Classic Apple Tart

This oh-so-easy free-form apple tart is a real winner. I found this recipe on a favourite blog, Smitten Kitchen. I have ever-so-slightly adapted it to make it even simpler.

I can’t go past Careme Vanilla Bean Shortcrust Pastry and always have some in the freezer. A jar of fruit gel, found in the baby foods section at your local supermarket makes a fantastic quick pastry glaze. If there is time, make a Frangipane mix to spread over the base of the tart. It’s not at all necessary, but adds another element of flavour.

Ingredients

• Careme Vanilla Bean Shortcrust Pastry, defrosted according to packet directions
• jar Heinz fruit gel to glaze

Tart Filling

• 4 - 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced
• 30g butter, melted
• 40g sugar

Optional Additional filling - Frangipane or Almond Cream

• 1/2 cup ground almond meal
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 45g butter, softened
• 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tb plain flour

Method

The Tart

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Grease a 24cm tart pan with removable base, with melted butter.
3. Carefully unroll the pastry. It will be a rectangle, and we need a circle. Lay the tart pan on the pastry, making sure there is plenty of overhang. Then cut off one end, and position it on one side of the pastry, to more or less form a square. Press to adhere. I usually run the rolling pin over the whole piece to give it an even finish.
4. Now cut roughly into a circle. Lay the pastry into the tart tin.
5. If using the Frangipane, spread it onto the base of the tart now.
6. Try and keep the apple slices together when you are slicing them, as it makes it a lot easier to fill the pie neatly.
7. Brush the filled pie apples with some of the melted butter and sprinkle with 2/3rd of the sugar.
8. Fold in the overhanging pastry, crimping the edges together. Remember this is quite a rustic tart, so don’t be too precise.
9. Brush the pastry edges with melted butter and dust with the rest of the sugar.
10. Bake the tart in the centre of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the apples are soft, making sure to rotate the tart every 15 minutes.
11. Remove the tart from the oven and cool on a rack for about 15 minutes.
12. Brush with some of the melted gel to glaze the tart. The gel can be melted in the microwave on LOW, but remember to take off the metal lid.

The Frangipane mix

1. Using a food processor, combine all the ingredients until a smooth, creamy paste is formed. Refrigerate until required.