APPLE, HAZELNUT & BROWN BUTTER TART

apple, hazelnut & brown butter tart

Even though I LOVE cooking and baking, and making up new recipes, using Mike as a guinea pig, there are times when I need to be inspired. I happen to have over a hundred cookbooks plus recipes I've downloaded, printed and collated into many more reference books.

There are many chefs who inspire me and Danielle Alvarez - @daniellemariealvarez - an Australian, is one of them. This recipe is mostly hers (just changed as couple of ingredients). Her pastry is completely different to my usual and, come to think of it, so is the filling. This is no Annie's Apple Pie! It takes a little more effort but, if you're into making pies and tarts, you'll find it was worth it. 😋

INGREDIENTS

Pastry

150g unsalted butter at

room temperature

35g soft brown sugar

35g white caster sugar

50g runny honey

250g plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp fine sea salt

Filling

6 tart apples (I used Granny Smiths) peeled, cored and sliced very finely

2 or 3 tablespoons caster sugar

1 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Brown Butter Topping

2 eggs

100g white caster sugar

50g plain flour

125g brown butter (keep whisking over medium heat until brown in colour)

pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Serve with vanilla flavoured whipped cream...or not.

METHOD

Preheat oven to 175C (350F).

To make the pastry, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on low, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in the honey and mix to combine. Mix the flour and salt in a separate bowl and add the flour mix. Continue to beat until pastry is brought together. Don't forget to scrape down the sides. Gather up the dough, place in a small bowl and refrigerate for about ten minutes.

Place a large sheet of baking paper on your bench top. Divide the dough in half (roughly). You can freeze the rest for when you make it again. Dump half the dough onto your baking paper. Place another sheet of baking paper over the top. Squash down the dough with your hand and then roll it between the two pieces of paper until it's paper thin. Peel off the top piece of paper and carefully invert the bottom one with the pastry over a fluted pie dish. Now, very very carefully peel away the paper. You may need to do a bit of repair work but that's ok. Just make sure your pastry is evenly distributed across your pie dish and up the sides. Cut away any remaining pastry so it's flush with the edge. Line the tart with a clean sheet of baking paper and weight it down with baking beads or dry beans. Place in oven and bake blind for about 35 minutes.

In the meantime, line two or three baking sheets with more baking paper. Lay your thinly sliced apples on top without overlapping. Sprinkle with the sugar and bake for about 10 minutes or until softened a little. You can do this at the same time.

Set aside your softened apple slices. Take your pastry out of the oven. Remove the baking paper covered in baking beads (carefully) and place back in oven for another10 minutes or until lovely and golden.

Take the pastry shell out of the oven. Let cool. Fill with softened apples. You can layer them if you have the patience. I just tossed mine in and spread them out evenly.

Make your brown butter topping by placing eggs and sugar in the now clean bowl of your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip until light, quadrupled in volume and pale yellow in colour. Add in the flour, salt and vanilla paste. Slowly stream in the cooled or slightly warm brown butter and continue to whip until thoroughly mixed.

Pour and then using a rubber spatula to get every last bit, add the topping to cover the apples.

Scatter the chopped hazelnuts around the edges.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden and beginning to crack.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before you cut into wedges and serve..