French Apple Tart

French Apple Tart is a lovely dessert, with the soft apple slices on top of an apple sauce, with the crumbly and buttery pastry.  I found several good recipes, but opted for one on a favourite site Joyofbaking.com   That site has a host of very nice recipes, and videos too.  

I am never too confident about making pastry, as I tend to overwork it, and it then shrinks during baking, but with this recipe that didn’t happen at all.  So I was very pleased with that aspect of the recipe.

The remaining steps are easy to do.  I did make my own apple sauce, but it is possible to buy it and use that.  

The resultant tart looks very good and tastes great too.  

• 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purposeflour
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated whitesugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg, at room temperature

For an Apricot Glaze:

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) (150 grams) apricot preserves
• 1 tablespoon Water or Grand Marnier, Cognac, Calvados, or Rum

1. Sweet Pastry Crust: Place the butter in your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, and beat until softened. (You can use a hand mixer or just mix with a wooden spoon.) 
2. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
3. Gradually add the egg, beating just until incorporated. (Don’t over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color.)
4. Add flour and salt and mix just until it forms a ball. (Don’t overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.) Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate about one hour or until firm.
5. Have ready an 8 – 9 inch (20 – 23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry into an 12 – 13 inch (30 – 33 cm) circle. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). 
6. When the pastry is the desired size, lightly roll the pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll. Unroll over the top of your tart pan. Never pull your pastry or you will get shrinkage (shrinkage is caused by too much pulling of the pastry when placing it in the pan).
7. Gently press the pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry.
8. Prick bottom of pastry with the tines of a fork (this will prevent the pastry from puffing up as it bakes). Cover and refrigerate for about 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten.
9. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line the chilled unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or foil. Fill tart pan with pie weights, rice, or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface. Bake crust for about 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and remove the parchment paper and weights.Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the crust back into the oven for about 3-5 minutes or until the crust is dry to the touch.
10. Apricot Glaze:In a small saucepan heat the apricot preserves just until boiling. Remove from heat and strain to get get rid of lumps. Add the Grand Marnier or water. With a pastry brush, brush the glaze over the bottom and sides of the pastry shell. (This seals the crust and prevents it from getting soggy.)
11. For Apple Tart: Spoon the applesauce into the cooled pre-baked tart shell. 
12. Peel, core, and cut the apples into 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) slices. 
13. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat and stir in the 2 – 4 tablespoons (25 – 50 grams) sugar (depending on tartness of apples) and ground cinnamon. 
14. Add the apples and saute until they just begin to soften (approximately 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
15. Arrange the apple slices in concentric circles over the applesauce, and brush with about 1 tablespoon (12 grams) melted butter. Place the tart pan on a larger baking sheet and bake the tart for 25 -30 minutesor until the apples are soft but not mushy. 
16. If desired,dust the top of the tart with powdered sugar, cover the edges of tart with foil, and place under a preheated broiler, about 4 inches (10 cm) from the heat, until the edges of the apples are golden brown and crisp.Watch carefully. Once the tart has cooled lightly glaze the apple slices with warm apricot glaze.
17. Serve the tart warm or at room temperature with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.