Serves 8 to 10
Crust
• 1⅓ cups flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• ½ cup butter, well chilled
• scant ⅓ cup ice water
Filling
• 2 lbs. firm pippin apples
• juice of 1 large lemon
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ to ⅓ cup apricot glaze (optional)
1. To make the crust, mix together the flour, salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar, then cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two sharp knives until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Sprinkle the ice water over it and toss together quickly until the flour is evenly moistened and the dough is starting to hold together. Form the dough into a ball and chill it for 1 hour, then roll it out in a 12-inch circle and fit it into a 10½-inch false-bottom quiche tin or flan ring.* Trim off the excess, leaving a ¼-inch rim above the pan, and flute the rim with the blunt edge of a butter knife. Chill the shell for ½ hour.
2. Line the shell with foil and fill it with dried beans or rice.• Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 8 minutes, then remove the beans and foil, prick the shell in several places with a fork, and put it back in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes, just until the bottom of the crust begins to color.
3. Meanwhile, peel and core the apples and cut them in even, lengthwise slices, no thicker than ¼ inch at the outside. Put the apple slices in a bowl with the lemon juice and ½ cup of the sugar, toss lightly, and leave them there for 45 minutes. Drain the apples and reserve the liquid.
4. The partially baked crust can be painted with apricot glaze before the apples are arranged on it. This is one more way to fight the soggy crust problem. Heat up the glaze and brush it on lightly with a pastry brush.
5. Arrange the apple slices neatly in the crust by very closely overlapping them in concentric circles, starting at the outside edge. Use all the apples. Sprinkle the remaining sugar (about 3 tablespoons) evenly over the apples. Bake the tart for 30 to 35 minutes in a preheated oven at 375 degrees. The apples should just be starting to brown at the edges.
6. While the tart is baking, boil the reserved liquid from the apples until it is reduced to a medium-thick, glazelike consistency. When the tart is done, brush the apples lightly with this glaze, or drizzle it over them.
7. Serve the tart warm or cool, with or without the apricot glaze.
8. optional apricot glaze
9. ½ cup apricot preserves or jam
10. 1 Tbs. sugar
11. To make an apricot glaze, just rub the apricot preserves or jam through a fine sieve, add the sugar, and boil for a few minutes. The mixture will be thick and sticky. Keep it warm over hot water until you need it, and while using it. If it gets too thick to handle, it can be thinned out with a few drops of water.
12. If you don’t have a quiche pan or flan ring, a shallow 10-inch pie pan can be used, but I recommend getting a false-bottom quiche pan—they’re inexpensive and very useful.
13. †The dried beans or rice are used as a weight, to keep the crust from slipping down the sides and puffing up in the middle. Keep the beans or rice in a jar—they can be reused for this purpose indefinitely.
