Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Parisian Apple Tartlet



This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was selected by Jessica of My Baking Heart . Take a look at her blog for the complete recipe. She picked the Parisian Apple Tartlet, which has to be the simplest recipe in the entire cookbook. This recipe was super simple, took no time to put together, and is really tasty. I think the entire thing took about 5 minutes to put together, and then it baked in about 25 minutes.

One of the most interesting aspects of making this recipe was the discussion that the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers had about puff pastry, which is the base of this tartlet. Some of the bakers decided to make their own puff pastry, which really impressed me! I can’t imagine making my own. Maybe someday I will have more time and give it a try, but I don’t think that will be any time soon. Dorie recommends using Dufour puff pastry, because it is actually made with butter. The national brand that is easiest to find doesn’t actually contain butter, which makes me really wonder what it does contain. I decided to splurge on the Dufour puff pastry since I was able to find that at Whole Foods.

This is the simplest tart, just puff pastry, topped with apple pieces, sprinkled with sugar and dotted with butter. I think I would prefer smaller pieces of apple. The pieces are kind of large, and you kind of have to shove big pieces in your mouth or else you end up with a bit of a mess. Not that shoving big pieces of apple tart in your mouth is a bad thing!

I had a little problem with the bottom getting too browned. When I sprinkled the brown sugar on the tartlets, a lot of it landed on the baking sheet. When I baked it, the brown sugar melted and burned. So my advice is to assemble the tarts somewhere other than the baking sheet, to avoid this potential problem. Overall, I really like these tarts. They aren’t too sweet, but they are the perfect accompaniment to morning coffee or tea.

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 319.

5 comments:

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Thanks so much for baking with me this week!! Glad you liked the tartlets - great pics! :)

chocolatechic said...

I love your perfectly diced butter.

Leslie said...

I used tiny little peaches and I still shoved large pieces in my mouth. It was that good! Yours look great, I must try the apple next time.

Unknown said...

Your tartlet looks fantastic! I agree about the apples - I think I'll cut mine a bit smaller next time.

Anonymous said...

Your Parisian Apple Tartlet looks soo pretty and festive in your picture! I agree with you - homemade puff pasty will be saved for another day! I tried this again on Wednesday and I melted the butter and brown sugar together before brushing it onto the pastry and then onto the white peach slices. (The idea is from another TWDer, I can't remember who!) Both ideas worked much better this time around!