Chinon apple tarts
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Chinon apple tarts

By Alex Hollywood

These little French tarts are wonderfully buttery and crisp, glazed with a red wine jelly – the perfect end to a special supper for two

  • Prep:30 mins
    Cook:1 hrs
  • More effort

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 1074
  • fat 58g
  • saturates 31g
  • carbs 123g
  • sugars 68g
  • fibre 2g
  • protein 12g
  • salt 1.3g

Ingredients

  • 375ml red wine, such as Chinon
  • 200g jam sugar
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 clove
  • 2½ cm piece cinnamon stick
  • pinch of allspice
  • ½ split vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
  • 320g pack ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry
  • 4 tbsp light brown soft sugar
  • 2-3 eating apples (I used Pink Lady)
  • 3 tbsp red wine jelly (see above recipe)
  • 100ml crème fraîche
  • 1 tbsp icing sugar
  • 3 cardamom pods, pods discarded and seeds ground

Tip

Leftover red wine jelly

This recipe makes 200ml of red wine jelly so you will have leftovers. You can use this up in other baking, serve with cold meats or simply spread on toast.

Get ahead

The red wine jelly can be made and stored in a small sterilised jar in the fridge up to a month before. You can make the cardamom crème fraîche in the morning before serving and keep it covered in the fridge. The tart bases can be cut out and caramelised in the afternoon before serving, put on a tray and topped with a sheet of baking parchment.

Nutrition per tart

The nutritional information above is given for each tart, with crème fraîche. Without crème fraîche, each tart has 852 kcals, 38g fat, 18g saturates, 114g carbs, 60g sugars, 2g fibre, 10g protein and 1.3g salt.

Method

  1. To make the red wine jelly, put the red wine, jam sugar, star anise, clove, cinnamon stick, allspice, split vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan. Stir together, then heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Turn up the heat and boil for 20 mins until reduced and syrupy. Strain into a small, sterilised jam jar and leave to cool completely. Will keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.

  2. Take the pastry out of the fridge and leave at room temperature for 10 mins, then unroll. Heat the grill to high and heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Cut out 2 x 13cm circles of pastry, using a plate as a guide, and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Sprinkle each circle with 1 tbsp sugar and grill for 5 mins to caramelise, watching carefully so that the sugar doesn’t burn. Remove from the grill. Can be done a few hours ahead, and left, covered, out of the fridge.

  3. Peel, quarter and core the apples, cut into 2mm-thin slices and arrange on top of the pastry. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar and pop in the oven for 20-25 mins until the pastry is cooked through and golden, and the apples are softened. Remove and allow to cool slightly. Warm 3 tbsp of the red wine jelly in a small pan over a low heat with 1 tsp water to make it a little more runny, then brush over the top of the tarts.

  4. Tip the crème fraîche into a bowl, sift over the icing sugar and cardamom, and mix together. Carefully lift the warm tarts onto serving plates and serve with the cardamom crème fraîche.

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