This recipe is perfect as a sweet side dish or as a dessert. The delicious smell of baked apples and cinnamon is sure to make this beautiful tart a hit! And though they look complicated, the technique in achieving the rose is actually quite simple.
Filling
2 red apples
1½ cups caramel vodka
6 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice (not bottled)
Tart
1 large sheet puff pastry
½ tablespoon margarine, at room temperature
sugar and cinnamon, for sprinkling
confectioner’s sugar
- Slice the apples in half vertically. Place apples, skin side up, on a cutting board. Slice off top and bottom stems. Slice thinly (from the top of the apple to the bottom) into half-moon shapes. Remove seeds and core from apple slices.
- Place vodka, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add apples and stir occasionally to insure they all cook. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until soft; remove from the sauce.
- Preheat oven to 375ºF
- Roll out puff pastry to a 9 x 13-inch square and cut into 6 (about 2-inch-wide) strips. Brush pastry with margarine and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place apple slices, overlapping, along the long edge of each piece of dough, with the skin side of the apple extending about ⅛ to ¼ inch beyond the edge of the dough. Fold bottom half of dough up over the apples and press to seal.
- Then, starting from one end, roll the tart up tightly. Place tarts in a greased muffin tin.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until tarts begin to brown on top and the pastry turns golden. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan, and transfer to a cooling rack. Sprinkle lightly with confectioner’s sugar.
Yield: 6 tarts
Preparation: Apple tarts can be made one day in advance.
For more great recipes, check out this weeks issue of Whisk by Ami
