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Thursday, September 01, 2005

Caramelized Apple Tart

Source: Martha Stewart's Everyday Food


Serves 8; prep time: 30 minutes; total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

All-purpose flour, for dusting
Pie Dough or 1 unbaked store-bought refrigerated pie crust (7 1/2 ounces)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
6 Rome Beauty or McIntosh apples (about 2 3/4 pounds), peeled, cored, and each cut into 8 wedges

1. Preheat oven to 425°. On a floured work surface, roll out pie dough to a 1/8-inch thickness (or unfold store-bought dough). Invert a 9-inch plate on top of dough; trim dough around plate with a sharp paring knife to form a round (discard scraps, or save for another use). Refrigerate until needed.

2. Assemble the tart in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Press softened butter evenly into the bottom of the skillet, then sprinkle with the sugar. Arrange apple wedges in a circle around edge, then fill in the center with remaining wedges. Place skillet over medium heat, and cook until sugar mixture is light amber in color and bubbly, 8 to 10 minutes (syrup might brown unevenly).

3. Transfer to oven; cook until apples have softened, about 30 minutes. Carefully place dough round on top; bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes more.

4. Let cool, about 20 minutes. Run a knife around edge of skillet; invert tart onto a serving platter. Replace any apples that may have stuck to bottom of skillet; drizzle with any remaining pan juices. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My notes: This is from the September issue and looked easy and yummy. Back later with a review!

Oh my. I'm just not quite sure where to start with this one. Not one of my prettier kitchen moments. Thank goodness Martha had a picture on her website to entice you to try this recipe because my picture sure would not have!!! It was pretty much a failure, but I am determined to try it again because even the failure tasted pretty good!

My main mistake was cooking it too long - both on the stove and in the oven. It was supposed to be a "caramelized" tart, not a tart with caramel on top! My caramel actually got chewy instead of just thick and syrupy. The apples shriveled to almost nothing. The one success was the crust - it was light and fabulously flaky.

I will definitely give this another try and just really watch the cooking times. I cooked it on the stovetop until it was lightly browned, but I'd take it off earlier because it does so much cooking in the oven - next time I'd cook in on the stove only until it bubbled. Once in the stove, I'd just keep my eye on it and take it out when lightly browned.

I encourage anyone who is interested to give this one a try and please post here with your results. I'd love to see a success story with this one.

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