Ricotta & Apple Puff Pastry Tart

This simple tart uses shop bought, ready rolled puff pastry. This recipe uses ricotta cheese and an egg, but you could substitute these for vegan cream cheese and a tablespoon of cornflour for a vegan version. Unless you are buying the all butter puff pastry, the shop bought ones tend to be suitable for vegans

You could also try swapping the vanilla paste for almond essence and topping with a generous scatter of flaked almonds before baking

Ingredients

1x320g pack ready rolled puff pastry

Milk

250g ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons agave syrup, or maple syrup

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla paste

3 sweet eating apples

Juice of half a lemom

3 tablespoons demerara sugar

2 tablespoons date syrup (optional)

Method

Heat the oven to 200ᵒC (180ᵒC fan)

Lay the puff pastry on a prepared baking sheet. I use the parchment that the pastry comes wrapped in

Score around the edge, 2cm in, brush the edge with a little milk, then bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until puffed up and starting to dry out

Mix the ricotta with the syrup, egg and vanilla paste, then spread this evenly over the inner rectangle of the part-baked pastry

Cut the apples into quarters, remove the cores, then slice very thinly and place in a bowl with the lemon juice, topped up with water. This will prevent the apples from browning while being prepared

Drain the apples from the lemon and water, then arrange over the top of the ricotta base. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar then return to the oven for 20-30 minutes until the edges of the pastry have browned and the apple is softened

Remove from the oven and finish with a drizzle of the date syrup if using

Serve warm with crème fraiche, ice cream or custard