2014 is going to be here in two really short days and I want to get something off of my chest before the new year rolls in.  

*Deep sigh* I’m not the biggest fan of cooked or baked fruit.  I can do without strawberry pie, or the raisins in bread pudding.  Sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, I even take the apples out of the pie and just eat the crust and sweet, cinnamon-y filling. 

I like to think that my palette is maturing though.  Hence, the recipe for this amazingly tasty apple tart.  You’ll really love making this dessert because it unbelievably easy to make and the marriage of flour, butter, sugar, and apples is perfect. Plus, if you tell people it’s a galette and not a tart, they’ll think your a master pastry chef.

I added a couple scoops of German chocolate Talenti gelato and drizzled with caramel sauce – even though this dessert is superb by itself, I like to be a little decadent sometimes.  

Start out making an all-butter pie crust.  The butter should be softened just a little.  I use a food processor to make my crusts.

Side-note: Even though a lot of my recipes are super old, I’m so new-school when it comes to kitchen gadgets.  My mom still makes her pie crusts with a fork or pastry blender.  She couldn’t believe that I would dirty a big old food processor just to make pie crust.

Make sure that you roll the dough out really thin.  You can use a tart pan or go rough like I did and do it galette-style.  

Peel and core your favorite tart variety of apples – Golden Delicious would be a good pick. Save the peels and cores and put them in a saucepan because you’ll be making a glaze with them later. Then. slice up the apples so that they look like little crescent moons.  

Pack the apples into the crust really tightly, the more the better.  Deb of Smitten Kitchen says to armadillo them, which I think is a pretty accurate term for what the apple slices are SUPPOSED to look like (for a better idea of what armadillo-ing looks like, head over to her awesome blog).  I got a little impatient and kind of haphazardly threw them onto the dough.  It’s not about how it looks, but how it tastes, right?  Please say yes!

Super Simple Apple Galette

Recipe Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

For the dough

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly salted, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 1/2 tablespoons chilled water

For the filling

• 2 pounds tart apples (Golden Delicious or a similar variety), peeled, corred, and sliced (save the peels and cores for later!)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 5 tablespoons sugar

For the glaze

• Apple peels and cores
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon (optional)

 

Directions

1. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl or bowl of a food processor.  Add 2 tablespoons of butter.  Blend until just combined, it should resemble coarse cornmeal. Add the remaining butter and mix until little dough balls form.
2. Pour in a little water, mix, and then pour in more until the dough just holds together.  Then, toss the dough with your hands, allow it to fall through your fingers.  It should be ropy with dry patches.  If it’s really dry, add another tablespoon of water.  Keep tossing the dough until you can roll it into a ball.  
3. Flatten the down and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Remove it from the fridge, and let it soften so that it’s pliable but still cold.  On a floured surface, roll until you get a 14-inch circle that’s about 1/8 inch thick.
4. If you’re making a tart, place dough in a lighly greased 9-inch round tart part.  If you’re making galette, place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet.  Heat oven to 400 F.
5. Overlap apples on the dough in a ring about 2 inches from the edge if you’re going galette, or up the sides of the pan if making a tart.  Continue to place apples in this manner inward until you reach the middle.  Fold the excess dough over the edge of the pan or over the rim of the apples.  Feel free to crimp the edges.
6. Brush the melted butter over the apples and onto the dough. Then, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar over the dough and the remaining 3 tablespoons over the apples.  
7. Bake in the cener of the oven until the apples are soft and slightly brown and the crust has caramelized (about 45 minutes). Make sure taht you rotate the tart every 15 minutes.
8. To make the glaze by placing the peels and cores to a saucepan, with the sugar and bourbon (if you want it to be boozy).  Pour in just enough water to cover the apples and let it simmer for 25 minutes.  Straing the syrup through cheesecloth. 
9. Remove the tart from the overn and place on a cooling rack.  Let it cool for about 15 minutes.
10. Brush the glaze over the tart and serve. 

 

Stay Sweet!