In our garden, we have five apple trees that, year after year, never fail to produce a seriously gluttonous glut of fruit. It's a wonderful treat to be able to frolic about the garden, basket in hand, picking dozens and dozens of these crazily chunky apples and marvelling at the difference in shape and size between them. No supermarket-pretty apples here I can assure you! They are each so gloriously gnarled and ugly in their own right!
Anyway, this year I decided to use a couple of our keenest and ripest to whip up a scrummy tart that makes a perfect pudding for those chilly Autumn evenings on the way. I've popped the recipe below, if you'd like to check it out- it's slightly adapted from a recipe in this month's Waitrose food magazine :)
Apple & Honey Tart
Ingredients
For the topping:
- 2 apples, halved and cored
- 1/2 lemon, juice
- 1 tbsp honey, to glaze
- 1 tbsp apricot jam, to glaze
For the pastry:
- 1 cardamom pod
- 150g plain flour, plus a bit extra for dusting
- 50g spelt flour
- 3 tbsp icing sugar
- 100g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 1 egg yolk
For the frangipane filling:
- 100g unsalted butter, softened
- 75g caster sugar
- 50g honey
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp plain flour
Method
1. To make the pastry, open up the cardamom pod and crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar; discard the pod. Mix into the flours with the icing sugar and a good pinch of salt, then whizz together in a food processor until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolk with 2 tbsp of ice-cold water, add to the processor and whizz until it all comes together. Remove, knead briefly and gently until smooth, shape into a fat disc, wrap in cling-film and chill in the fridge for 30mins.
2. Preheat your oven to 200°C/ 390°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to around 0.3cm thick and use this to line a 23cm fluted tart case. Trim the edges and prick the base.
3. Line the top of the pastry with a layer of baking parchment and fill with baking beans: chill for 30mins. Next, blind bake the tart case for 20mins, then remove the parchment and beans and cook for a further 5mins. Set aside to cool.
4. For the frangipane, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy and then beat in the honey and then the eggs, one by one. Beat in the almonds, flour and a pinch of salt until just combined. Spread the frangipane mixture evenly over your tart case.
5. To decorate, slice the apples as thinly as you can and pop them in a bowl filled with the lemon juice mixed with a bit of water (enough to cover the slices). Microwave the apples for around 3mins, until they are soft and pliable, and then take them out of the bowl and dry them on a sheet of kitchen roll. Twist and twirl the soft slices of apple around each other to create flower shapes (this is easier than it first seems- stick with it!) and then push them as deeply as you can into the frangipane.
6. Reduce the oven to 180°C/350°F. Bake the tart for 40-45mins, until the frangipane is golden brown. Finally, heat the honey and apricot jam in a small pan until warm, then brush over the tart to give it that sweet autumnal glow! Allow to cool, then serve :)
Don't panic if you feel like the tart has a slightly tinged look about it- I can assure you it's meant to be like that- well, the one in the magazine looked the same!
And there you have it :) a gorgeous apple and honey treat to warm your cockles as we move into the colder months. It's delish served warm with a good splodge of custard and the cheekiest sprinkling of brown sugar!
I hope you give this one a go. If you do- be sure to let me know how it goes!
In the meantime,
All the love,
Sian x
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