Sheet Pan Apple Tart with Sweet Apple Glaze
Hello, friend. I hope that you are having a lovely weekend.
This week has been a bit of rough ride for me, mostly with ups and downs in my mental health rather than any major changes in our daily lives. I finally got up the courage to try recording a video for our Youtube channel where I talk to the camera rather than silent, aesthetic cinematography and words. In so little words, it went badly. I cried multiple times, had a panic attack, but ended up finishing only to watch the footage back and absolutely hate it. It felt like such a gigantic failure to me, mostly because I spent most of my adolescence doing stage productions and was decent enough to get a few lead roles along the way. For whatever reason, this was harder, to play myself in front of the camera. I am a rather quiet and awkward person.
And then I attempted a few recipes that ended up being flops. Including this one. I was not happy with the results and questioned even posting it. But after having the family give it a try, they really enjoyed it and I had a change of heart. Much to my surprise, it performed rather well on our Instagram and TikTok accounts… So here is the recipe.
I felt that a sheet pan pie might be something fun and different to try. Pies can be baked in all sorts of pan, so why not spread a filling into a large sheet pan to make the serving a bit thinner and spread more easily at a large table. I divided this dessert into 12 larger pieces, but it could easily be divided into even tinier helpings.
I recently read about a method for baking a pie where the apples are baked first and then the syrupy filling is poured over them inside of the pie. I thought that sounded like something I wanted to try, and thus this tart was born! The apples macerate in sugar, releasing their juices, and then are drained and squeezed until mostly dry. The juices and sugar from the apples is then cooked until thick and syrupy and pour over the top of the tart. This gives it a really fresh take!
This sheet pan pie takes about three pie crusts to fill the entire pan. I thought it might be pretty to use autumn leaf cookie cutters to decorate the top of the tart, though a lattice or other design would be beautiful as well.
I get most of my cookie cutters from Ann Clark.
I would play around with the spices in your glaze, as too much cinnamon can be quite powerful.
In all, this recipe turned out better than I thought it was going to. After a few days of thinking it through, I am glad that I shared it! I have been getting stuck inside of my head a lot lately. I think that holidays have crept up on me, and there is generally a lot of pressure to share during this season. This is my own little note to self to step back and simply have fun with it!
xoxo Kayla
Sheet Pan Apple Tart with Sweet Apple Glaze
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- 3/4 cup lard or butter, chilled and cubed
- 12 tbsp ice water
- 3 pounds apples, or about 12 medium apples
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- pinch kosher salt
- 2 cups apple syrup
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
- Cut in the cold butter or lard with a pastry blender or fork until it resembles coarse crumbs about the size of a pea. Add in the water, one tablespoon at a time, and mix the dough together until it forms a solid piece of dough. It should not stick together but still be a bit crumbly. If the dough is too wet, the crust will be pasty and not flaky. It should be able to stay together when rolled.
- Shape the dough into two separate discs and cover them in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour before using.
- Peel, core, and slice the apples into half moons about 1/4-inch thick. In a large bowl, toss the apple slices with the sugars. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 1 hour or several hours, until the sugar dissolves and the apples release their juices.
- Drain the apples and reserve the leftover syrup to make the glaze. Toss the apples with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a standard 26 x 18-inch sheet pan.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and roll out one half to about 28 x 20-inch rectangle. It should fit inside of a standard baking sheet pan with some overhang. Place the dough into a lightly greased sheet pan. Cut the edges to have a 1-inch overhang, fold the edge under, and flute the edges. With the tines of a fork, poke holes all over the bottom of the crust. Whisk up 1 egg and a splash of water and brush the crust all over.
- Begin to arrange the apples in the crust in a single layer. This can be decorative, if you like. Chill the tart until it is ready to bake.
- Once the apples are arranged, roll out the second pie crust. You may choose to make any design of your liking for the top crust. A lattice would be pretty; I used autumn leaf cookie cutters for the top of mine. You could also fully cover the pie with a top crust, cutting out some slits for air to escape.
- Place the top crust over the apples and brush the crust with egg wash. If you prefer, sprinkle coarse sugar over the top of the crust.
- Bake the tart for about 35-40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.
- While the tart is baking, make the glaze. In a medium saucepan add the apple syrup that you reserved from letting the apples and sugar sit. If you do not have 2 cups worth, add water to the liquid.
- Add the butter, cornstarch, and cinnamon to the apple syrup and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Continue to stir until the mixture thickens to a something resembling a goopy pie filling. Remove the pan from heat and whisk in the vanilla.
- When the tart is finished baking, spread the glaze over the top of the tart and into any openings on top of the crust.
- Slice into 12 pieces and serve alongside whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
