This is a recipe which required very minimum types of ingredient. With just pastry sheet, apples, butter and sugar (you can omit the extra ingredients in my recipe), an appetizing apple tart will be ready in short time perfect for your afternoon tea.
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 piece of 32 cm diameter puff pastry sheet
Filling:
4-5 apples depending on the size [peeled, cored (save peels and cores), and sliced]
40g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
Glaze:
Peels and cores from the apples of your filling
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ginger zest (optional)
1 lemon zest (optional)
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)
Few dashes of cinnamon powder (optional)
Method:
1. Press your pastry sheet against a 28 cm round baking pan. Heat oven to 210 degrees Celsius.
2. Overlap apple slices on dough in a ring up to the side of the pan. Continue inward until you reach the center.
3. Brush half of the melted butter over apples.
4. Sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar over apples before folding any dough hanging over pan back onto itself; crimp edges at 1-inch intervals.
5. Brush the remaining melted butter and sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar over dough edge.
6. Bake in center of oven until apples are soft, with browned edges, and crust has caramelized to a dark golden brown (about 45 to 50 minutes).
7. While waiting for your tart to cook you may start preparing your glaze. Put reserved peels and cores in a large saucepan along with 1/2 cup sugar, grated ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon powder. Pour in just enough water to cover the peels and cores; simmer for 25 minutes or until you get the result of a few tablespoons of thick syrup. Strain your syrup.
8. Remove tart from oven. Slide it out from baking pan and let it cool on cooling rack for at least 15 minutes.
9. Brush glaze over tart, slice and serve.
Do not thaw your pastry sheet too early. Only line your baking pan with the pastry sheet when all the ingredients for your filling are ready. It will be hard to arrange your apples when the sheet becomes soft under room temperature.
You may use more sugar and butter in step 3 to 5. But we find the sweetness of our reduced sugar version to be perfect.
I add some extra ingredients (lemon zest, ginger zest, lemon juice and cinnamon powder) to the glaze as I am fond of food with stronger flavour.
Do remember not to put too much water when u prepare the glaze. It will take longer time for it to achieve thick syrup form.
Let the tart cool on cooling rack before brushing your glaze. Do not over-brush your tart to avoid it turning soggy.
Adapted from:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/simplest-apple-tart/
