In honor of Jacques Pepin being named the first recipient of the Julia Child Award on Thursday, and because I had some apples from my recent CSA delivery, I decided to make one of my favorite easy dessert recipes - Skillet Apple Charlotte - tonight. It's foolproof and fabulous, so I thought I would share the recipe here. When I first started baking, I only made things that did not require me to make a dough. I made a lot of bread pudding, and pie with pre-made or graham cracker crust. This recipe, which uses regular sandwich bread as the "crust" would have been a perfect addition to my repertoire if I had known about it then. I often make the apples ahead and then quickly re-warm them, adding the bread and baking just before we are ready to eat dessert.

Here's the recipe, taken from Food and Wine magazine.

INGREDIENTS
3 Granny Smith apples (about 1 1/2 pounds)—peeled, cored and cut into sixths
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 slices of white sandwich bread, crusts removed
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons apricot preserves
Sour cream for serving

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a 7- or 8-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet, arrange the apples snugly, cored side up. Add the maple syrup, honey and 2 tablespoons of the butter and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook, gently shaking the pan occasionally, until the apples are tender, 5 minutes. Uncover and cook over high heat, shaking the pan a few times, until the liquid is evaporated and the apples are caramelized, 7 minutes.
Arrange the bread slices in a square on a work surface. Trim the corners of the slices to form a round the size of the skillet. Spread the bread with the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with the sugar. Arrange the bread over the apples, sugared side up. Bake for 20 minutes, until the bread is toasted. Invert the charlotte onto a plate.
In a heatproof bowl, melt the apricot preserves in a microwave oven for 30 seconds. Spread the preserves over the apples. Cut into wedges and serve warm with a dollop of sour cream.

Note: This is great the next morning with coffee. Just re-warm, and then add the sour cream when serving.