Tag Archives: fall

Free Form Apple Tart recipe

Once you’ve picked your apples and brought them home you can make delicious apple treats. Maybe make something from your country’s cuisine. Or try this simple version of an apple pie!

Free Form Apple Tart

Free form Apple Tart for blog

photo by Gaetan Lee

Pastry – 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup cold butter cut into 10 pieces, 3 tablespoons ice water, 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon peel, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice.

Filling – 4 large apples, (about 1.5 pounds) peeled, 1/4 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 2 tablespoons butter, confectioners sugar (optional).

Directions: Mix butter and flour with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water, lemon peel and juice. Stir until dough holds together. Gather dough into a ball, flatten, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate 30 minutes or just until firm enough to roll out.

Meanwhile, peel and cut each apple in half from top to bottm. Remove core and stem ends. Turn halves cut sides down and slice thin. Heat oven to 425 degrees. On lightly floured surface roll dough into a 13 inch round. Edges can be uneven. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheet. Leaving a 2 inch border, arrange apples in concentric circles from outside toward the middle. Sprinkle with sugar-nutmeg mixture, then dot with butter. Fold edges of pastry over apples. Bake 15 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for 35 minutes longer or until apples are tender and pastry is golden. Slide tart onto wire rack to cool. Before serving, dust with confectioners sugar.

YUM!!! I’m going to make mine today!

October News

Pumpkin photo

photo by Aaron Gustafson

October is the month of hayrides, pumpkin picking and trick or treating on Halloween! Read about the History and Origin of Halloween, Safety Tips, Recipes (you don’t want to miss the Frozen Hand recipe), and more, all on this site. http://www.halloween-website.com/

There are still plenty of apples to be picked and it’s a wonderful activity to gather with your friends/family to go to one of the local orchards to pick your own apples. To find the orchards for your area, visit http://www.mda.state.md.us/md_products/agritourism_sites-farms//fall_farm_activities.php

Our three clusters can find orchards in their area by scrolling down to the Anne Arundel, Baltimore, and Howard County listings. A few quick suggestions are www.butlersorchard.com (Germantown), www.baughers.com (Westminster) and www.webersfarm.com (Baltimore).