Recipe Notes Adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics

Ingredients

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed (I love Pepperidge Farm®)

4 Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Pink Lady apples

½ cup sugar

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

½ cup apricot jam (Bonne Maman® Apricot Preserves is my choice)

2 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Place two puff pastry sheets side by side on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; overlapping them by about an inch. Using a rolling pin, roll the pastry toward the edges of the pan to make it larger.

Peel the apples, cut them in half from top to bottom, and remove the stems and core. Slice the apples crosswise into ¼-inch slices. (If you have an apple corer, you could peel, then core, then cut each of the cored slices crossways into the thin slices.) Place overlapping slices of the apples in long vertical rows on the pastry, alternating the direction with each row. Sprinkle the apples with sugar and dot with butter cubes. With your fingers, roll the pastry edges up and crimp them. No need to worry about perfection here! The more rustic the better.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is golden and the edges of the apples have started to brown. It’s a good idea to rotate the pan at least once during baking. When the tart is done, heat the apricot preserves and water in a small saucepan until the mixture starts to bubble lightly. With a pastry brush, brush the entire tart with the hot preserves mixture. Loosen the tart from the paper with a metal spatula, and serve warm with a scoop of ice cream or at room temperature on its own.