French apple tartlets

This dessert brings back beautiful memories of my youth, cooking with my mum and grandmother at home. At its best, it’s heaven.

French apple tart Credit: Mark Roper

• makes

  6

• prep

  25 minutes

• cook

  15 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 6 Granny Smith apples
• 400 g (14 oz) puff pastry
• 2 tbsp thick (double/ heavy) cream
• 1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
• 70 g (2 ½ oz) smooth apricot jam, warmed

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F). Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Peel and core the apples and cut two of them into eight pieces each. Place the apple pieces in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons water, cover and cook for a few minutes or until tender. Mash the apple, then set aside to cool.

Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 2 mm (1∕8 in) and cut into six 8–10 cm (3–4 in) rounds. Place the rounds on the prepared tray and prick with a fork to prevent the pastry from shrinking. Refrigerate the pastry while you prepare the apples.

Halve the remaining apples and cut them into thin slices about 2 mm (1∕8 in) thick.

Stir the cream into the mashed apple and spread it over the pastry, leaving a 1 cm (. in) border. Overlap the apple slices on the pastry, working in a spiral pattern from the outside towards the centre, leaving no gaps.

Sprinkle the sugar over the tarts and bake for about 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp and the edges of the apple are lightly browned.

Lightly brush the tarts with the apricot jam and serve warm.

Recipe from So French So Sweet by Gabriel Gaté (Hardie Grant Book, RRP  $29.99) Photography by Mark Roper. Check out our sweet talks with Gabriel Gaté right here. For more Gabriel fun, check out the Taste le Tour program page to find out more about this year's show, catch-up on episodes and scroll through recipes. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.