Autumn Tarts

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By Carol Taylor

Celebrate the season with home-baked harvest pies.

AH, SEPTEMBER SONGS: THE RHYTHMIC whisper of dry leaves, the staccato crackle of the year's first fires, the basso rumble of school buses, the reedy whine of family and friends-"Are you ever going to bake us another pie?"

Autumn seems to orchestrate a return to the kitchen, to lure us back to the stove. With cooler days and nights, heating up the oven becomes a pleasure. Gone are the hectic days of late-summer canning and freezing, when we swore that if we ever got the garden cleaned out we'd never set foot in a kitchen again; cooking for pleasure becomes conceivable once more. An abundant harvest bids us put it to use, and its beauty-the brilliant colors, elegant shapes and rich scents of apples, pears, pumpkins, grapes-inspires us to create something splendid.

And all around us, people trumpet their encouragement. They flatter. ("The restaurant's apple pie was adequate, of course, but compared to yours...") They wheedle. ("Just one more little pumpkin pie wouldn't be much work.") They bribe. ("OK, what if I did all the dishes for three full days?") And, ultimately, they plead. ("Ple-ease!")

The reason for this cacophony is that sooner or later all bakers tire of the same tune: After preparing the third apple pie of the season, the fourth just isn't much of a challenge. How do we harmonize the mundane cravings of our nearest and dearest with our longing to hum new melodies?

Tarts: Traditional enough to substitute for old standbys, jazzy enough to keep the cook interested, they're pretty enough to serve as fitting anthems to a beautiful season.

ESSENTIALLY, A TART IS A SINGLE crust pie baked in a tart pan, a two-part contraption consisting of a fluted metal ring that forms the sides, and a flat disk that forms a removable bottom. The bottom fits within the ring and rests on a narrow lip attached to its lower edge. After the tart has cooked and cooled, the ring is removed by placing the pan on a surface smaller than itself (e.g., a Mason jar) and guiding the ring down to the counter, leaving an attractive, fluted, freestanding crust. Contrary to your darkest expectations, the ring does in fact come away easily; the crust shrinks enough during baking to prevent any sticking or tearing. (Allegedly, the tart can also be removed from the bottom disk onto a separate serving platter, using a rimless baking sheet as a giant spatula. I've never summoned the courage to attempt this maneuver; if you do, let me know how it turns out.)

Tart pans are available for under $5 from kitchen specialty shops, and range from three- or four-inch individual molds to the standard eight-, nine-, 10- and 11-inch pans.

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