French Apple Tart

French Apple Tart is a classic rosette dessert for my valentine, my husband on the coming valentines day. As it is on the weekday this year, i am doing all the preparation today over the weekend and baking it on 14th. The best part of this rose tart is it is simple but extremely beautiful perfect dessert with a glass of red wine for a perfect evening. 

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Ingredients

Pie Crust

• 1 Cup Flour flour plus 1/4 cup extra to combine and for rolling the dough
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 Tsp salt
• 1 Egg yolk
• 1-2 Tbsp water
• 1 Stick unsalted butter (approx 8 tablespoon)

Apple Compote

• 3 Apples of your choice (best is to take Gala Apples) 
• 1/4 Cup apple Juice (any store bought is fine)
• 1/4 Cup water 
• 2 Tbsp sugar 
• 1 Tbsp lemon zest 
• Pinch of cinnamon 

For Rosette

• 2-3 Apples preferably Gala Apples 
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice 
• 1/2 Tbsp of white sugar 
• 2 Tbsp of apple Jam/Jelly  (optional)

Directions

For Pie Crust

1. In a food processor mix flour, salt, sugar and butter; make sure butter is ice cold from the refrigerator not at the room temperature. Just  give 1-2 pulse in the mixer so that everything is well combined and you have a sand like texture of the flour
2. Combine egg yolk with water and transfer this to the food processor after 1-2 mins you will see the mixture is turned into a form of dough
3. Take the dough in to floured surface and knead it till it is not sticky and not too tight, but in a good soft texture shape, form it to a disc shape; cover it with the plastic wrap and keep it in a refrigerator for 30 mins and just before taking it out keep it in a freezer for 1-2 mins; it will help rolling it better
4. Now roll it into a size of tart pan plus 1 inch extra and put it over on the tart pan and press with fingers that 1 inch extra on the size of the tart pan
5. Now using fork prick the pie of the tart surface and bake it in the oven for 10 mins at 350 Degrees F. This step is very important and prevent crust to be soggy when added apples. After baking let it rest outside for cooling

For Apple Compote  

1. Peel, Core and dice the apples in to cubes, any kind of apple is fine for this step but i am using Gala apples for the rose decoration topping hence using the same to make compote
2. Now in a pan, add the diced apples, water, apple juice, lemon zest and pinch of cinnamon, cover it and let it simmer for 10-15 mins on medium heat
3. Once the liquid evaporates, use the masher or a fork to mash the apples till it turns into a apple sauce like consistency 

For Apple Rosette

1. Peel, core and slice the apples as thin as possible. For better taste make sure to have sweet apples hence i picked Gala apples. For apple compote it doesn't matter as we add sugar while making compote but for rosette it will taste much better if apples are sweet
2. Gently rub the lemon juice to the thin sliced apples; it will prevent them to turn into brown

Assembly Time 

1. Take the pie crust tart, it must have cooled by now 
2. Spread the layer of apple compote on the bottom surface of the tart
3. And then the fun part begins, start decorating the thin slice apples in the form of round shape start from the outer circle making sure the sides of slices are overlapping each other
4. Once you reach till the inner circle, you will see a beautiful rosette is been formed
5. Bake the dish now for next 20-30 mins or until golden brown at 350 Degree F 
6. Take out from the oven, brush the liquid apple jam or jelly (take a spoon of jam or jelly and 1 tbsp water and microwave for 30 secs it will turn into liquid). You can use any other  jelly or jam of your choice. This step is just to give the shine on the top layer to make it more pretty 

The beautiful classic french apple tart is ready, enjoy a slice with your loved ones along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or dollop of whipped cream next to it. Happy Valentines Day!