Smitten Kitchen's apple tart: Something special

I am not the kind of person who looks at many recipes and thinks, "let's make that exactly as it's written!"I either eyeball amounts, change the spices, change some ratios, taste and edit as I go. When I find a recipe that is an exception to this, I know I've found something special I have to share with you.

Ready for my close-up, darling

I am the only person in my immediate family who loves pumpkin pie. As such, I am always in support of inviting others to our Thanksgiving celebration, because it means I can justify baking this traditional dessert, for the sake of our guests you know. Still, there has to be another dessert, and my mother asked for an apple pie.

Want to know a secret?
I don't really like apple pie.

Considering that we only have one pie pan (and my pumpkin pie was going in it, dammit!), and all the other cooking I needed to do, I thought about doing a free-form apple tart, sometimes called a galette, and came across a recipe the fabulous Deb at Smitten Kitchen wrote about, calling it the "simplest apple tart," a recipe from Alice Waters of Chez Panisse fame.

Want to know another secret?
I honestly think this apple tart was the first time no one in my family suggested a change or criticism to something I had cooked. The pastry was perfect, the apples were not too tart nor too sweet. That's how I knew I had a winner. Oh, and I liked it too.

It was such a winner that less than a month later I was making three more apple tarts, two to be served after Christmas dinner, and one that went straight into the freezer for my mom to enjoy at her leisure. And I made every one exactly according to Deb's recipe.

Here's why I love making this tart in addition to eating it: I can make the pastry dough with a mixer instead of a food processor; I don't need a special pan to bake this, a baking sheet works just fine; and, the ingredients are easy to find and simple: apples, sugar, butter, flour, and salt.

Do the apple-lovers in your life a favor and check out this recipe (and many other treasures!) at Smitten Kitchen.