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.