spelt apple tarts
Despite looking rather impressive, these lovely apple tarts couldn’t be simpler to prepare. The trick is to buy a high quality spelt puff pastry – I use Careme brand because it’s made with butter instead of refined vegetable oils. The apricot glaze gives a lovely shiny finish.
Ingredients
1 sheet spelt puff pastry (27x36cm), frozen, just thawed
2 1/2 tbs ground almonds (almond meal) (see Tip)
3 royal gala (or other pink/red variety) apples, cored and finely sliced
¼ cup quality apricot jam, to glaze
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C (fan). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Cut the pastry into six rectangles. Place on the prepared tray. Using a sharp knife, lightly mark a border ½-1cm around the edge of each rectangle (ensuring you don’t cut right through the pastry).
Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of ground almonds over each pastry base, within the marked border. Arrange the sliced apple in overlapping rows over the ground almonds. Bake for about 12 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the apple is tender.
Place the apricot jam in a microwave-proof bowl and microwave until the jam is a syrupy consistency (or warm in a saucepan over medium heat). Brush the cooked tarts with the jam to give them a shiny glaze.
Serve warm or cool (if serving these as a dessert, you may like to serve with some yoghurt or whipped pure cream).
Tips
Tip: If you have a Thermomix or high-powered processor you can make your own almond meal by milling raw, activated or roasted almonds (skins on) until finely ground (about 8 sec/speed 8 in Thermomix).
