This dessert is so incredibly easy that I feel as though I'm cheating by making it/blogging it. Of course, now that I'm writing about how easy it is to make, I won't actually be able to impress people with it anymore. Gone are the days of exclamations of amazement while I stand there blushing modestly and graciously saying, "Oh, it was nothing really", while actually thinking it was nothing. I have nothing to gain from this, so it seems. Remind me why I'm doing this? See the sacrifices I make for this blog?
Anyway, this is basically my take on a Roux brothers' tart from their book, 'The Roux Brothers on Patisserie', which is my pastry/dessert bible and I love to pieces. The fact that the pages are covered in scuff and butter grease-marks just shows that it is well loved. Really. In their book, my pastry idols call their dessert 'Tarte Chaude aux Deux Fruits' and serve it with a delicate sabayon. I call mine 'Crispy Apple Tart' and served it with (good quality) shop-bought vanilla ice-cream. Why, yes, I am sophistication incarnate. Hells yeah.
But seriously, this is a ridiculously easy dessert that can be whipped up in no time at all and does genuinely look rather pretty and tastes scrummy. It's a nice, light finish to a dinner party (which is needed after my last post, since that tart is quite the opposite) and seems to go down well. I actually served it at the same dinner party mentioned in my last post, and my dinner guests did enjoy it. This also meant that I was able to rope the lovely Jason into taking photos of the final product, so once again photos are thanks to him.
Crispy Apple Tart
200g of puff pastry. (You could make your own, use trimmings, or use good-quality frozen butter puff pastry. Whatever floats your boat. Roux brothers suggest you could even use pate brisee if you like)
500g of dessert apples, Cox if you can get your hands on them.
70g of unsalted butter
60g of caster sugar
The juice of 1 small lemon, or half a lemon if you don't want it to be too zesty
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 240 degree Celsius. If you're using frozen puff pastry, then use the instructions on the pack. Place your pastry on a baking sheet and prick the surface lightly with a fork.
Peel, halve and core your apples, then cut each half into thin, even slices. You don't want them to be paper thin or they'll be mushy once you sautee them, but you do want them to be thin.
Place your apple slices in a pan and saute them with the butter, lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar for about 2 minutes, until they havejust softened a bit. Remove the apples from the pan and keep them aside to cool. Keep reducing the remaining liquid until it has thickened just a bit to a light syrupy consistency. At this point, you could also flambe the syrup with Calvados (as the Roux brother suggest), or just leave it be.
Arrange your cooled apple slices on your prepared pastry in an overlapped pattern, depending on the shape of your pastry. If you've rolled your own pastry, roll it into a circle and arrange the apples in a rosette. I used frozen pastry, which came in a square, and so just arranged the apples in overlapping rows, which still looked nice.
Using a pastry brush, brush the reserved cooking syrup over the apples before placing into the oven. If you want a slightly crisper top, you could sprinkle a little caster sugar over the top but if you're planning to do so, you should probably reduce the amount of sugar that you cook the apples in.
Place the tart in your preheated oven and allow to cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the tart from the oven after 10 minutes and brush a little more of the syrupy glaze over the apples before returning the tart to the oven for a further 5 minutes. The tart is ready once your pastry has puffed and is crispy.
The tart is fine to be served straight from the oven with a good scoop of ice-cream on the side, or lukewarm. Ice-cream is a must, though.
Enjoy! And please, if you do make this, don't be a fool like me and tell people how easy it is- just let them think you've spent hours slaving away in the kitchen. Ah, sweet regret...
Anyway, this is basically my take on a Roux brothers' tart from their book, 'The Roux Brothers on Patisserie', which is my pastry/dessert bible and I love to pieces. The fact that the pages are covered in scuff and butter grease-marks just shows that it is well loved. Really. In their book, my pastry idols call their dessert 'Tarte Chaude aux Deux Fruits' and serve it with a delicate sabayon. I call mine 'Crispy Apple Tart' and served it with (good quality) shop-bought vanilla ice-cream. Why, yes, I am sophistication incarnate. Hells yeah.
But seriously, this is a ridiculously easy dessert that can be whipped up in no time at all and does genuinely look rather pretty and tastes scrummy. It's a nice, light finish to a dinner party (which is needed after my last post, since that tart is quite the opposite) and seems to go down well. I actually served it at the same dinner party mentioned in my last post, and my dinner guests did enjoy it. This also meant that I was able to rope the lovely Jason into taking photos of the final product, so once again photos are thanks to him.
Crispy Apple Tart
200g of puff pastry. (You could make your own, use trimmings, or use good-quality frozen butter puff pastry. Whatever floats your boat. Roux brothers suggest you could even use pate brisee if you like)
500g of dessert apples, Cox if you can get your hands on them.
70g of unsalted butter
60g of caster sugar
The juice of 1 small lemon, or half a lemon if you don't want it to be too zesty
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Preheat your oven to 240 degree Celsius. If you're using frozen puff pastry, then use the instructions on the pack. Place your pastry on a baking sheet and prick the surface lightly with a fork.
Peel, halve and core your apples, then cut each half into thin, even slices. You don't want them to be paper thin or they'll be mushy once you sautee them, but you do want them to be thin.
Place your apple slices in a pan and saute them with the butter, lemon juice, cinnamon and sugar for about 2 minutes, until they havejust softened a bit. Remove the apples from the pan and keep them aside to cool. Keep reducing the remaining liquid until it has thickened just a bit to a light syrupy consistency. At this point, you could also flambe the syrup with Calvados (as the Roux brother suggest), or just leave it be.
Arrange your cooled apple slices on your prepared pastry in an overlapped pattern, depending on the shape of your pastry. If you've rolled your own pastry, roll it into a circle and arrange the apples in a rosette. I used frozen pastry, which came in a square, and so just arranged the apples in overlapping rows, which still looked nice.
Using a pastry brush, brush the reserved cooking syrup over the apples before placing into the oven. If you want a slightly crisper top, you could sprinkle a little caster sugar over the top but if you're planning to do so, you should probably reduce the amount of sugar that you cook the apples in.
Place the tart in your preheated oven and allow to cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the tart from the oven after 10 minutes and brush a little more of the syrupy glaze over the apples before returning the tart to the oven for a further 5 minutes. The tart is ready once your pastry has puffed and is crispy.
The tart is fine to be served straight from the oven with a good scoop of ice-cream on the side, or lukewarm. Ice-cream is a must, though.
Enjoy! And please, if you do make this, don't be a fool like me and tell people how easy it is- just let them think you've spent hours slaving away in the kitchen. Ah, sweet regret...
Ah Alia, now we know...
ReplyDeleteBoth tarts tasted amazing really, and hopefully when I have time I'll give this apple tart recipe a try, but until then I'll just have to visit you more often!