When All You Got Is Them Apples.

Having returned yesterday from a 2 week trip to South Africa, I was excited to see what the seasons are bringing at the Union Square Growers Market. Evidently, we are in a produce lull, and all we got is apples.

But when life gives you apples, you can always make a gorgeous apple tart.

The recipe I'm sharing is less of a recipe than a loose set of instructions. It's easy, casual and foolproof. You can use any kind of apples you like — I prefer to use a mixture of whatever looks good that day — and options for sweetening and flavoring are limitless. The first time I made this I was rushing like mad to get a dinner party ready, and just blindly made the whole thing up, hoping for the best. The best is what I got. Second time, same story. It's for this reason the recipe below is a rough estimation, which you can adjust to your taste. But I can tell you from experience that the resulting tart, especially when served with bourbon ice-cream, will cause guests to crawl onto your lap and purr like  kittens. I'm completely serious.



Foolproof Apple Tart

Ingredients for Tart:


• 4 apples (try to include one granny smith), peeled, cored and sliced. 
• 1 pack of puff pastry, defrosted
• 2 tablespoons of melted butter
• about 1/4 cup of sugar (white, brown, palm... whatever you have)
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 cup of bourbon (optional - I have yet to decide how much this influences the flavor)
• a handful of chopped walnuts
• crumble topping - see below 


Method: 


Set oven to 400 F. 
In a bowl, mix the apples, sugar, lemon, spices and bourbon. 
Lay the puff pastry on a tart tin, cookie sheet or whatever you have that's big, flat and oven proof. Brush with melted butter, and combine the leftover butter with the apple mixture. 
Layer the apples onto the pastry. Top with nuts and crumble and bake for 50 minutes. 


Serve with vanilla or bourbon ice-cream. 


Ingrdients for crumble topping: 

1/4 cup butter
1/4  brown sugar
1/3 c. all-purpose flour

Mix the ingredients until they resemble course crumbs. Add more flour if need be. 

Enjoy! 

xx Annah