How to make a delicious double apple tart – twice the taste with apple slices and apple butter

If I had to pick just one favourite dessert, it would be any type of apple pastry. Some people think of apple desserts as boring – after all, the fruit is in shops year-round (although chances are, it was harvested in the autumn and kept in storage).

But speaking as a former pastry chef, I love the apple’s versatility: it can be made into humble desserts (crisps, cobblers and crumbles), ones that seem simple but are not (apple pie), or something deceptively luxurious, such as a good tarte Tatin, where the fruit is succulent and richly caramelised.

Double apple tart

This tart has apples in the form of both slices and apple butter, which is similar to apple sauce, only thicker and more intense. I also add a good chunk of butter, just because …

For the apple butter, I use a soft variety of apple, which many refer to as “cooking apples”. In Hong Kong, that would be Fuji or Golden Delicious (but please, not Red Delicious, which are indeed red but certainly not delicious). For the apple slices, use a firmer variety. I like Granny Smith apples because they hold their shape and are quite tart. I also make the apple butter with a scant amount of sugar, but if you like a sweeter dessert, add more.

You can make the apple butter and sugar dough in advance, then roll out the dough and fill the tart on the day you want to serve the dessert. The apple butter makes enough for at least three tarts; just portion out the leftovers into airtight containers and freeze until needed.

The recipe for the sugar dough (pâte à sucre) is adapted from The Pie and Pastry Bible (1998), by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

For the glaze, buy the cheapest apricot jam you can find. More expensive jams have more fruit, but because it will be heated and strained before being brushed over the apples, you want a jam with less fruit.