Squished apple tart

SERVES 6-8 // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 30 MINS Pastry, caramelised apple and ice-cream is a combination that’s pretty hard to beat. This...

SERVES 6-8 // PREP TIME 15 MINS // COOK 30 MINS

Pastry, caramelised apple and ice-cream is a combination that’s pretty hard to beat. This is more or less a fine apple tart, but the apple goes just that bit further to become almost like an apple-sauce topping.

Squished apple tart ingredients

• Half a 375gm sheet of butter puff pastry
• 4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and halved
• 110 gm (½ cup) caster sugar
• 10 gm unsalted butter
• Vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Squished apple tart preparation

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 3mm-thick rectangle and cut out a 20cm x 30cm rectangle. Place on an oven tray lined with baking paper, top with a sheet of baking paper and another tray. Bake until golden and crisp (18-22 minutes). 
2. Meanwhile, cut apple halves into 2mm-thick slices with a mandolin and arrange in rows on an oven tray lined with baking paper to form a rectangle the same size as the pastry (trim edges). Sprinkle 50gm sugar over apple and dot with butter, then bake until apple softens (8-10 minutes).
3. Top apple with pastry, another sheet of baking paper and an oven tray, flip over so the tart is inverted with the apple on top, then weight top with a small ovenproof saucepan and bake until apple is soft and pastry is crisp. (8-10 minutes). Remove from oven, then remove top tray and baking paper.
4. Heat oven grill to high. Dust tart with remaining sugar, cover edges with foil to prevent burning, and grill until caramelised (1-3 minutes). Cut tart into slices and serve with ice-cream.

Note: We’ve used Carême puf pastry. Remaining pastry can be reserved for another use.