Friday, July 4, 2008

Apple Tart with Frangipane


Tart apples paired with crumbly almond frangipane and fresh, buttery puff pastry form a classical French combination that I've been meaning to play around with for a while now. I've made a few minor changes (most notably substituting almond pie filling for the super expensive and hard to find frangipane) and I'm probably going to tweak the dessert further in future trials, but for a first attempt (and considering that I was flying blind with no recipe to work from) this actually came very close to being exactly what I had in mind. The tarts disappeared in the blink of an eye at the family barbecue -- always a good sign.

1 box Dufour puff pastry, thawed
1/2 can Solo almond pie filling
3-4 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced as thin as possible
1 T cold butter, cut into small pieces
2 t vanilla sugar
1/4 cup apricot jam, thinned witha little water and heated to form a syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out the puff pastry on a piece of parchment paper and trim the edges so that it is a neat and even rectangle. Transfer pastry on parchment to a baking sheet.
With a knife, cut a 3/4 inch border all the way around the perimeter. Dock the entire space within the border with a fork.
Spread the almond filling over the docked pastry, leaving the border uncovered. Fan the apple slices on top of filling. Dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the pastry is cooked all the way through.
Brush the apple slices with the apricot jam. Serve warm.

1 comment:

  1. That apple tart looks wonderful. I was just experimenting with apple tarts and manchego cheese myself.

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