My refrigerator drawer was bursting with apples after a visit to an orchard in Bayfield, Wisconsin. I wanted to use some of the apples in a dessert last weekend and remembered my favorite recipe from French class, La Tarte Normande, which is basically an apple pie with custard.

Because the recipe from class is written in French and would be hard to share with you, I decided to try the Tarte Normande aux Pommes from the classic Julia Child cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1. instead.

Please forgive me Julia, but I'd like to recommend some changes: I would use a 10-inch tart pan because the custard would run over in an 8-inch one. Don't toss the apples with the sugar and cinnamon because the nice uniform, apple slices will break up into small pieces and then the arrangement in the crust won't be as pretty. And finally, sprinkling powdered on sugar on top doesn't enhance the appearance whatsoever and I would eliminate that step.

My French class recipe calls for flaming the top with Calvados (apple brandy) which I tried to do with Julia's recipe, but it didn't work. After dosing the top of the tart with 1, and then 2 tablespoons of brandy, I still couldn’t get the top to flame. The next time I make this I'd heat some apple jelly, brush it over the top and drink the Calvados, for Pete's sake.