Ingredients
| SWEET PASTRY BASE | |
| 250g all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting | |
| 95g icing sugar | |
| 30g ground almonds | |
| a pinch salt | |
| 150g unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes | |
| 1 large egg | |
| FILLING | |
| 6 big apples, plus extra to garnish | |
| 50g sugar, plus extra to sprinkle | |
| 1 vanilla pod or a knife-tip of vanilla paste | |
| juice and zest of 1 lemon |
Apple tart is present in any French pastry shop and at La Patisserie I really wanted to share my own version of it. This is a really easy recipe, full of flavour and well balanced. Pink Lady apples are most suited for this recipe; you can also use red apples, but avoid green ones.
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Instructions
| 1. | SWEET PASTRY BASE |
| 2. | Mix the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds, salt and butter until all the butter disappears and the mixture has a sandy texture. You can do this in a mixer with the paddle at low speed, or by hand – if you do it by hand, start by breaking down the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers. |
| 3. | Add the egg and work it slowly until the dough combines. |
| 4. | Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for 2 hours to firm up. |
| 5. | Heat the oven to 160°C fan forced. |
| 6. | Dust the bench with flour, then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to a thickness of 4-5mm. |
| 7. | Gently, place the pastry into a 24-cm round tart ring, trimming off any excess. |
| 8. | Line with baking paper and fill with baking beans. |
| 9. | Blind bake the pastry base for 15 minutes. |
| 10. | FILLING |
| 11. | To make an apple compote, peel 4 apples, cut in half, remove the core and seeds and cut into small cubes. |
| 12. | Put the cubed apple, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and zest into a pan and cook slowly with the lid on. |
| 13. | The compote will be ready when the apple cubes start to go very soft, just before it turns into a purée, about 20-30 minutes. Cool in the fridge before using. |
| 14. | To assemble the tart, fill the pastry tart case with cold apple compote, filling it up to the top. |
| 15. | Peel one of the remaining apples and leave the skin on the other. |
| 16. | Cut both in half, remove the core and seeds, then slice thinly. |
| 17. | Starting from the outside of the tart and going inwards, interleaf the apple slices to create a nice rose pattern, alternating the peeled and unpeeled slices. Keep going until you have covered the whole tart. |
| 18. | For a super-chic finish use a melon baller to scoop a small ball from a whole apple, and place in the centre. |
| 19. | Finish by sprinkling the top of the tart with some sugar and caramelising it under the grill for 3-4 minutes. |
Recipes & food styling Alan Bartos / Photography Aaron McLean