Quick Apple Tartlets with Pistachio Praline

Ingredients

• Pistachio Praline
• oil for greasing
• 100 g castor sugar
• 60 g shelled pistachios (roughly chopped (100g of nuts in the shell tends to yield just under 60g when shelled))
• Apple Tartlets
• 400 g ready rolled puff pastry (defrosted)
• 4 granny smith apples (peeled, cored, thinly sliced and tossed in lemon juice to prevent browning)
• 3 tablespoons honey - heated in the microwave for about 10 seconds till very runny
• 1 tablespoon castor sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• icing sugar for dusting (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Start with the praline by lightly greasing a piece of baking paper with oil and placing it on a baking tray.

2. 2

   Heat the castor sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved (do not stir) and has turned a brown caramel colour. Keep a close watch so that it does not burn or brown too dark.

3. 3

   Add the pistachio nuts and pour onto the sheet of baking paper.

4. 4

   Allow to cool and set until hard.

5. 5

   Place in a small plastic bag and bash with a rolling pin into small shards and chunks and set aside.

6. 6

   Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

7. 7

   Unroll the pastry on a floured surface and cut into 8 even sized pieces.

8. 8

   Place the apple slices on each piece of pastry, overlapping the slices and making sure that at least 1cm of the pastry edges remains uncovered.

9. 9

   Lightly brush the apple slices with half of the runny honey and sprinkle with the castor sugar.

10. 10

    Brush the 1cm uncovered edges of pastry with the beaten egg and place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

11. 11

    Remove from the oven, brush each tartlet with the rest of the runny honey, sprinkle with the pistachio praline, dust with some icing sugar and serve immediately.