Happy Canada Day!

The heat wave has been treating us really well. Like extremely well. We’ve experienced gorgeous weather since May. And the high temperature of over 30 degrees recently has really gotten us into nothing but staying in the pool with the kids FOR THE WHOLE DAY! Because nothing is better than this. Hmmmm… Maybe air-conditioning?! But I’m sure we would still be hanging at the backyard. Sun-tanning by the water is our thing!

So we don’t have air-conditioning in our house, but I’m never shy of baking in the oven or cooking on the stove. Because eating is also our thing! I was all crazy and cooked up a huge batch of English toffee on a stove in the hot afternoon yesterday. You know when craving comes along, it’s just too hard to not deal with it.

Baking a pie or tart is also considered insane under this warm weather. But you know that tub of vanilla ice cream were nagging about being too bored sitting in the freezer. And eating it plain is just even boring. So I had to cook that apple filling and bake the tart. Well! All sweaty! Yet with that fragrance of butter, cinnamon, maple and apple around the house. And you know something awesome is coming along. Totally worth it!

Ingredients (one 9 x 3-inch tart):
Shortbread Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Apple Filling
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cubed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
To prepare crust, sift the flour and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Cream butter and powdered sugar in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
Gather dough and form a dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to chill.
To prepare apple filling, put apples, butter, sugar, maple syrup and cinnamon in a skillet. Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very soft and almost fall apart into a puree. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a tart pan with a removable bottom.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Line the prepared pan with the rolled dough. Leave a tiny overhand of dough. Use a small kitchen knife to trim the excess and to score the tops of the tart.
Roll the remaining dough out and cut into 1/2 inch width strips. Lay 3 or 4 strips over the filling, evenly spaced, and then weave with the remaining strips diagonally. Adhere the ends to the edge of the shell.
Bake the tart for 40 to 45 minutes, until the crust is slightly brown on the edges.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.