Puff Puff

Last week's pear and almond tart was a triumph. A very hastily consumed triumph. And there was a little tub of leftover frangipane in the fridge crying out to be baked into something. Hanging around the kitchen was a flyer I picked up from the supermarket with a recipe for rough puff pastry. I've made lots of pastry before, but never puff. "It's Tuesday," I thought. "Let's try something new."

The kid was disappointed that there were no eggs to crack, but she was all over the pressing of the 'pulse' button on the food processor. She quickly turned the butter and flour into something resembling coarse bread crumbs, then added the ice-cold water as I gently kneaded, brought it together and began the rolling. Roll, fold, fold, turn. Roll, fold, fold, turn. Roll, fold, fold, turn.

And rest.

Roll, fold, fold, turn...

You get the picture.

The leftover frangipane was smeared onto the pastry, which we then topped with sliced apples and some frozen raspberries. And then - an egg to crack after all - we brushed the pastry border with some egg wash and popped the whole thing into a hot oven to hopefully puff puff puff.

And puff it did. It landed on the bench top looking like something out of a rustic French farmhouse kitchen. The pastry had a beautiful, crisp, delicate crumb which combined beautifully with the cakey, fruity topping. Just the thing for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

I wonder how wonderful the unrough version will be! We might try that next week and make this Try Something New Tuesday a habit.

Rough puff pastry recipe from here - it made the perfect quantity for one tart.

The frangipane is from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. I reckon this was about a third of the full recipe, so adjusted accordingly, beat 1/4 cup caster sugar and 60g butter until pale. Add one egg and beat well. Add 90g ground almonds and 20ml of grog - they say Grand Marnier, I used Cointreau. Or just leave that out if you like.

And I baked my tart for about half an hour, initially at 200 degrees Celsius, and then reduced to 170 after about 10 minutes so the apples could cook without the pastry burning.