Lemon curd)
1 stick unsalted butter
1/4 cup creme fraiche
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 cup assorted berries – blackberries, blueberries, raspberries.
Directions
Melt butter & creme fraiche in a double boiler and stir. Remove from heat and set aside.
In another bowl over a double boiler whisk egg yolks and eggs until warm, remove from heat and mix in the butter mixture followed by the lemon juice.
Strain mixture through a sieve into a clean bowl and place over the double boiler. Add sugar and the lemon zest and whisk until sugar melts and it is warm to touch, roughly 4-5 minutes.
Pour lemon curd into prepared tart dough. Sprinkle your favorite berries throughout the entire surface and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until the curd is set in the middle of the tart. Cool on the rack for at least 1-2 hours.
Garnish with fresh mint, whipped cream, powdered sugar or more berries. Enjoy!
Please email me your Tart cooking experiences as I would love to hear from you! I hope you find the tips above useful and if you would like to set up a Tart 101 class, CLICK HERE…