Julia Child’s Tarte aux Pommes
Ingredients:
10-inch partially cooked pastry shell
4 pounds of cooking apples
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/3 cup apricot jam/preserves
1/3 cup Calvados, rum, or cognac (or 1 tablespoon vanilla)
2/3 cup granulated sugar for topping
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Quarter, core, and peel the apples. Cut enough to make 3 cups into 1/8-inch lengthwise slices and toss them in a bowl with the lemon juice and sugar. Reserve them for the top of the tart.
Cut the rest of the apples into rough slices. You should have about 8 cups. Place in a pan and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.
Beat in apricot jam, Calvados, sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Raise the heat and boil, stirring, until the applesauce is thick enough to hold in a mass in the spoon.
Spread the applesauce in the pastry shell. Cover with a neat, closely overlapping layer of sliced apples arranged in concentric circles.
Bake in the upper third of a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the apples have browned lightly and are tender. Slide the tart onto a serving dish and paint over it with a light coating of apricot glaze. Serve warm or cold with whipping cream or a scoop of ice cream.
Apricot Glaze
Ingredients:
1/2 cup apricot preserves, forced through a sieve
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Directions:
Stir the strained apricot preserves and sugar over moderately high heat until thick enough to coat the spoon with a light film, and the last drops are sticky as they fall from the spoon (225-228 degrees on a candy thermometer). Do not boil past this point or the glaze will become brittle as it cools.
Apply the glaze while it is still warm. Unused glaze will keep indefinitely in a screw-top jar.
Recipe courtesy of All Recipes.com
