Shut The Front Door! Apple _____?

Shut the front door! Those are the words I murmured as I watched this beauty bake in my oven.  And the same thought came to mind as I was tempted to lock myself away in my house and eat this entire dish.  I have made apple crisp for years, and have never stuck to a recipe, always just made it up as I went.  Which, unfortunately, always led to mixed emotions on the results.  AND THEN THIS.  Not sure whether to call it a tart, or a pie, or apple crisp, but whatever it is, it rocks! The boys and I took a trip to our local fruit farm (pattersonfarm.com) this week which is a must if you are ever in the area.  We love going, their produce is perfection, and their bakery makes you want to tackle your way to the front of the line like it’s black friday.  Our usual items we pick up are their apple fritters (they’re HUGE), apple butter, fresh kettle corn in the fall, and of course bags of apples.  This trip I was out to just grab a bag of apples, and their pink lady apples were beyond crisp and tart, just what I needed.  We headed home, and Brody was upset that we did not see any animals at “the farm” so a few tears and a tantrum later, we made it home to bake.  I wanted to do something different, I was so sick of not being pleased with my crisps in the past.  So, I combined all of my favorite things about apple desserts into one dish.  Making the sugar cookie tart, and letting it cool is likely the most “time-consuming” part, other wise the rest is a breeze.  I had to give more than 1/2 of it to relatives to keep us from eating the whole thing.  Put this on your must bake list!

INGREDIENTS:

Sugar Cookie Tart Crust:

• 1 Cup room temperature butter
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 2 1/2 Cup Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 4 Tbsp Milk
• 2 tsp Vanilla

Filling:

• 6-7 Medium Sized Apples, Peeled and sliced into thin inch wedges
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• Zest of 1 Lemon & the juice of 1/2
• 2 Tbsp Flour
• 1 tsp Cinnamon

Crumb Topping:

• 3/4 Cup Flour
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 6 Tbsp Butter (cold)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat Oven to 400*  For the crust, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in the flour, salt, milk and vanilla until it is crumbly.  When you pinch the dough it should stick together.  Place in your non greased tart pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges appear set.  Let cool while you prepare the filling.  LOWER YOUR OVEN TEMP. TO 350*.

Filling : Peel and slice the apple into thin wedges.  Place in a large bowl, and pour in the sugar, lemon zest and juice, flour and cinnamon.  Mix with your hands and set aside.

Crumb Topping: In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and butter with a fork until it resembles wet sand, with pea size crumbs.

Once tart has cooled, take about a TBSP. of butter and coat the cookie tart.  This will help the cookie crust from getting soggy from the apple juices while baking.  Pour the apples over the crust.  I left an edge, but feel free to cover it completely if you like.  Pour the crumb mixture over the top and bake @ 350 * for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.  Check on it half way through baking, if you notice the edges are getting brown fast, tent the edges with foil to protect them.

Source : Sugar Cookie Tart Crust  (I doubled the recipe for my tart pan)  Filling/Crumb Topping was a combination of experience and research.