dessert: Pink Apple Tarts

[tielan]

A super-simple recipe when you want something sweet and uncomplicated to make and eat or serve!

From the book marie claire: food fast, p 78.

Pink Apple Tarts
2 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry
2 pink lady or sweet red apples
brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 220C. Trim 1cm from the edge of the pastry and cut each sheet into 2 pieces. Core the apples and slice thinly.
Place the pastry on baking trays lined with nonstick baking paper and top the pastry with a layer of apples down the middle. Sprinkle the apples with brown sugar. Bake in the oven or 12 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve with thick cream or ice cream. Serves 4.



Modifications:

I suspect the 'trim 1cm' is to make sure the pastry has a fresh edge, not a dried one, since the ready-rolled sheets tend to be haphazardly kept in your average fridge.

I used apples, but I also had cherries, plums, and rhubarb - it works pretty well for any fruit - and the pastry was leftovers from an attempt at a Gordon Ramsey beef wellington.



Conclusions

It all worked pretty well, so far as I was concerned! They were pretty tasty (not fantastic, but fruit, pastry, and sugar) and with a bit more care, they'd look very pretty and presentable.

I think they might have needed a bit longer in the oven to cook the pastry under the fruit - it wasn't soggy, exactly, but it wasn't very baked, either. Or perhaps the key is using semi-dried fruit or drained fruit pieces instead of freshly cut? Slicing really thinly?

I'll definitely make these again - they'd be a great 'off-the-cuff' sweet fix for when one wants something fruity and pastry-y.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

For apple pies: a trick I got from Good Eats (an American cooking show) is to mix the apples with the sugar and let sit for an hour. Then drain off and boil down the syrup until it's thick (watch it carefully) and coat the apples in it. This pulls just enough moisture out of the apples that they don't sog up the pastry beneath them. As Mary Berry says, no one wants a soggy bottom! :D

[tielan]

Ooh, good tip! Thanks, I will definitely have to try that next time I apple pie. (Which might be as soon as tonight; we have surfeit of apples right now.)

[colls]

yum!

How did the beef Wellington go?

[tielan]

It wasn't bad. Overdone, which was my fault, but still pretty delicious.

[valoise]

I've never worked with puff pastry and this sounds like a great way to start experimenting with it.

[tielan]

I'm a bit leery of puff pastry myself, but yes, a good way to start using it and getting used to how it bakes and how it puffs and everything, which I find is variable between brands of puff pastry and ovens and fillings...