Made by Marfinkle: Apples to Apples

*In honor of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, I decided to try out a new dessert recipe from Susie Fishbein's Kosher by Design series. The cover photo from the original "Kosher by Design" cook book, the "sunken apples and honey tart," seemed like the perfect choice for a new project!

The recipe calls for the following:

1/3 cup honey
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 8-10 wedges
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons margarine, softened
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind, only yellow not white pith
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

First, I prepared my apples. Using a nifty grater I received from my parents after a trip to the Topsfield Fair and a combination hand peeler/corer, I was able to get my apples ready for cooking:

Next, I heated the oven to 350 degrees. Then, I coated by 9-in springform pan with some non-dairy margarine. After, I combined the honey and lemon juice in a large nonstick skillet and brought it to a simmer over medium heat. I added the apples and cooked them about 12 minutes, turning them over every few minutes to coat them:

After removing the just-soft apples from heat and setting them aside, I combined the 3/4 cup sugar, margarine, brown sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Using my KitchenAid standing mixer, I beat the ingredients on medium until well blended, about 1 minute:

I then beat in the two eggs, followed by beating in the grated lemon rind. The result was an unattractive and somewhat runny mixture:

In a separate bowl, I combined the flour, baking powder, and salt. I whisked them together and then gradually added the flour mixture to the batter, beating on low until blended. The result was a deliciously thick batter:

After pouring the batter into my 9-in pan, I removed the apples from the skillet (discarding the liquid) and arranged the apples in a concentric spoke-like design* on top of the batter:

*you should start arranging the innermost apples first, then adding apples around the edges.

Last, I combined 1 tablespoon sugar with the cinnamon and evenly sprinkled the topping on the tart before popping the tart in the oven:

I let the tart bake for about an hour and when it came out, I was pretty gosh-darn pleased with myself! The tart didn't look exactly like the book cover, but I think it came out pretty close and beautiful nonetheless.

Here is some eye candy from my experiment in Rosh Hashana baking: