Maura Egan’s apple tart recipe hides its simplicity under a floral crust.
For someone who rarely bakes, Maura Egan’s apple tart is a tried-and-true show stopper. The writer and editor typically makes this dessert for the holidays, but it can easily be served all year-round. Sweet and sour, soft and crispy, Egan’s tart is topped with an apricot glaze. “It’s quite simple but fanning out the apple slices can be quite an arduous task,” she tells Family Style. Apple slices are transformed into rose petals in this ideal dessert that yields maximum presentation with simple steps.
Ingredients:
Tart shell:
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1¼ sticks), cut into ½-inch pieces, plus more for greasing the pan
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cold water, as needed
Filling:
- 3 medium crisp, tart apples like Honeycrisp, Empire or Cortland (about 1 pound)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- Large pinch of kosher salt
Glaze:
-
- 3 tablespoons smooth apricot jam
Instructions:
- For the tart shell, combine the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse a few times to combine.
- Add the butter pieces, and pulse until the butter is in pea-sized pieces.
- Add the vanilla extract and egg yolk, and pulse until incorporated.
- Pulse in the water, about two teaspoons at a time, until the dough starts to hold together. It will appear crumbly, but should stick together easily when pressed.
- Lightly butter a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, and pour the dough mixture into it.
- Press the mixture evenly inside the pan. Reserve extra dough for any cracks after the shell is baked.
- Freeze the dough in the pan until completely firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line the tart shell with aluminum foil, tucking it into the corners and over the edges. Bake the shell for 20 to 25 minutes or until the dough appears dry and lightly golden. Cool slightly while you prepare the apples.
- Cut the apples from their cores in three pieces: Stand the apples up, stems facing up, and cut one face of the apple, then rotate the apple about 120 degrees, slice again, and then slice the last piece from the core. You should have a triangle-shaped piece of core left and three pieces of apple with flat bottoms.
- Reserve a smaller piece of apple, and carefully slice all the other apples into very thin half-moons, about ⅛-inch thick. (Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice over the sliced apples to prevent browning.) Make sure to keep the slices together as you cut to make the assembly easier.
- Once the apples are sliced, build the tart: Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon sugar on the bottom of the blind-baked tart shell. Starting at the outer edge, arrange the apples in tight concentric circles, overlapping each slice about halfway over its neighbor. Take care to stand the apples up vertically, with the cut edges down and the peel edge pointing up. Pack the rows very tightly, stopping periodically to check your work.
- As you move toward the center, if you find the slices are breaking, slice the reserved piece of apple even thinner to make it easier to bend. Roll the last few slices into a circle and tuck it in the center.
- Sprinkle the remaining sugar and a pinch of salt between the apple slices, rather than on top. Scatter the butter pieces on top, and bake the tart for 40 to 45 minutes or until the apples begin to brown slightly on the edges and the crust is a deep golden brown. Check the tart periodically to make sure the shell is not over-browning at the edges. If it is, cover the edges with foil.
- Cool the tart on a rack for about 10 minutes, then prepare the glaze: In a small saucepan, warm the jam and a few drops of water over medium-low heat until it is runny. Use a pastry brush to gently brush the warm tart with jam. Avoid brushing jam on the crust, but a thin layer all over the apple slices. Serve warm or room temperature.