Thin Apple Tarts

Thin Apple Tarts in an interesting little recipe, and I can't quite decide if I like it or not.

It's gratifyingly simple, if you happen to have puff pastry in the freezer (and if you're a devotee of The Gourmet Cookbook, you might as well, since it comes up more than once). Thinly slice apples, toss with syrup, lay out on puff pastry rounds, bake, brush with reduced syrup.





You can see that exposed apple bits got somewhat charred, since they bake at 450.

So here's why I'm on the fence. At first bite, it was kind of like eating apple slices on toast. Not much in the way of a binder. Also, the puff pastry makes for a nice stiff platform for the apples, but that makes it kind of difficult to cut into with a knife and fork, if you tend to eat that way. I found the easiest way to eat them was like a cookie.

I departed from the recipe slightly by making smaller rounds (4" instead of 6") to make these a more individualized dessert option. I used Macs instead of Granny Smith. And once I realized that it had a kind of apples-on-toast thing going on, I brushed them over and over again with the reduced syrup to give it a third, binding element.

Now, having said all that, visiting daughter M. loved hers so much that she asked me to photocopy the recipe.

For those of you who are bored with the standard apple desserts like pies and crisps--this might be just the thing to pique your interest. The other thing that's nice about it is that it feels like a light dessert--just a little mouthful of something sweet enough, but not too much.