Apple and Almond Frangipane Tarts

These tarts are sort of like apple tart tatin's as they have a puff pastry base and include a sort of caramely apple topping. However, underneath all that beautiful apple is a layer of almond frangipane which adds a lot more flavour and texture to the tarts. I served mine warm with a dollop of this really yummy coconut cream based vanilla bean ice cream called nice cream. 

Apple and Almond Frangipane Tarts 

2 sheets of ready rolled puff pastry

2 large granny smith apples

squeeze of lemon juice

8 tsp castor sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

Frangipane:

55g butter softened

55g caster sugar

1 free-range egg, beaten

40g ground almonds

1 tbsp plain flour

Pre-heat the oven to 180c.

Cut out four 12 cm circles of puff pastry and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. 

Peel, core and quarter the apples. Slice them very finely using a mandolin. Place in a bowl and toss in the lemon juice. set aside. 

For the frangipane, beat all the ingredients together untill smooth. Place a tablespoon of the frangipane mixture in the middle of each pastry round and spread out, leaving a 1 cm gap from the edge of the pastry. Layer on the apple slices. Brush with the melted butter and evenly sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the sugar over the apple slices. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes. Take out of the oven, brush with more butter and sprinkle over the remaining sugar. Place back in the oven for a further 5 to 10 minutes or until dark golden around the edges. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.