French Apple Tart

This French Apple Tart has got to be one of the easiest dessert recipes out there. It's impressive to look at and is lovely to make for guests over for dinner. I personally like to serve it warm for dessert, with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs vanilla bean ice cream. In short, I like to think of it as the sophisticated cousin to the delicious all American apple pie.

Unfortunately, I can't take all the credit for this delicious tart. My recipe is derived from Ina Garten's recipe on the Food Network website. You may have heard me mention my interest in all things Ina. To me, she's quite the culinary goddess. Her recipes for homey comfort food, cakes and pastries in particular, can always be relied on to be nothing but delicious!
This tart I'm going to talk you through now, takes me right back to France. When my husband and I first met, we went for a long weekend to Paris. It was an amazing trip and thinking back, one of the many things that spring to mind was the gorgeous patisseries on every corner. Ahh, pain du chocolat, I miss you...

If baking is not usually for you, don't worry! This recipe is very hard to mess up. I'm far from the perfect pastry chef but this always turns out great.

While a trip to Paris for the real deal would be lovely, I'm going to save you the air fare for today and help you create this at home instead.

Ready? These are your ingredients...

You will need:

• 2 Granny Smith apples

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1 roll of pre-packaged puff pastry dough

• 2 tbsp butter

• 1 box of raisins

400 degrees F
45-50 mins

 

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First, pre heat your oven to 400 degrees F and have a medium bowl set aside with the orange juice in it. Peel, core and slice your apples into even slices about 1/4" thick and place them straight into the orange juice to prevent them from oxidizing and turning brown.

Add the raisins, cinnamon and nutmeg to the bowl and toss well. Take the pre-packaged pastry dough and roll it out onto a baking sheet (you can use a rolling pin to stretch it out to make it fit if necessary).

 

Then, place the apple slices and the mixture in overlapping layers right on top of the dough. I personally like to fan them out, going diagonally across the pan. However, you can arrange yours however you'd like. Little individual tarts would be a really cute idea too!

 

 Voilà!

 

 

The next step is to shake the brown sugar all over the top. * Quick note - This will seem like ALOT, I know! But trust me, go with it. I promise all will be alright and you'll have created a gorgeous crunchy caramel topping. Perhaps, also a slightly burnt pan, I'm not 'gonna to lie but the tart however, will turn out perfectly and you'll be more than happy to let that pan soak overnight.*

 

Into the pre heated oven she goes at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes and out will come your beautiful, delectable French Apple Tart!

 

You can serve it warm or cold, with a scoop of ice cream as I said or even with whipped cream.

 

I hope you like this easy recipe! Let me know if you tried it out in the comments below and also, don't forget to 'pin it' for later.

Enjoy mon ami!