The best dessert I’ve ever made

Most cooks have a specialty: something they make whenever they want to impress someone. Maybe it’s an old family

Apple Tart

recipe, or a recipe you invented yourself. Maybe you just really rock that grilled cheese sandwich. It doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does have to be special.

I’ve had a few such dishes over the years. I make a fantastic lasagna. I’m Italian. It’s in the genes. My dad taught me the basics, and now I just adapt that recipe to suit my mood. If I’m feeling particularly cheesy one day, I’ll add more mozzarella. If not, I’ll add some squash or spinach. But the basic formula remains the same. Then there’s fried pizza. Fried pizza you say? What is this dish? Well, all I’ll tell you is that this is the one recipe that you’re very unlikely to ever see on this blog. It’s an old family recipe and while it’s simple, and has probably been duplicated by many over the years, it’s not for public consumption.

My friend M has this amazing chocolate cake that she makes. It’s been years since I’ve had it, but it’s this cake with chocolate ganache and raspberry sauce… my mouth is watering just thinking about it. For years I could only dream about having such a special dessert in my repertoire. Well, now I’ve got one.

This recipe comes courtesy of Orangette. It’s a fairly loose recipe, meaning you can play around with some of the ingredients depending on what you can find. For example, you can add more or less vanilla, or more or less cinnamon. You could also swap the apples out for Asian pears. Play around the the amount of sugar in the recipe depending on the sweetness of the apples.

Apple Pie Tart, by Orangette

• 3 medium/large Granny Smith, Pink Lady, or Braeburn apples
• 1 cup + 3 Tbsp organic Idaho beet sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 8 Tbsp cold butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon

For the crust, a food processor works best, but I managed to make the crust in the Kitchenaid. Cut 5 Tbsp of the butter into chunks.

Just a little slice of perfection

Mix the butter in with 1 cup of the flour, the baking powder, and 1 cup of the sugar.

You want to mix until the butter is pea sized.

Add in one of the eggs and the vanilla and beat until the mixture is crumbly and rather uniform.

Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a springform pan (a cheesecake pan).

Press the crust mixture into the pan, and up the sides just a bit.

Now comes the time consuming part. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Make sure the apples are very thin.

Usually when I slice apples for a pie, I get bored and they end up being kind of thick. Really take your time with these and go for thinness.

Start arranging the apples in a circle around the pan. You want to fill the pan, so an outer circle and an inner circle. When you’re done, add another layer, and another, and another, until all of the apples are in the pan. It’s going to look like A LOT of apples, but trust me, it’ll all work out.

Bake the tart at 350 for about 40 minutes.

About 5 minutes before you’re done baking the tart, melt the last 3 Tbsp of butter in a small saucepan. Let it cool and then beat in the other egg and the cinnamon and sugar.

Pull the tart out of the oven and spread the glaze over the entire thing. Use a pastry brush or spoon to really get the glaze over every apple.

Return the tart to the oven and bake for another 25 minutes.

Let the tart cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before using a knife to loosen the sides and then removing the springform.

Slice and serve.

You can store the tart at room temperature, covered in plastic wrap until the next day. I brought this into work for my coworkers and it was a challenge to make sure I had a slice left for my husband! It was amazing. If you’re using sweeter apples, you can reduce the sugar a bit. I also think that a splash of pear brandy would be excellent in the glaze.