Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tuesdays with Dorie - French Apple Tart & Élysée Treaty


Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Julia group is French Apple Tart.




This classic  recipe was contributed by Leslie Mackie. As with all tarts, there are a few steps involved in this recipe that require a bit of advance planning. The first step is the preparation, chilling, and blind baking of a Flaky Pie Dough. The recipe calls for all purpose (plain) flour, salt, butter, vegetable shortening and ice water. I used all butter and found the dough very easy to work with.




The second step is the preparation and cooling of a baked Apple Compote using delicious tart Granny Smith apples, white sugar, a bit of all purpose (plain) flour, some ground cinnamon, fluffy fresh bread crumbs and some lemon juice.




The third and last step is the preparation of the very pretty Apple Topping using more wonderful thinly sliced Granny Smith, freshly squeezed lemon juice, melted unsalted butter and some white sugar. The assembly and baking of the tart calls for spreading the cooled Apple Compote in the pre-baked and cooled tart shell. Then you arrange the apple slices in a circular pattern on top of the Compote, brush the apple slices with melted butter and sugar before baking. I took the liberty of adding a pinch of cinnamon and the scraped seeds from a vanilla bean – I always add those two ingredients to my apple tarts. The assembled tart bakes for a good half hour.




How nice to be baking a French Apple Tart today on January 22, 2013 – today is the 50th anniversary of  the signing of the Élysée Treaty on January 22, 1963. The signing marked a milestone in relations between Germany and France and established a close friendship and cooperation between these two countries that are very dear to my heart.




Today, the City of Berlin will become a meeting place for the parliaments and governments of the two neighboring countries. The MP´s from the French “Assemblée Nationale” (“National Assembly”) and the German “Bundestag” (“Federal Assembly”) will be coming together for a joint meeting in the Chamber. Both French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will give a speech.




At the political ceremony in Berlin, Germany and France will commemorate the landmark signing of the Élysée Treaty and recall how their partnership began. The Treaty was signed by then French President Charles de Gaulle and then Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and placed relations between the two countries on a new footing following several wars. The Treaty became a foundation for intensive bilateral cooperation in politics, the economy, culture and society. Franco-German reconciliation and friendship also made an important contribution to European Integration which was honored when the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.




So what a better way to celebrate this special day by baking a French Apple Tart, enjoy a delicious Café au lait and read today`s newspapers that cooperated for the first time and published joined French/German and German/French editions.




To see the other French Apple Tarts as prepared by all the other enthusiastic members of the Tuesday with Dorie group, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Gaye´s delightful blog – Laws of the Kitchen. "Thank you for being such a gracious host, Gaye"!





52 comments:

  1. Beautiful tart and fantastic history lesson! :)

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    1. Dawn, thanks so much - this was a fun recipe to make and a very interesting day too!

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  2. Your tart is so perfect! And thanks for telling us about the treaty.

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    1. Karen, I love to bake tarts and this recipe turned out to be no exception!

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  3. What a very french table... Looks wonderful!

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  4. Your tart is perfect both in its beauty and also as a celebration dessert for the event you described so well. I've been working hard on our family history...I want my kids and grandkids to know who they are and to learn about their past family. So much of who we are in in both Hubby's and also in my family comes from Germany, and I'm learning, also from France. My heart hurts when I learn more about terrible conflicts between European neighbors that divided our family. I'll pass your lesson along to my family and we will also celebrate events that help with peace and better relations among other areas of our world...it all affects us more directly than we usually realize. Beautiful post and a perfect looking tart!

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    1. Krissy, thank you so very much for your kind words, it makes me really happy to read that you enjoyed this post so much. At first, I was not sure whether I should mention the Élysée Treaty at all but it is such an important part of the European history and we are so proud of our good relations with France, that I just could not pass up the opportunity and not mention it. Got to love those countries. Thanks again for commenting!

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  5. Beautiful tart! And great photos as usual..

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    1. Ferda, thank you for the lovely comment! Taking pictures of tarts is always nice, pretty tarts seem to be very photogenic.

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  6. What a beautiful tart and, I agree, a wonderful way to celebrate the Élysée Treaty. I appreciate your suggestion to add the vanilla bean seeds, that sounds like a delicious addition. Thanks for a very informative and interesting post!

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    1. You are more than welcome and thanks for your very nice comment!

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  7. What a great post. Very informative....I didn't know about that historic event.
    Your tart is beautiful. All your pics looks great. Very well done!!

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    1. I just could not pass up the opportunity to talk a bit about the Élysée Treaty...it was just too nice a coincidence with the baking of this very French Tart not to talk about it.

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  8. Thanks for the very interesting history of the Treaty, and for a great looking tart! Isn't it great TWD picked the right dessert for today?

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  9. Your tart looks lovely Andrea. And happy Treaty Day!

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    1. Gaye, thanks so much for being such a wonderful host for today´s French Apple Tart recipe - much appreciated!

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  10. Oh my Andrea.. what a perfect looking tart!! full marks on the rosette!! I definitely need lessons from you on that.. mine was such a clumsy effort!! :)

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    1. Sarwani, you are the expert baker in this group! I think I could learn quite a bit from you - thanks for the nice comment!

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  11. Thanks for the interesting history bit! Your baking always looks lovely and delicious. Well done!

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    1. It just happened to be an interesting day today and the baking of a French Apple Tart seem to be so "fitting" for the occasion.

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  12. Your tart looks gorgeous, Andrea! I would love to be eating a slice with that Café au lait for breakfast…lovely! A great informative post!

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    1. Kathy, the café au lait was indeed very nice with a healthy slice of this very French Apple Tart.

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  13. Wow, what an interesting story to go along with this tart! I have to admit, this dessert wasn't my favorite, but I think with a bit of tweaking, the flavor might be more to my liking. Your tart looks absolutely fantastic! Mine came out more pie-like - yours is much more the epitome of what an apple tart should look like! Well done!

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    1. Sara, thanks so much for your kind comment - glad you liked the little "history bit".

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  14. What a beautifully prepared tart and such perfect timing for the celebratory meeting of the two countries. Karen

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    1. Karen, thank you - yes, this seems to be the perfect day to be baking a very French Apple Tart and serve it with a nice bowl of Café au lait alongside all the while reading the joint editions of the French/German newspapers.

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  15. Absolutely gorgeous! Love the idea of vanilla bean seeds - I'll try that then next time I make this (if I remember!) Enjoyed your post. Thank you for your very kind comments on my post. I take it to heart, especially coming from someone as talented as yourself.

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    1. Cathleen, your post was absolutely stunning and I loved reading it and looking at it! Thanks for your wonderful comment on my blog!

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  16. You always enlighten us with such interesting facts Andrea. The tart is beautiful, as usual! I´m glad you enjoyed it. I couldn´t make the deadline, am trying to not become overwhelmed with posts and enjoy blogging more. Have a great week!

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    1. Paula, yes, I agree, blogging, while it is quite enjoyable, seems to be taking up quite a bit of my time - I have still to find a routine for writing that does not cause too much stress, but I am working on it and remain a bit stressed in the meantime.

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  17. Beautifully done, Andrea! And a perfect way to commemorate the treaty signing :)

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  18. Andrea, your tart is magnificent! Your crust looks so flaky and your slices are perfect. Beautiful job! What a wonderful way to celebrate.

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    1. Elaine, thanks so much - some special days are just made for unique celebrations!

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  19. I love apple tart and yours look so perfect! It was so nice to hear your secret of a pinch of cinnamon & vanilla bean seeds. I'll definitely remember this. I believe they make a difference in taste!

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    1. Nami, personally, I cannot bake anything with apples if I do not add a bit of (healthy) cinnamon and vanilla bean seeds, just cannot, because we have grown to love the taste of apples with these spices.

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  20. Beautiful tart! I love your additions! I will keep them in mind the next time I bake this recipe. It is also really nice to hear about some good history instead of the negative stuff in the news. Thanks for that!

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    1. Thanks so much for the comment - some nice French tart together with a bit of history, I believe that makes for a nice change.

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  21. Your Apple Tart is beautiful. You did a fantastic job.

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  22. Tres Chic...I love the story you told!

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  23. Wow what a beautiful tart - so French and gorgeous!! and I love your additions - and your knowledge!!
    Mary x

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    1. Mary, don´t we all love the way these French tarts look like?! I certainly do and so do a lot of other people/taste testers. I baked another one yesterday for my husband´s colleagues and there was not a crumb left - that certainly speaks for this wonderful recipe!

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  24. Your tart is so slender and elegant - worthy of a celebratory dessert.

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    1. Cher, thanks for the lovely comment - French tarts do have a tendency to always look elegant, that´s what I like about them, apart from the way they taste, of course!

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  25. I am willing to even read the newspaper for that gorgeous looking tart! Isn't it cool when we can find the perfect reason to bake something?

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    1. Thanks so much - I am happy to report that the newspapers were a nice excuse for a nice long break and a wonderful way to celebrate Treaty Day!

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  26. What a great post, Andrea. I loved the history lesson about the Elysee treaty and its commemoration. Many Americans (myself included) have so much to learn about world history. I love how your serving plate has fluted edges like your beautiful tart. Such a perfect pairing. I also enjoyed this tart. The apple compote filling was new to me and makes this tart quite special, even if it might be the ordinary way in France.

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    1. Bestsy, hope that I did not bore anyone with my little "history lesson" - I was not too sure about my post at first but somehow it did seem like such an important day and such a wonderful tasting Tart - the two just went together so well.

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