Tarts are really elegant.
When I started making tarts, they were truly a labour of love. Simply slicing the apples thin and overlapping them into a pretty rose easily took more than half an hour.
However, what I noticed was when you slice apples very thin, the moisture/juices evaporate while baking and it doesn’t taste as good. I suppose that is why there are many hacks like adding a custard filling, or apple puree at the bottom of the pie. But that involves an additional level of work. What to do?
So nowadays, I slice the apples thicker – like cut each half of the apple into 4-6 slices. The result is a still a pretty tart, that takes a shorter time prepping, and is moist and delicious.
Random
So what is the difference between a pie, a tart, a cobbler, and a galette? All these desserts have two components in common: a sweet filling and a crust.
There are complex differences such as the type of crust, thickness, shape of pan etc, but this is the simplest way I differentiate them:
- A pie is baked in a tin/pan and has a double crust — bottom and top.
- A cobbler is also baked in a tin/pan, with the filling at the bottom, and covered with a single top crust (usually not a pie crust, but occasionally this is done).
- A tart is baked in a tin/pan and has a single bottom crust, and filling on top.
- A galette is not baked in a tin/pan. The filling is wrapped in a crust that holds the juices within..
Apple Tart
Ingredients
- 6 apples
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Directions
Peel and slice the fruit in half. Then slice each half into 4-6 slices. Put the sliced fruit in a large bowl. Sprinkle over the fruit a pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon, toss it together and let it sit.Flour the work surface and roll out pie crust until it is bigger than the tart tin. Lift the crust and line the tin. Cut out any overhang and either fill in spots that are thin or throw back in the freezer in a bag. (A sufficient number of those bits of crust will be enough to make a pie eventually.)
Heat the oven to 200°C or 400°F.
Sprinkle 1 Tablespoon of sugar on the crust. Layer fruit (not the juice that’s been released — we will use that later) moving in a circular motion, but slightly overlapping. When done, put bits of butter around the fruit.
Bake in the hot oven for about 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, lower the heat to 175°C/350°F, cover the fruit with foil to let it finish cooking without burning. To check if it is done, the fruit should be soft when pierced through (but not mush) and the crust a rich golden brown.
Boil the juices in a little pot into a syrup and pour it over the tart when it is done. If you want to go the extra step, glaze with jam for a shiny look.
Enjoy!