Jalousie (apple tart)

Jalousie means “shutter” in French and refers to the pattern of the shutters in traditional French homes. A jalousie is usually made with a fruit preserve / jam such as apricot or strawberry preserve spread over the bottom pastry sheet but I have found it a perfect way to make an easy apple pastry.

Ingredients

One 450g roll puff pastry thawed

1 x tin pie apples

Cinnamon sugar

Raisins

One egg lightly beaten

Castor sugar to dust

Almond flakes

Oven preheated to 180C.

Cut the apples into smaller sizes. Mix as much cinnamon sugar and raisins as you prefer with the pie apples in a bowl.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to a little thinner and more or less in a square shape.

Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry in half to make two rectangles

I cut one slightly narrower. The wider one will have to wrap over the apples.

Place one rectangle on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Be careful not to stretch it when lifting.

Brush egg along the sides of the pastry

Place apples on the pastry, leaving the sides open to close with the top layer.

Take the other rectangle piece of pastry and lightly fold it in half (do not press down on it because you have to open it again)

Taking a sharp knife, cut “slats” at an angle staying about 1.5 cm away from the edge

Gently lift this piece and align the one long edge to a long edge of the pastry on the baking tray.

Now open the cut piece to cover the apples below.

Using the back of the knife, push the edges of the pastry pieces together.

Brush the top pastry with more of the beaten egg.

Dust with castor sugar and sprinkle with almond flakes. (In this picture I sprinkled it with chopped almonds since it's what I had in the cupboard)

Bake in oven 180C for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Perfect served hot with ice cream or at room temperature