The French Apple Tart. Sort of.

This recipe started as an apple pie, but I needed something more on a personal size to give to my dog sitters when they came to take care of my 2 pups. Don’t get me wrong, they LOVED the whole pie, but there are only 2 of them and eating a whole apple pie on their own as many as I do make for them can get a little fatening. So here’s a smaller version with a twist. Here’s what you’ll need:

1. 4 little crocks about 4 inches deep. The one in the photo I bought from Wal-Mart because they were cheap (under 5.00 each) and I didn’t have time to wait for Crate & Barrel to ship the ones I really wanted. These look similar anyway.
2. 5 large apples or 1 prepackaged bag of  apples.You’ll have about 3 or 4 left over out of the bag, but the bigger apples are easier to cut and pick out the best ones for baking. You can mix the types of apples if you like, but I find a combination of Macks (hard to find in the South) Fuji and Pink Lady make for a nice combination.
3. 1 box of prepackaged pie crust. Store brand is fine, but I wouldn’t recommend Food Lions brand as it’s  little on the dry side and cracks when you unroll it.
4. Frangipane. What is this? It’s a buttery sweet almond flavored filling. Here’s how you make it:

•  
  • 1 stick of soft, not melted, butter
  • 1/2 to 1/3 cup of sugar
  • 1 beaten egg and 1 whole egg yolk (no whites)
  • 1/2 tsp. and a smidge more of pure almond extract. Imitation is ok, but use a little more. If you have almond flour use pure vanilla extract instead. Never use imitation vanilla yuck!
  • 2 tbs. or so of almond flour. Regular flour may be used, but see above for the recommended flavoring changes.

Putting it all together:Heat your oven to 400 degrees and place a cookie sheet inside while it’s heating. Prepare the frangipane by creaming the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the beaten egg and the whole yolk one at a time until nicely blended. Stir in the flavoring and the flour. Your done. Now set aside.

Roll out your pie crust to make it a little thinner as I think the prepackaged stuff is a little thick. take your crock and make a ring on the crust to mark out the bottom, turn it on its side and roll the crock around this ring so now you have the right size crust to come just to the top of the crock. Cut this out and place inside. You’ll need to roll out the rest of the dough for the 2nd crust as it’s not big enough to cut 2 from the same piece.

Peel, quarter and core your apples. Take some of the quarters and dice them up for the bottom of the tart. I found this supports the frangipane and the apples that go on top better. Fill about 1/4 of the way or until you can’t see the bottom.  Slice the long ways on the rest of the quartered apples so you have a nice thin curved piece. You’ll get about 4 pieces from 1 quarter. Set these aside.

Take your newly made Frangipane and divide into 4. With a spoon, cover your diced apples and sprinkle a bit of apple pie spice or cinnamon or whatever you like on top.

Arrange your sliced apples along side of the crock, standing them on end, and making a flower of sorts.

OK. Now your done putting it together. Pop them in the preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes and reduce to 350 for another 10 minutes. After that, take some sugar and sprinkle on top of the tarts so it carmelizes for the next 10 – 15 minutes. When you take them out don’t freak when they deflate a little, it’ll taste just fine.

I like to top it with some vanilla Ice Cream or  some almond flavored real whipped cream, or its good just plain.

ENJOY!