Apricot and honey tart

Ingredients

• 1x 215g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry (from a 430g pack of Waitrose ready-rolled puff pastry, or trim down a sheet from another brand’s pack)
• 350g (12oz) apricots, halved and stoned
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 20g (3/4oz) butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tbsp runny honey

Method

Usually I’m a dab hand with leftovers and raiding the fridge is a particularly enjoyable Sunday night activity. We always think we won’t want ‘much of a supper’ on the grounds that we’ll probably have had a big lunch and there’s a lot to do before Monday morning. But then we get hungry and only leftovers will provide us with supper.

So nothing goes to waste in my house – except for half packets of puff pastry. I buy them to make one thing, put the rest back in the fridge (fully intending to ‘do something’ with it) and, inevitably, five days later the pastry hits the bin. I have finally realised that, when it comes to puff pastry, you have to plan on using half for one dish, and half for another – one sweet and one savoury, perfect! Then I discovered that Waitrose did a pack of two ready-rolled 215g pastry sheets, just the right size for two tarts for two to three people.

To make the apricot and honey tart, put the sheet of pastry on a lightly floured surface and give it a quick roll with a pin, not to make it any bigger but just to neaten and flatten it slightly. 

Cut ½in wide strips from each side and transfer the rectangle of pastry to a lightly floured baking sheet. 

Brush the rim of the rectangle of pastry with water and lay the pastry strips on top, pressing gently to help them stick (these will make a nice rim when it’s cooked). 

Using a fork, prick holes in the pastry, inside the border. Chill in the fridge for an hour or the freezer for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.

Cut the apricots into slim wedges. 

Sprinkle half the sugar on the base of the pastry then lay the apricot wedges on it in rows, slightly overlapping. 

Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and dot with the butter. Brush the rim with the egg. 

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden and the edges of the apricots slightly caramelised. 

Leave to cool for about 15 minutes then brush the apricots with the honey. 

Serve with crème fraîche or, if it’s for afternoon tea, just on its own.

Cooking tip

You can use this recipe to make a peach, nectarine or plum tart, just ensure that the fruit is ripe.

Try one of our other tasty dessert recipes, including recipes for BBQ peaches with maple butter, blueberry clafoutis and baked pears in sherry