Freeform Apple Tart Food

FREEFORM APPLE TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Toss in the apple slices, brown sugar and cinnamon and cook over medium heat until the apples begin to caramelize or begin to get glazed with the sugar and butter.
• Roll out the puff pastry in a freeform shape. Roll in the outer edge about a half inch to form a crust. Spread the warm apples on top of the pastry. Brush the crust with the lightly beaten egg and sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until golden.

FREE-FORM APPLE OR PEAR TART

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse once or twice. Cut 8 tablespoons butter into chunks, and add it and egg yolk to flour mixture. Process until butter and flour are blended, about 10 seconds. Turn mixture into a bowl, and add cold water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition. After adding 3 or 4 tablespoons you should be able to gather mixture into a ball; wrap ball in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or freeze for about 15 minutes).
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll or pat dough into a 10-inch circle; it can be quite crude in shape. Place it on a cookie or pizza sheet, preferably nonstick. Arrange fruit slices on top, right out to edges; make the pattern attractive, if you like. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Cut remaining butter into bits, and top fruit with it.
• Bake until crust is nicely browned and fruit is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove, and serve warm or at room temperature, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or ice cream.

APPLE TART

Steps:

• Take 1 taco shell and cut out a circle. Brush it with melted butter. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Put it between 2 cookie sheets and bake at 275 degrees for about 15 minutes.
• Cover an oven proof plate with tightly secured plastic wrap. Brush generously with melted butter. Peel the apple and core it. Thinly slice the apple with a mandoline. Fan out the slices on the plastic wrap so it is the same size as the cut taco shell circle. Brush the apple with melted butter. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake at 360 degrees for about 10 minutes. Let it cool, but not completely. Slide the apple over the taco shell making sure it keeps its shape. Serve.

APPLE TART WITH HAZELNUT FRANGIPANE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.;
• For the dough:
• Mix the flour, butter, sugar, and salt quickly with your fingertips until the butter is in pieces about the size of dried beans. Quickly stir the water into the mixture and then gather up the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press it into a flat dish shape. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
• Line a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment or a silicon pad. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 15-inches long by 10-inches wide, with rough edges. Roll the dough up onto your rolling pin and then unroll it directly onto the lined pan.
• Roast the hazelnuts on a cookie sheet for 7 or 8 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a food processor, add the 1/4 cup sugar, egg, 1 tablespoon butter, and vanilla, and process until a creamy paste forms. Spread the frangipane on the dough, stopping about 1 1/2-inches from the outer edge on all sides.
• Peel the apples, remove the cores, and cut them into 1/2-inch thick slices. Arrange them attractively in a slightly overlapping pattern, like the tiles of a roof, on the pastry dough so that the apples cover the frangipane. Fold the edge of the dough back over the apples to make a 1 to 1 1/2-inch border of dough. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over the apples, letting a little of the sugar fall onto the border to help crystallize the dough. Break the remaining 2 tablespoons butter into pieces and scatter them over the tart. Bake for 1 hour. The dough should be nicely crystallized all over.
• Remove the finished tart from the oven and cool on a rack until lukewarm. Dilute the apricot preserves with the calvados or water and glaze the surface of the tart, spreading it carefully on the apples with the underside of a spoon. Serve at room temperature cut into little wedges, with plain cream, sour cream, creme fraiche, or ice cream, if desired.

FREE-FORM FRUIT TART

Steps:

• Spread pastry cream evenly on the bottom of the crust. Arrange fruit in overlapping concentric rows, beginning at outside edge and working in towards the center. For a "fruit salad" tart, toss fruit in a bowl with a drop of Kirsch (optional). Pile the fruit on the pastry cream.
• Edge the crust with the nuts and sprinkle on fruit at the edge of the tart. Either brush glaze on the fruit or sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.
• For the dough: Place flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse 3 or 4 times to mix. Add butter and pulse about 12 to 15 times until the mixture is reduced to a fine powder. Do not allow to become pasty. Add egg and liquid, and continue to pulse until the dough forms a ball.
• Remove dough from work bowl to a lightly floured work surface and pat into a 5-inch disk. Use immediately, or wrap in plastic and chill until firm before using.
• To make a free-form tart crust, roll dough to a 12-inch disk and transfer it to a parchment- or foil-lined cookie sheet, or the back of a jelly-roll pan. Using a plate or cardboard disk as a pattern, trim the dough to an even 12-inch diameter. Fold under 1/2-inch of dough along the edge of the dough, then flute the edge as if it were a pie, to make the edge stand up. Use the thumb and index finger of one hand on the outside of the tart shell and the index finger of the other hand on the inside and pinch gently from the outside while pressing lightly from the inside. Repeat all around the edge of the crust.
• Pierce the dough with a fork before baking. Place the dough on the middle rack of a preheated 400 degree oven. Lower temperature to 350 and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from oven and transfer to a rack to cool. For the Pastry Cream: Combine sugar, flour and salt in a 1 to 1 1/2-quart non-reactive saucepan. Stir with a small whisk to mix. Whisk in milk, then egg and yolk. Place over low heat, whisking constantly, until the pastry cream thickens and comes to a boil. Allow to boil 10 or 15 seconds, whisking constantly.
• Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and butter. Scrape the pastry cream into a non-reactive bowl and press plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. Stir in liqueur just before using pastry cream. For the glaze: In a small saucepan bring the preserves and water or liqueur to a simmer, stirring often. Strain into another pan and return to a boil. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. NOTE: If tart is mostly red fruit, use currant jelly and strawberry or raspberry preserves.

TOASTER OVEN APPLE TART

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon. Brush the tortilla with half of the melted butter and sprinkle it with half of the cinnamon sugar. Toast in the toaster oven until slightly toasted but not browned, about 3 minutes. Arrange the apple slices on the tortilla in a fan shape. Brush with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Return to the toaster oven and toast until the apples are soft and the sugar is bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with salt to taste. Drizzle with caramel sauce, if using.

FREE-FORM APPLE TART

Steps:

• To make pastry, mix flour and butter with pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Add water, lemon peel and juice. Stir until dough holds together, flatten in a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes.
• Peel and core apples, and slice thin. Roll out dough into 13" circle and transfer to a cookie sheet without sides. Leaving a 2" border, arrange apple slices in concentric circles starting from outside towards center. Mix nutmeg and sugar and sprinkle on apples, then dot with oleo. Fold edges of pastry over apples.
• Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes, then 375°F for 35 minutes, until crust is golden. Slide tart onto wire rack to cool. Dust with powdered sugar.

FREE-FORM HARVEST APPLE TART RECIPE

Steps:

• Use pulsing action to process flour, butter and half the cream cheese in food processor until mixture is blended and dough starts to pull away from side of container. Shape into ball; wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 hour or until chilled.
• Heat oven to 400°F. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 14x8-inch rectangle. Place on parchment-covered baking sheet; set aside.
• Place remaining cream cheese in medium microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 10 sec. or just until softened. Add half the dry gelatin mix; stir until blended. Spread onto dough to within 2 inches of edges.
• Toss apples with cornstarch, cinnamon and remaining dry gelatin mix; spoon over cream cheese mixture. Fold edges of pastry over apples. (Apples in center of tart will remain exposed.) Sprinkle with nuts.
• Bake 35 min. or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender. Cool.