Try these recipes for apple tart, pie

I make a simple apple tart during fall apple season much more often than I make pie. It’s easy and delicious and just the perfect size for the two of us. I use frozen puff pastry rather than make my own.

Everyone seems to have a favorite apple pie recipe and mine is a combination of the “Joy of Cooking” recipe in which the filling is precooked to prevent the gap under the top crust that so often happens. I use refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crusts, making sure they are fresh.

Although homemade is so much better, I prefer easy as pie. The current Bon Appetit magazine has a pie crust made with cheddar cheese that sounds divine.

I prefer a combination of Golden Delicious and Fuji apples for both recipes.

Here are my recipes:

Janet’s Apple Tart INGREDIENTS

1 thawed sheet frozen but kept puff chilled pastry,

2 large Fuji and/or Golden Delicious apples Juice of half lemon 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon snipped fresh tarragon

INSTRUCTIONS Roll pastry on lightly floured surface into an 11-inch square about oneeighth-inch thick.

Transfer to baking sheet and prick all over with a fork to prevent it from puffing during baking.

Peel, quarter and core the apples.

Rub them with lemon juice to prevent discoloration and cut lengthwise into paper-thin slices.

Arrange apples in rows, overlapping slices, to cover pastry completely.

Sprinkle with sugar and dot with butter.

Chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

Put over rack on lowest shelf and preheat to 450 degrees.

Transfer baking sheet to oven. Immediately reduce temperature to 400 degrees

and bake about 25 minutes.

Remove tart from oven, sprinkle with tarragon and return to oven for about 5 minutes until apples are caramelized.

Serve immediately. We like it topped with vanilla ice cream.

Janet’s Apple Pie INGREDIENTS

3 pounds apples, 6 to 8 medium and/or Fuji) (Golden Delicious

3 butter tablespoons unsalted

¾ cup sugar

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg ¼ teaspoon ground cloves 1⁄8 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS Peel, core and slice apples, measuring 7 cups.

Add butter to large skillet until sizzling and fragrant.

Add apples and cook stirring frequently until apples are softened on outside but still crispy. Reduce and cook heat, 5 to cover 7 minutes, tightly stirring Stir in remaining frequently. ingredients to high and cooking increase about heat 3 minutes apples become at rapid thick boil and until syrupy. Spread apples in thin layer on a baking pan to cool.

Prepare pie pan with bottom pie crust, overlapping pan.

Put rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees.

Pour cooled apple pie mixture into crust and brush overhang with cold water.

Cover with top crust, seal the edges, trim then flute both crusts together.

Cut steam vents in top crust. Sprinkle with a little milk and sugar.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes until crust is brown and filling has begun to bubble.

When done, let cool completely 3 to 4 hours on a rack.

If you wish to serve it warm, place in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Eat promptly or keep at room temperature 2 to 3 days. — Adapted from “Joy of Cooking,” by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (Scribner)

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