{TWD} Parisian Apple (and Peach and Plum) Tartlets

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie assignment, the Parisian Apple Tartlet, has got to be the fastest and easiest recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s cookbook, Baking From My Home to Yours. It takes no longer than 5 minutes to assemble, and in about half an hour, there’s dessert! If you do what I did, make 4 tarts with different types of fruit, then you add about another 5 minutes to the assembly time. And that’s it! Perfect for me this week, as I am extra-busy, and this recipe fit right into my crazy day on Sunday.

And to match the short recipe, this post will be uncharacteristically brief. You can all breathe a sigh of relief!

n.o.e.’s notes:

- Dorie’s recipe calls for store-bought all-butter puff pastry. I located a 1 lb box at Trader Joe’s. From reading this week’s P&Q I gathered that having a strikingly easy assignment wasn’t as welcome to some of my fellow bakers as it was to me; there was lots of discussion about making puff pastry at home rather than reaching for a handy box of Trader Joe’s, or Dufour, or even good old Pepperidge Farm. I'm very impressed with their energy, and no doubt I'll be even more impressed with their pastry! Someday I may try making my own, but for this week I was grateful to open a box and be done with it.

- I cut my tartlet circles using my little tartlet molds, which are just under 4".

- I peeled the apple and the peach but left the skin on the plum.

- My tarts were pretty juicy, especially the plum one ,which ran all over the baking sheet. They were a tiny bit soggy on the bottom, so in the future I might not use the silicone or the double cookie sheets (I keep my cushion-aire baking sheet in the oven and just put everything I bake on it). And maybe do something about that juicy fruit!

- A few minutes before the end of baking I sprinkled some more brown sugar on the tarts, so they'd be pretty.

the verdict:

These tarts were good, and I'll have to say, they have a special place in my heart because of how easy they are!

We thought that we would like the peach ones the best (which is why I made two of them) and we did enjoy them. What's not to like about ripe peaches and warm pastry? But we liked the other fruits even more. My husband preferred the apple. I could not get him to taste the plum - he claimed that he was too full! What? When has that ever stopped dessert at our house? Anyway, I loved the plum. This particular plum was quite tart, which was a nice contrast to the rich and refined pastry. I think that I'll sprinkle on some cinnamon along with the brown sugar next time I bake these.

As I was eating my tart(s) I was trying to figure how how to evaluate the recipe. It was quite delicious, but certainly not in the same league as the French Pear Tart or the Tartest Lemon Tart. But the sheer simplicity of the recipe (well, for those of us who used the boxed puff pastry, that is!) helps these tarts to cut closer to the front of the line. I was reminded of the blog Effort to Deliciousness, where Margot evaluates recipes based on a combination of effort and, well, deliciousness. While I can't replicate Margot's scientific approach, I can say that this recipe delivers - both in taste and appearance - far beyond the 5 minutes it takes to throw it in the oven.

Thanks to Jessica of My Baking Heart for picking this delicious dessert for us this week.

Here's a little sneak peek at the TWD recipe for two weeks from now...!