Glam apple tart
Love this elegant way to present one of our most popular fruits? Best of all, there’s no fancy technique involved. You’ll master the whole thing first time, guaranteed.
Ingredients
250g frozen ready- rolled shortcrust pastry, partially thawed
75g caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways, seeds scraped
125g unsalted butter, chopped
1 free-range egg
1 free-range egg yolk
100g almond meal
50g brown sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
6 crisp apples (see Cook’s tip below)
2 Tbsp pure icing sugar, sifted
Ice-cream and berries, to serve
Method
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Preheat oven to 180°C fan-forced (200°C conventional). Put a pizza stone or heavy tile on middle oven shelf. Roll out pastry to a 30cm disc. Use to line a 25cm tart tin. Trim edges. Chill until firm. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with baking weights. Bake on stone for 12 minutes. Remove weights and paper (leave stone in oven). Set aside to cool.
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Meanwhile, put caster sugar, vanilla and 75g of the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium, using paddle attachment, for 5 minutes or until light. Add eggs, beat well then fold in almond meal.
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Spread filling in tart shell then chill again until firm.
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Meanwhile, melt remaining butter with brown sugar and lemon juice. Halve and core apples. Slice very finely. Toss
in melted butter mixture. Set aside for 20 minutes to soften. -
Arrange 12 apple slices in a row, overlapping, then roll up tightly. Position upright in filling. Repeat with remaining apple slices until tart is covered.
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Return tart to pizza stone. Bake for 45–60 minutes or until pastry is well browned and filling is set in centre. Dust with icing sugar. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until apple tops begin to darken. Serve with ice-cream and berries.
