Lacey (l) and Molly are just two of the many young people at The Gant in Aspen, where I live, who keep my life on-track. All of them are eager and willing food-testers. Both the girls liked the addition of mint to the apple jelly glaze. ” And Kiley (another Gant employee) doesn’t even like mint at all, Mrs Hirsch,” Molly told me. “She honestly cannot stand it, but she liked the minty flavor of the topping and thought it was really, really good.”
Yep, today’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice is a tart. To my thinking, however, there is nothing about this tasty dessert that looks tarty. As Dorie explained, “It’s so thin and crackly, you get to eat it out of hand.”
Have you ever met a tart that is “thin and crackly” ? What makes it so are multiple sheets of filo dough, each sheet carefully slathered with butter, piled in layers. This was my first experience with fragile, easily torn, uncooperative filo dough. Surprisingly, it was no problem.
Hold that thought……
As I was walking through the Cooper Street Mall in Aspen this afternoon, I spotted a one-to-two year old black bear, napping in a tree. This cub, in all probability, has been abandoned by his Mother who is more concerned right now about packing on 30 to 40 pounds of body fat to survive hibernation and give birth to the next generation of bears. This cub, who obviously cannot find enough food to eat, will probably not last through the winter.
Let’s talk Bear Business. Last week I returned to my home in Aspen to stay until Thanksgiving. This is a particularly lovely time of year because the fall color extravaganza is ending and there’s no snow in sight. Translation: no tourists. Although we love, adore, need and want tourists – we are a resort community, after all – every so often it’s nice to grab our town back.
This fall, more than ever, we are sharing our town with black bears. According to Colorado Parks & Wildlife, there are about 16,000 blackies in Colorado. Aspen is probably the epicenter of bear-human interaction in the state. This year, as the bears prepare for hibernation, needing 30 to 40 pounds of extra body fat for winter survival, they are more desperate than ever for food.
Colorado has been scorched by a summer of fires, the drought has destroyed the bears’ food supply and more homes are infringing into bear habitats. Serviceberry and chokecherry bushes as well as other natural food sources are being bulldozed under for development. Unable to find natural food sources, at night, these savvy and hungry bears wander into town, dismembering our crab apple trees and dumpster-diving into the ones that are unsecured. Although it’s against the law to leave dumpsters and garbage cans unsecured, every night five or six bears charge into downtown to scrounge for their daily rations. By day they sometimes hang in a tree, napping, in the heart of downtown Aspen.
An adult Colorado black bear can weigh anywhere from 150 pounds (a sow) to over 350-400 pounds (a male).
These guys even have their own Facebook page, Aspen Bears.
The little bear I saw this afternoon, dozing in a tree on the Cooper Street Mall, is probably an abandoned cub. It’s “survival of the fittest”, the mother’s harsh reality. She’s gone off to take care of herself.
Those of us who live here try to protect our bears. There are laws, strictly enforced, to make our county “bear-proof”. Once a bear, considered a nuisance, is tagged, the next naughty-bear report means euthanasia. As local writer Barry Petersen wrote, “ Most people in Aspen stay cool about it all, perhaps remembering that the houses and cars and streetlights are all late arrivals — that, in truth, it was the bears who for centuries have thought of this area as their home.”
The tart with its eight layers of buttered filo dough, almond cream and then, apples, ready to bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.
Thanks for allowing me a timeout for our wild animals. Now, let’s get back to the tart.
Luckily, this recipe for the Crispy, Crackly Apple-Almond Tart is here and I suspect if you try it, you’ll love it. I made the almond cream 2 days ahead and then brought it to room temperature before spreading it on the delicate filo dough. If you haven’t baked with filo before, it will not be difficult if you carefully follow the directions on the filo box and in Dorie’s recipe. I chose Braeburn apples to peel, slice and fan onto the tart base.
The tart, baked and glazed
Since I could not find apple jelly for the glaze, I used mint apple jelly and really enjoyed the additional slight minty tang. Although we ate this immediately, the tart can also be served at room temperature. Next time I might even dump a scoop of ice cream on top!
To see what my colleagues baked this week go to French Fridays with Dorie.
That looks great Mary – I’ll try again with whole apple slices next time I think.
I hope you didn’t get any bears for dessert. I just heard that a bear in Aspen broke into someone’s house and ate food out the refrigerator? Craziness… be careful. I will be back to French Fridays next week. My little baker has nut allergies so this wasn’t the recipe for us.
Beautifully done, Mary! We usually stayed at Lift One when we vacationed in Aspen, and the last few years we visited, bears were plentiful. There was just a field behind the complex at that time, and we heard of many bear sitings…I’m sure it’s gotten much worse. I feel so sorry for that bear cub 🙁
PS…my plans are to bake up your cookies on Sunday and get them in the mail to Colorado on Monday for a Wednesday delivery. I’ll email you if anything changes.
Thank you, Liz. Very much. Perfect timing. The fires, for which you raised money, really are raising the bear/no food bar. I am going to feature the cookies, the little girls eating them, and the vegetable soup in next week’s FFWD Post. The kids arrive tomorrow, to stay a week. The celebration of Michael’s life will be at my church on Tuesday morning, lunch to follow. The little girls are singing “Amazing Grace”. A former Crystal Palace singer will end the service with his guitar and singing “Rocky Mountain High.” It should be a wonderful service with all of us taking part. Thank you for being part of it.
I’m so impressed that you were able to keep the apples in circles. I love the photos of the bears. I would be so excited to see one! It’s really a shame we think they’re annoying us with out a thought of how we’re annoying them.
Have you read “Loving Frank?” It’s told from the perspective of one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s mistresses. The reason I thought of you is that I’m at the place int he book where they arrive in Colorado. So far, it’s pretty good – my book club selection this month.
Yes, Susan, I read “Loving Frank” and believe it should be an excellent book club selection – wish I could be a part of that discussion! I just finished “GONE GIRL” because I am on a discussion panel for “Aspen Reads”, a local Grassroots TV program. That’s quite the book. Joanne Harris has a new book out, “Peaches for Father Francis.” Have you read it? My next read is “Where’d You Go Bernadette” by Maria Semple and, of course, Follett’s sequel. Yep, the bears have to bare with we humans. We’re the pests. I am making notecards from my little cub picture – I love it so – so I will send you some.
Great tart – it came out lovely. Love the napping bear! Never have seen one of those!
Cute little bear cub. He certainly picked a very picturesque tree for his afternoon nap.
And that’s interesting that mint jelly worked? Gives it a nice green tint too. Who woulda thought?
Mary, first of all your tart looks wonderful with the nice thin apple “rounds” and the picture of your happy taste testers says it all – it was indeed a wonderful tart and the additional glaze of apple mint jelly certainly added a nice fresh taste to the tart, I am sure. Second, I wanted to thank you for your lovely comment last week and lastly, let you know that I have been thinking about you and your blog post about Michael a lot during the last few days – sadly, my father passed away last week after a four-year long fight (I do hope that this is the right word) with Alzheimer – I am sure that Tuesday´s celebration of Michael will be a memorable tribute to his life! Thinking about you – have a wonderful time with your family!
Andrea, I am so, so sorry and sad to hear about your father. Thank you for telling me and I’m sending you an e-mail this evening. Just know that this is an insidious disease that robs so much from its victim and that is now over for your dad. Love and strength to you and your family, most especially those two little girls.
Thanks Mary for the lesson on Aspen bears! This year we also have more bear sightings in my neck of the woods and it saddens me that their natural habitat is being taken over by urban development.
Mint apple jelly is an inspired touch! Is the jelly slightly green tinted?
Your story makes me want to take that cub home! The tart came out wonderful Mary, and the mint apple jelly is perfect really, since it added a bit of freshness. And how did you made such nice apple circles? They look so good in this tart. Have a great weekend Mary!
Oh, I hope that little cub survives the winter, Mary. That is a great photo of him. I love that you kept your slices whole and the addition of mint jelly for the glaze sounds so good. Hope you have a great weekend!
I would have never known about the Aspen bears if not for your post – I love how it is part PSA, and I’ll always take any reading recommendations I can take. Make sure to keep all your yummy concoctions away from the windows so you can stay safe.
Mary, Such a wonderful post! We have black bears where I live in NJ, and they are such majestic looking animals! Every summer they appear in my neighborhood…sometimes knocking over garbage cans, but mostly just ambling through my yard! In the spring, when my bird feeder is laying on the ground, I know it’s time to take it down for the summer. Just love these creatures!
Your tart looks beautiful, and the mint apple jelly sounds so yummy!
Enjoy your girls!!
The tart looks great!!! I used pears because my husband ate all the apples the day before!!! But it was really nice with the pears as well!!!
I really like how you cut the apples Mary! Did you use the mandoline? 🙂 I read Gone Girl this summer and really enjoyed it too – very strange, but very interesting!
Lovely tart, Mary. I love the look of the whole apples! And, I thoroughly enjoyed the bear interlude. Your writing always makes me smile. Your enthusiasm comes through so loud and clear. I’ll be thinking of you Tuesday. Sending virtual hugs your way.
Mary, I can see why your young friends loved this. They follow their noses to your house for yummy treats! Those bear are amazing, so cute, at least in pictures…….
I love the idea of the mint apple jelly with this – lovely job!
I feel for the bears in your area. Suburban housing has been encroaching more on their territories here as developers build up and up the slopes. We even had a bear hitch a ride in a dumpster right into downtown Vancouver last year.
I missed this recipe, looks great!
We don’t have bears here in Australia (koala bears are as close as we get!) so it’s amazing to see your photo!
Great use of the whole apple slice instead of the quarters. Looks great!