If Autumn Was A Dessert

Brown Butter Hazelnut Apple Tarts

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If autumn could be represented by a single dessert, I think it might just choose the form of these fabulous tarts. Made with homemade puff pastry, they are filled with a brown butter hazelnut frangipane and topped with some sliced apple and roughly chopped hazelnuts. The resulting tarts are so warm and cosy they feel like the exact thing I want to be eating right now, ideally served with lashings of warm vanilla custard.

The idea for these tarts comes from my recent US book tour, on my final stop, on the final day. New York City. Across the whole tour I had one day that had no event, a day where I was free to explore the city I found myself in, and that was the day I flew home to London. I had an overnight flight back to the UK, so I had plenty of time to run around the city to check some places that had come recommended to me and places that were on my radar which had opened since my last visit a couple years ago. At the top of that list was Radio Bakery in Brooklyn. You can read my thoughts on the bakery here, but the dish that really caught my attention was their apple croissant made with what they call brown butter custard. It was like an old-school apple danish had been given a glow-up, and it was now anything but old-school; it was layered and sophisticated and just absolutely delicious!

To make a version of the dish myself, or at least something inspired by it, I wanted to make it a touch more accessible. Instead of using croissant pastry, I opted for puff pastry since you can opt to make it or, if you choose, but it. I also switched out the custard for brown butter frangipane. And since I was switching things up, I also decided to add some roasted hazelnuts to the frangipane to make the whole thing even more warm and toasty. The resulting tarts are really special and the perfect thing for a cold, grey London weekend.

For the apples, I went with pink lady, although many different varieties would work. I chose pink lady because they have a nice bright flavour and they are very good at holding their shape whilst baking. I also love the look of the red peel against the beige tones going on everywhere else in the tarts.

A word of advice on the hazelnuts. When you buy ‘roasted hazelnuts’ from the supermarket, they are more often than not woefully underroasted. It is like they had a gentle hot breeze past over them instead of toasting them, so they became deeply flavourful with a rich warm colour. To get the most out of your nuts, even if the packaging says they’re already toasted, you want to ensure they’re properly browned before using them. Scatter the nuts onto a rimmed baking tray and bake them at about 160ºC until you can smell a roasted aroma and the nuts have become a golden toasty brown. Allow them to fully cool before using them.