I love Jacques Pepin. I am reading his autobiography as recommended by my sister. The few recipes offered are fabulous. They are rarely fussy and sound delicious. So…on page 132-133 we have this recipe: Maman’s Apple Tart.

With no offense toward Maman or Jacques I made it my way! Heat your oven to 400 degrees F.

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 large egg, beaten with a fork in a bowl
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons shortening such as Crisco. Those of you who know me know that I do not ever have shortening in the house. So I use Coconut oil. It’s solid in my pantry at this winter temperature.
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons hot milk; all I have is almond milk so that is what I heat in small pyrex bowl to nuke

Make the dough by putting all ingredients but the hot milk in a bowl and stirring all together. Then add the hot milk. Do not overwork the dough; it will be soft. Press the dough into the 9 inch pie tin with floured fingers so the dough covers the bottom and reaches up the sides.

• 4 large Golden Delicious apples (about 2 pounds); I use three Empire apples because that is what is in my produce drawer
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut up in bits

While making the dough I add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. In afterthought I could have used cinnamon sugar in the topping.

Peel, core, and slice the apples into 1/1/2 inch wedges. Oops! I cut mine into tiny slices about 1/8-1/4 inch thick! My bad! Arrange the wedges on the dough like the spokes of a wheel. Sprinkle with the sugar and top with the butter.

Bake approximately one hour until the crust is golden. Well…my crust is a bit on the brown side! I think I used the 8 inch pan as well. It’s my kitchen; I do it my way!

The crust is crisp. The apples are soft and flavorful. Very nice and easy to make. This is a keeper. Yum!