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apple normandy tart

 

Sweet Tart Shell Ingredients:

(Yield: 2 tart shells)

1 cup coconut oil (at room temp.)

¾ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 eggs

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour*

 

*For an excellent Gluten Free version replace the 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour with:

1 cup all purpose gluten free flour (I like the BOB's Red Mill GF All Purpose Flour)

3/4 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

 

For the Applesauce:

(Yield: enough applesauce for 2 tarts)

6 medium apples, peeled and cubed

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons cane sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 

For the Topping:

(Yield: topping for 1 tart)

4 medium green apples, peeled

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon water

2 tablespoons cane sugar

 

Glaze:

(Yield: glaze for 1 tart)

3 tablespoons Apricot Jam

1 tablespoon water

 

Directions:

 

To make the tart shell:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. (300 convection)

 

Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the coconut oil, sugar and salt and mix on medium speed for 1 minute. Mix in 1 egg. Add the remaining egg and mix until combined. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour all at once and mix on low just until it is incorporated.

 

What’s great about this dough is that you don’t need to roll it out. All you have to do is press it into your tart pan- very fool proof.  Using a spoon scoop some dough into a tart pan with a removable bottom.  Working slowly, press it into the pan to create a thin tart shell bottom. Just do the bottom first. You want it to be thin- but not see through. When the bottom is done, start building your edges. Slowly scoop some more into your pan until you have pressed all of the edges into the side and your whole tart is nicely formed. Remember this tart shell recipe is enough for two tarts, so repeat this now for the second tart. (At this point you can either wrap 1 or both of the tarts really well and freeze for 3 months or continue on to bake. )

 

When you are ready to bake your tart shell:

Now take your tart shell that you are going to be baking today and line the inside with aluminum foil and fill the foil pie weights. Wait what?! I hear you screaming- don’t worry. I don’t have pie weights either. Instead, I took a bag of dry beans and I designated them as my pie weights. So find an old bag of kidney beans that you have lying around and pour it onto the aluminum foil and we will use this to weigh down the dough so it doesn’t rise up during our bake. So once your beans are sitting in the foil it is time to bake. We are baking the tart shell for 18 minutes rotating from front to back halfway through the baking time. When it is cool, remove your beans and store in a container (label the container!)  to use as pie weights for another day.

 

(A par baked tart shell can be plastic wrapped and frozen for 2 weeks in the freezer.)

 

To make the Applesauce:

Place your apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon into a medium pot. Put over a flame and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every so often. Remove the pot from the flame and with an immersion blender puree the apple mixture.

 

Take about 1 ½ cups of applesauce and spread it into the bottom of your par-baked tart shell. You want the apple sauce to come ¾ ‘s of the way up the tart shell.

 

(The sauce can be stored for 10 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer)

 

Note- If you are short on time you may use a store bought apple sauce but taste it first. If you don’t like it out of the package- you won’t like it in your tart either.)

To make the tart topping:

Cut each apple in half and remove the cores. Cut each half in half again. Then using a very sharp knife, cut very thin slices. Arrange the slices overlapping in concentric circles on top of the applesauce. (see photos)

 

In a small bowl take your egg and little bit of water and mix with your pastry brush. Now brush on the egg wash over the apples. Sprinkle the apples evenly with the cane sugar.  Bake the tart for 50 minutes uncovered until it has a nice deep brown color.

For the glaze:

Take the jam and water and put it in a small pot over a low flame. After 1 minute mix well and let simmer for another minute. Remove from the fire. Using a pastry brush, gently spread a thin layer of the jam over the top of the tart (everything- both the apples and the crust). 

 

Notes:

Store this tart in the fridge. Allow it to come to room temperature before serving.

You can easily swap out apples for pears in this recipe.

 

Plan Ahead:

• The tart shells can be formed and frozen raw in their pans for 3 months (wrap well!)

• A par or fully baked tart shell (empty) can be plastic wrapped and frozen for up to 2 weeks.

• The applesauce can be refrigerated for 10 days or frozen for 3 months

• A fully baked apple tart will last in the fridge for 3 days.