TWD: Tarte Fine
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
You can tell that we are entering fall. The recipes that my fellow bloggers are putting out there are all about the fall ingredients - Soups, stews, and most of the desserts are being made with fruits found in the fall: apples, pears, gone are the summer light berries and citrus and in are the squash, cranberries, dates and figs.
This weeks Tuesday with Dorie choice is coming to you compliments of Leslie of Lethally Delicious.
As Dorie mentions on the recipe, this is the most popular tart in France. I can see why. It was simple to do, fast to cook and according to the testers “appetizing!” – can you tell that Tom’s food vocabulary has expanded since I started to give him more food to “taste”? He no longer uses small words like “yum!” or “Delish!”, but things like “scrumptious”, “mouth-watering”, and “luscious”.
His palate is growing up – as fast as his food vocabulary. He makes me proud.
But back to the task at hand.
The first thing I had to do was find the recommended puff pastry. I do have a recipe for doing a “quick” puff pastry, but Dorie, along with other pastry chef has nothing but good things to say about the quality and taste of the DuFour puff pastry. So,why create more work for myself, when I could find something just as good in the market? Easier said than done. After 5 stops, and numerous “blank” looks from the market employees, I ended up finding it at my local Whole Foods.
$10 dollars poorer, puff pastry “star” in my shopping bag and I headed home to roll, cut and bake a fine tart.
If the puff pastry was the right vessel, the apples needed to be the start. While the recipe recommended Golden Delicious, I wanted to try a new type of apple, so I ended up using Jonagold, which like Golden Delicious apples, are tangy-sweet, and they maintain their shape after baking.
Another trick that I learned (from reading tons and tons of baking books) is that when you are cooking puff pastry with fruit, you need to cut the fruit as thin and uniform as possible. This way you can avoid having the puff pastry overcook and in some cases burn before the fruit on top is fully cooked. So I used my mandolin (no accidents this time, all fingers are accounted for!) to slice the apples evenly and thin.
I did follow the recipe for a sweeter tart by adding butter, a bit more sugar, some melted butter and not using the egg wash. I also used the Apricot Lekvar that I had left over from the Chocolate Apricot Roll as the final glazed on top.
Verdicts
Tom: “Seriously, you were right the $10 spent on the puff pastry are totally worth it, its buttering, crunchy, the apples are just right and love that its not overly sweet.”
Mother: “It’s good, very, very good, you need to share the recipe with me”
For the other choices and different takes of this light dessert head over to TWD to see the other bakers creations. Then make sure you mosey over to Leslie site and post a thank you for such a excellent choice and to get the recipe.
Now, go look for some puff pastry and bake up this great Tarte Fine, it’s perfect for a quick sweet bite.
Reader Comments (13)
Great job - your tarte turned out well.
Drool, drool, drool. Thanks , now my computer screen is covered in slobber and I'm certain it doesn't taste as good as the real thing. Well done! You can cook one of those for me anytime. :)
WOW!! This is mouthwatering and heavenly!! I have to remind myself NEVER to visit your blog first thing in the morning cos that makes me really hungry as i don't really eat breakfast..! So now i have to wait till lunch time..:P Love your photos!!!
I love apples, and this tart looks wonderful ;)
Beautiful, really beautiful!
What a luscious looking tarte. I love the glaze on it.
What a spectacular tart! I also made the version with butter and sugar and it was delicious. I'm so glad it was a hit with the family. Thanks for baking with me this week!
That looks delicious Monica!! And that apricot glaze looks really mouth-watering!
Gorgeous photos! I agree that, in this case, the pastry was worth it. Loved that rich flaky taste.
Beautiful photos! Love the first one - but all of the are really beautiful. Glad you like the $10 puff pastry :).
That does look perfect and delicious Now I need to find some Dufour puff pastry!
At least now I know that if I ever get ill enough to spen $10 on puff pastry, that it'll at least be worth it! ;)
YOur tarte looks great!
Yum your tart looks so good! Im glad you enjoyed the recipe!