Apples are my favorite fruit for dessert. Comforting, homey and incredibly satisfying, apples contain the perfect combination of sweetness and tang and there is no limit to how you can eat them. There’s apple pie, Tarte Tatin, turnovers and galettes, and serving them baked, raw or caramelized are great options as well. Yet my preferred method will always be an apple tart. What is it? Thinly sliced apples coated in sugar and cinnamon on flaky puff pastry. This dessert combines lightness (or the illusion of lightness… wait until you see how much butter actually goes into puff pastry), elegance, and a non-cloying sweetness that will take you all the way to apple heaven. It’s also ridiculously easy to make, provided you use store-bought puff pastry.
Take a look at it in all its glory. How do you like them apples? (I couldn’t resist).
Of course, before you go on your merry way to sampling the pinnacle of apple desserts, you need the essential ingredient that differentiates this dessert from a Tarte Tatin or a pie: puff pastry. Puff pastry is a dough that sandwiches butter in between layers of dough, and it can take almost three hours to make. Think of a katana but for pastries. Because I am obsessed with this pastry (and somehow have the time to spare), I make it from scratch, but I would suggest buying it frozen from the supermarket.
Now, onto the recipe.
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons brown sugar (I used raw cane)
5 tablespoons almond flour (acquired at Fresh Grocer)
1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 puff pastry about 10 in. (no border)
2 tablespoons butter
3 apples
Confectioner’s sugar
For whipped cream (optional):
Heavy cream
Pinch cinnamon
Honey
Directions:
1. Peel and core the apples
2. Slice them finely
3. Preheat the oven to 370°F
4. Combine the brown sugar, almond flour, and cinnamon
5. Spread ¾ of the mixture on the bottom of the puff pastry
6. Arrange the apple slices on the uncooked pastry, nestling each slice against one another
7. Melt butter (ok to use a microwave)
8. Brush or drizzle butter onto the apple slices
9. Sprinkle remaining mixture of brown sugar, almond flour, and cinnamon
10. Bake in the top half of the oven for 45 minutes
11. When the tart is finished, dust it with confectioner’s sugar
12. Set to broil for 2 minutes
Optional
13. Whip cream with cinnamon and honey till stiff
And voila, a perfect apple tart.
