The recipe I am sharing with you today is not the one I intended to share with you. My neighbor’s gave me a pumpkin from their garden
and I intended to make a honey-mustard pumpkin soup with half
and a pumpkin pie for my neighbors with the other half. That would give them a pleasant shock. The French don’t eat sweet vegetables (pumpkin pie, zucchini bread, carrot cake … although Starbucks in France means carrot cake in France).
Anyhoo, when I halved the pumpkin I was reminded of my sister’s wedding day to her German husband where he promised to take her as his lawfully wedded wife, to halve her and to hold her.
And then she giggled uncontrollably for the rest of the ceremony.
And then I giggled uncontrollably thinking about it and that made me mess up the soup.
Alright, that’s not what really happened (although he did truly promise to halve her); what really happened is that I hadn’t gone grocery shopping because Young Knight was sick so I tried to “improve” upon the recipe with alternate ingredients. You can guess how that went.
But I had these apples from our apple tree, you see
and they also needed to be made into something warm since they’re a tad tasteless when you crunch them fresh. It’s an old tree.
So I made the most basic of basic of tarte aux pommes recipes. I even cheated and used frozen (then thawed and rolled) gluten-free pie crust to speed things up. I didn’t even bother to roll the crust out up the sides but just haphazardly spread it out along the bottom of the quiche pan.
Raspberry jam in a thick layer along the bottom.
Slice the apples and lay them in concentric circles.
Grab your honey jar
and pour the honey over the apples
(tick tock – maybe get liquid honey instead).
A few tabs of butter and nutmeg and … voila!
A lot of the French women I know make this and don’t put jam on the bottom or butter on the top and they use cinnamon instead of nutmeg. We were actually out of cinnamon. But without the jam and butter it does make for a rather dull tarte (albeit healthier). This way is tastier. And still French, I promise.
Into the oven, pre-heated to 350° and bake for … oh about 25 minutes or so. Keep checking it.
When it comes out, it’s beautiful! And the butter/jam/honey combination makes the crust chewy and gooey and fruity. Yum!
Totally worth sharing, even though this is not the recipe I was going to share with you today.
jennie,
are you sure you’re not just the teensiest bit Jewish? a recipe w/ apples & honey, which are the symbolic treat of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year (which is next week!)?? This looks soooo easy and super delish. I just drooled on my keyboard.
xoxox
Well I sure would be honored, but I don’t think with my Puritan ancestors on both sides there’s a big chance … hee hee
I just went apple picking and this seems WAY easier than an apple pie. Yay!
It IS way easier than apple pie. You cannot go wrong and I personally think it tastes so much better.
Yum that looks absolutely delish!!! I love apple anything, in fact I’m going to bake an apple cake this week. Yum.
If you blog it I will come.
Looks very tasty! You gave me a chuckle with your “halve” joke. It was a beautiful pumpkin! Did you get to make the pumpkin pie?
You’re the only other one who thought that was funny. No pumpkin pie yet, but I’m girding my loins.
Yum… I want to make this with a buttery crust and freshly whipped cream!
Yes. It has to have a buttery crust (shortening does not exist here) and I always say yes to whipped cream. You can also change the jam to apricot, for instance.
I made my very first apple pie last week! ( I am not a domestic goddess, just pretend to be one) Next I will try your beautiful variation:)
Apple pie – you go girl!
This recipe is quite different than an apple pie (which I also love). More chewy, for lack of a better word. So no one will think you’re baking the same exact thing as last week.
Hi Marlisa! 🙂
A tarte is just different from a pie in the sense that it never has a top crust. I’ve been baking GF for years (as a coeliac) and it is more challenging in France than in the US, but lately I’ve started to see all sorts of products, both frozen and pre-packaged. I usually order it online as I’m not sure how readily available it is in the stores. We can now get filo pastry, basic crust and flaky crust (not sure the proper English name – pâte brisé and pâte feuilleté).
As you can see, I don’t have any experience in the more elaborate pastries such as éclairs or decorating cupcakes, etc although I am gung-ho to learn. However I think pies are fairly easy as GF as the crust is contained. I think the best tasting and most manageable is the recipe I used here: https://aladyinfrance.com/2011/06/25/last-hurrah-lemon-tarte/ It’ not my recipe, or I just changed it a little bit but I’m not sure where it’s from. I’m going to start paying more attention so I don’t plagiarize recipes. You can also see Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. She’s the pro.
I’m just trying to bring some more of the French recipes to the English speaking world with the GF variation for those who need it.
My first thought was, “I am SO going to make this! It looks delicious! It looks do-able! I am SO going to make this!”
Then the Reality of Me hit and I thought, “I am SO going to become best friends with Jennie so I can travel to France and have her make this for me!”
Either one of these things could happen…
XOXO
Now you’re talkin! Sounds like a great plan to me. 🙂
When I went to write tomorrow’s blog on my own website, it has denied me access for some strange reason, so I came here looking to be cheered up while I wait (I hope not for days) to hear from my website peeps why I can’t get into my own website! Your tart has taken my mind off the problem for a moment. It’s beautiful and looks delicious! I so want to try it! I’d love the pumpkin soup recipe. Hope we see it soon! And “halve” and to hold is just wonderful! Thanks for the cheer up!
Jane – thank you for visiting me in order to cheer up! That is such a compliment. Now, when I went to your blog I couldn’t click on any link to read more of each post. Is that related to the problem you’re having? I’m currently getting external help for some blog help, namely organizing my recipes and FB design. I hope you can sort yours out soon.
YUM. That pie recipe looks divine and I’ve been wondering what to do with the apples here in the UAE, which seem to come from, of all places, China, and just aren’t that good. But the internal circadian rhythms say “fall…apples…fall…apples” You’ve just given me a weekend plan. But I would also love to see that recipe for the pumpkin soup…Do you suppose you could use swap out pumpkin and use squash?
Bonne Maman will always hold a special place in my heart. That jam is SO sweet I can eat it with a spoon and consider it dessert.
I love this recipe. So easy, so delicious.