Goat’s cheese, apple and honey tarts recipe

It’s best to use a sweet apple for this recipe to complement the tanginess of the cheese, so try a Braeburn or Royal Gala instead of a Granny Smith or Cox’s. You can either bake these as individual tarts – as I have done – or as a traybake, in which case just roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle.

Prep time: 35 minutes, plus 15 minutes chilling | Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

MAKES

10

INGREDIENTS

• 75g unsalted butter

• 1 onion, thinly sliced

• ½ sprig of rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped

• 2 x 320g packs of ready-made puff-pastry

• Little plain flour, for dusting

• 1 egg, beaten

For the cheese topping

• 200g goat’s cheese

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 4 crisp eating (dessert) apples, such as Braeburn, peeled, cored and sliced

• Pinch of ground allspice

• 4 tbsp runny honey

• Micro purple basil (optional)

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6 and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment.

2. Heat a saucepan over a medium heat and melt half the butter. Add the onion and rosemary, and fry until the onion begins to brown. Leave to one side.

3. Roll out the pastry on a lightly-floured surface to about 5mm thick. Using a round, 10cm biscuit cutter, cut out 20 rounds. Place 10 on the prepared baking sheet and prick all over with a fork.

4. Make pastry rings by cutting smaller rounds into the remaining 10 pieces of pastry using a 9cm biscuit cutter. Then, take out the centre sections and save for another recipe. Brush the whole rounds on the baking sheet with the beaten egg, and then place a pastry ring on each one. Pop in the freezer for 15 minutes in order to cool them down.

5. To make the cheese topping, put the goat’s cheese, lemon juice and some salt and pepper into a bowl and mix with a fork. Avoid over-mixing, as you want the cheese to still be crumbly.

6. Spoon about a tablespoon of the cheese mix on to each piece of pastry, then top with the sliced apple, overlapping slightly. Melt the remaining butter and brush it over the tarts. Sprinkle with allspice.

7. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. When the tarts are out of the oven, drizzle with the honey and micro purple basil (if using) while still warm and serve.

Recipe from Apple by James Rich (Hardie Grant, £20)