Apple and Brown Butter Frangipane Tart Recipe by Emelia Jackson

ele Team

June 8

This delicious Apple and Brown Butter Frangipane Tart recipe is from Emelia Jackson's cookbook, First Cream the Butter and Sugar.

Brown butter – or beurre noisette – is something you should get comfortable making if you want to take your bakes to the next level. Basically, you cook the butter down until the water evaporates and the milk solids caramelise to a deep golden colour. What remains is a nutty, rich pot of liquid gold. This tart is essentially a frangipane tart, but I have browned the butter and then set it in the freezer so that I can cream it with the sugar in order to achieve the same fluffy outcome as a traditional frangipane filling. If you don't want the burnt butter flavour, simply skip this step in the recipe.

Ingredients

Makes a 23 cm (9 inch) tart

23 cm (9 inch) baked pastry shell (see recipe below)

2 green apples

Icing (confectioners') sugar, for dusting

Brown butter frangipane filling

125 g (4½ oz) unsalted butter

100 g (3½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

100 g (3½ oz) almond meal

30 g (1 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).

Method

Start by making the brown butter for the filling. Put the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow the butter to first melt, and then foam and bubble away. Once the bubbling has stopped and the foaming has subsided, the butter will begin to turn a beautiful golden brown. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and chill in the freezer until the butter has just set (around 15–20 minutes).

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the set brown butter with the sugar until pale (it won't be as pale as normal butter). Mix in the egg and egg yolk until combined. Add the almond meal and flour and give the mixture a good mix to ensure there are no lumps of flour.

Peel the apples and cut them into 1 cm (1/2 inch) dice. Spread the apple pieces over the base of the baked tart shell to completely cover the base. Spoon the frangipane filling over the apple and spread it in an even layer (the frangipane will be quite thick, so take care to spread it gently, without moving the apple too much). The filling will rise in the oven, so don't stress if it doesn't fill the top of your tart shell.

Bake the tart for 30–35 minutes or until the top is an even golden brown. Allow the tart to cool to room temperature before dusting with icing sugar.

Tart Case Recipe (makes one 30 cm (12 inch) tart shell)

200 g (7 oz) unsalted butter, softened

120 g (4¼ oz) icing (confectioners') sugar

60 g (2¼ oz) egg yolks

Pinch of salt

280 g (10 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting

100 g (3½ oz) almond, pistachio or hazelnut meal (see Tip)

1 egg yolk, extra, for brushing

Method

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, icing sugar, egg yolks and salt together until evenly combined and smooth – you don't want aeration here, just a nice cohesive mass. Be sure to scrape down the side of the bowl to ensure the mixture is evenly combined.

Add the flour and nut meal and mix until the ingredients come together into a soft dough. Turn the dough out of the bowl and use your hands to bring it together into a ball. Flatten the pastry into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 1–2 hours (preferably overnight).

Put the chilled pastry on your lightly floured bench and massage it into a pliable dough. Roll out the pastry until it's 3 mm (1/8 inch) thick and about 5 cm (2 inches) larger than the tin or tins (just a guesstimate works here – don't go getting out a ruler!). Trim away any uneven edges to reduce tearing, and reserve any left-over pastry. Drape the pastry over your rolling pin, gently lower it into the tin and press it into the edges.

Put the pastry in the fridge to chill for a further 15–20 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line the pastry with baking paper and weigh it down with baking weights or rice.

Bake the pastry for 35–45 minutes for a 30 cm tart shell, 30–35 minutes for two 23 cm tart shells or 8–12 minutes for mini tart shells, removing the paper and weights halfway through cooking. You want the pastry to be a beautiful, deep golden brown all over.

If you find any little holes in your pastry case, fill them with some of the left-over pastry and return the pastry to the oven for 2 minutes – if you don't, the filling will leak out of the shell.

Finally, egg wash the hot pastry – whisk the egg yolk with 2 tablespoons water and evenly brush it over the surface. The residual heat will cook the egg wash and seal the pastry. Allow the pastry to cool completely before filling.

Emelia's Tip:

Keep the nuts natural for more mellow tones, or roast them before grinding for a flavour hit. Spread the nuts over a baking tray in a single layer and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for 8–10 minutes or until golden brown and aromatic. Watch carefully to ensure they don't burn. Cool completely before transferring to a food processor and processing in short bursts until finely ground. Be careful not to overprocess the nuts as the oils will release and they can turn into a paste.

Mix it up! Alternative Tart Options

This recipe is a great one to mix up – use any nut meal you like in the pastry, and match the nut meal in the filling. Replace the caster sugar with a more complex flavour by using the same weight of brown sugar, honey or golden syrup.

Hazelnut and peach frangipane tart

Replace the almond meal in both the tart shell and the frangipane with hazelnut meal. Replace the apple pieces with tinned or fresh peach halves.

Pistachio and apricot frangipane tart

Replace the almond meal in both the tart shell and the frangipane with pistachio meal. Replace the apple pieces with drained tinned apricots in syrup.

Almond and pear frangipane tart

Replace the apple pieces with drained tinned (or poached) pear halves and leave them whole for a beautiful rustic tart.

Bakewell tart

Replace the apple pieces with 320 g (11½ oz) of your favourite jam (raspberry is traditional in a Bakewell tart, but any flavour works). Top the jam with the brown butter frangipane and sprinkle sliced almonds over the tart before baking.