Autumnal Apples
I have been enjoying the small changes that autumn brings. The darker mornings have meant I have seen some wondrous sunrises and the start of the leaves going all their various hues of yellow.
Earlier in the week I took myself off for a walk on the South Downs and it was one of those splendid autumn early mornings where the air is cool, the blueness in the sky makes it seem bigger and the sunlight is at its low angles. My mission was to collect conkers from the horse chestnut trees, as they are some of the first trees to turn into autumnal shades.
I collect conkers every autumn and it is definitely my custom of the season. Trees offer up lots of bounty at this time of year, you may have noticed in greengrocers and supermarkets the arrival of cobnuts. I must confess that I have never done anything with cobnuts in the past, but with my exploration of the seasons, I thought I would have a little experiment with them.
Cobnuts are a cultivated hazelnut I discovered, so with this in mind, I cracked the shells and put the wonderful cream coloured stripy nuts into the oven to roast. This inspired me to make a nut frangipane base to an apple puff pastry galette, using ground cobnuts and almonds. The frangipane is then layered on a base of puff pastry and topped with sliced apples which are brushed with a brown butter and maple syrup glaze and baked in the oven.
Apple Galette with Cobnut Frangipane
375g puff pastry
1 large Bramley apple, or two small eating apples, finely sliced
1 free range egg yolk
2 tablespoons of maple syrup (the finest you can get) or honey
20g butter
Cobnut and almond frangipane
40g butter
3 tbsp roasted ground cobnuts
3 tbsp ground almonds
3 tbsp golden caster sugar
1 free range egg yolk
First preheat oven to 200ºC/Gas Mark 6
To make the frangipane, place all the frangipane ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined into a paste and leave to one side.
Roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle roughly 30cm x 20cm and place onto a lined baking tray. Very gently score a line 1cm in from the edges to create a boarder. Within the ‘frame’ prick the base all over with a fork, this will stop the centre of the galette from rising up.
Carefully spread the frangipane mixture over the pricked centre of the galette, taking it right up to the score line, but not over.
Arrange your apple slices in a line running down the longer length of the galette and over lapping them, you should get three rows across of sliced apples.
Melt the butter in a small pan until it’s slightly nutty brown in colour, this will give it a wonderful rich flavour. Take the butter of the heat and stir through 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.
Brush the melted butter and maple syrup all over the apples and the pastry boarder to glaze them and place into the oven to bake for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, remove the galette from the oven, and drizzle the final tablespoon of maple syrup over the top.
Put back in the oven for another 10 minutes or until the pastry becomes golden.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Enjoy!
Gosh, apples, nuts, maple syrup, buttery pastry, it is like a glorious rectangle of yummy autumness! I am excited to be sharing more autumn inspiration with you next Friday
