French Apple Tart

Last week I posted about my aunt's Beef Stroganoff and the memories that it evokes.  Similarly, my grandmother lived with my aunt in her later years, though also spending the summer months in a big house in Maine, where the extended family would descend for weeks at a time.

Often, my grandmother would break out her French baking skills and make a tarte, though usually with plums, peaches, or some other summer fruit.  But this picture looks a lot like what she would make.

French Apple Tart
from Saveur via BuzzFeed
Serves 8

Ingredients 

• 1 1⁄4 cups flour, plus more for dusting 
• 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and chilled 
• 1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt 
• 7 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and halved 
• 1⁄4 cup sugar 
• 1⁄2 cup apricot jam 
• Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Instructions

1. Combine flour, 8 tbsp. butter, and salt in a food processor and pulse until pea-size crumbles form, about 10 pulses. Drizzle in 3 tbsp. ice-cold water and pulse until dough is moistened, about 3—4 pulses. Transfer dough to a work surface and form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Unwrap dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, flatten dough into a 13″ circle and then transfer to a 11″-tart pan with a removable bottom; trim edges; chill for 1 hour. 
2. Heat oven to 375º. Working with one apple half at a time, thinly slice into sections, keeping slices together. Press sliced apple half gently to fan it out; repeat with remaining apple halves. Place 1 fanned apple half on outer edge of the tart dough, pointing inward; repeat with 7 more apple halves. Separate remaining apple slices. Starting where the apple halves touch and working your way in, layer apples to create a tight rose pattern. Fill in any gaps with remaining apple. Sprinkle with sugar and then dot with remaining butter. Bake until golden brown, 60–70 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat apricot jam in a small saucepan until warmed and loose; pour through a fine strainer into a small bowl and set aside. Transfer tart to a wire rack; using a pastry brush, brush top of tart with jam. Let cool completely before slicing and serving with whipped cream.