THYME APPLE TART

Let’s celebrate the delicious and colourful Australian apples. Literally they are at the moment the apple of my eyes.

I have to be honest, I prefer to eat cooked apples than raw apples, I think that cooking them brings out their sweet flavour and juiciness. They are beyond mere delicious.

I gave this tart a makeover with the addition of thyme. The taste is wonderfully indulgent.

Ingredients

• 4 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 apple, cored and sliced (do not peel it)
• 5 tablespoons icing sugar to sprinkle on the bottom of the puff pastry
• 5 tablespoons icing sugar to sprinkle on top of the apples
• 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry. Partially thawed
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 3 tablespoons of apricot jam

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200C.
• Line the base and sides of a rectangular or round tart pan with wax paper .
• In a large bowl toss the apple slices with a few drops of lemon juice.
• Put the puff pastry on top of the wax paper and score the pastry with a knife or use a fork to prick the surface of the puff pastry. This will prevent the pastry from rising too much.
• Sprinkle the puff pastry with the first 5 tablespoons of icing sugar.
• Arrange the peeled apples over the puff pastry. Arrange them nicely starting from the outside and forming circles. Leave the unpeeled apple to finish the top of the apple tart.

• Brush the apples with melted butter.
• Sprinkle the tart with icing sugar.
• Make an egg wash by beating an egg with a liquid such as water or milk.
• Brush the border of the tart with the egg wash.

• Bake until the crust is golden brown and the apples are tender. Around 30 minutes.
• Take the tart out of the oven and brush it with melted apricot jam to glaze the tart.

• Sprinkle the thyme sugar on top. Now .. this is my secret use of a kitchen torch to achieve the golden and caramelised colour on the top. If you do not have one put the tart in the oven again for a few minutes.

• Let it cool slightly before slicing and serving.

For the apricot preserve to brush the top of the tart

• Mix the jam with 1 tablespoon of hot water.

For the Thyme sugar

• 4 tablespoons of icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon spoon of fresh Thyme, finely chopped
• Combine in a small bowl the sugar and fresh thyme. Rub the mixture with your hands. This process infuses the sugar. Or if you want, combine all the ingredients inside a mortar and pound a few times.

Tips

• I used Pampas flaky puff pastry
• Do not set the temperature of the oven too low. The temperature is a key factor in baking up puff pastry that actually puffs.
• I used a mixture of Red delicious and Royal Gala apples.
• Use a smooth apricot jam that doesn’t contain large pieces of fruit.
• It is best to cut the tart with scissors, it works all the time.