Apple Frangipane Tart

It's been a while since I last made tarts. Was trying to search for a passionfruit tart recipe for a friend's birthday but googling around did not turn up many exciting passionfruit tarts. Most recipes call for alot of butter or cream to make it a curd-like filling whilst I'm trying to find a tangy sweetish light version. Anyone has any good passionfruit recipe to share please??

Anyway, the inspiration stuck and I ended up repeating within my currently limited repertoire of tart recipes. Lots of ground almond + a seldom-used Laduree recipe book = a sweet shortcrust pastry + a sweet almond filling + fruits of choice.

Shortcrust pastry recipe (from Laduree recipe book)

Makes 2 8-inch tarts or 1 8-in covered pie
120g very cold butter, cubed
70g confectionery sugar, sifted
25g ground almond
1 pinch fleur de sel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
200g cake flour

1. Place butter in mixer; use paddle attachment and mix to homogenize
2. Add in the following order, one at a time until just incorporated:
- Sifted sugar
- ground almond
- salt
- vanilla extract
- egg
- flour
3. Combine until everything just comes together. Divide into 2 portions and wrap each other individually in clingfilm.
4. Leave in fridge to rest for at least 2 hours (I tend to do this the night before)
5. After rest, roll the dough into tart tray and rest in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Poke holes with fork all over the dough before baking.

Almond Frangipane (adapted from Cannelle et Vanille)
Sufficient filling for 2 8-inch tarts
200g butter
150g sugar
2 eggs
60g all purpose flour
200g ground almond

1. Cream butter and sugar together
2. Add eggs and mix well
3. Mix flour and ground almond together
4. Add flour mixture into egg-butter mixture, mix until well incorporated.

Baked Apples

5 small-mid sized apples (I used red fuji)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

30g unsalted butter

1. Peel, core & cut the apples. I like to leave them in thick chunks so they retain some bite though the outer layer is baked to a slightly soft and moist stage.

2. Mix apples with sugar, lemon, cinnamon in a large bowl and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

3. Drain the apples and cook the drained juice over low heat. Add butter and reduce the juice to a thick mixture.

4. Pour the hot, thickened juice back over the apples.

Assembly:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190C. Bake the empty tart, with weights for 20 minutes.

2. Remove weights from tarts, spoon almond filling into the tarts and smoothen it slightly. Bake for another 10 minutes. 

3. Layer apples onto the tarts, press it down into the filling slightly, bake for another 15 minutes.

Notes:

- Cover the tarts loosely with parchment paper to avoid over-browning. Check out my too-browned tart edges!

- If using fruits that do not require baking, bake the empty tarts for 30 minutes, spoon the filling in and bake for another 15 minutes. Brush the top with a light fruit jam and layer the fruits (strawberries in my case) on.