I’ve become mildly obsessed with thinking up ways of using up the pineapples that keep being offered at bargain prices in the shops. My latest idea is these little tarts. They are dead simple to make and are based on individual French apple tarts. I use very thin over-lapping slices of pineapple instead of apple, adding rum to the apricot jam glaze. Painting a thin border with egg yolk stops the juices dribbling off the edge and gives the little tarts a shiny professional finish. They are served cold and could wait around for a few hours if necessary. With a last-minute dusting of icing sugar they end up like something you might be tempted to buy in a smart pâtisserie. For an April fool, you could add tiny scraps of red chilli under the pineapple. If you want to keep the chilli burst subtle, rather than a full-on zing, soak the chopped chilli in a little olive oil for at least 15 minutes first.
Ingredients
Serves 6
Prep: 30 min
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Cook: 30 min
375g all butter puff pastry
Flour for dusting
Knob of butter
1 egg yolk
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1 small ripe pineapple
1 tbsp apricot jam
1 tbsp rum
Icing sugar for dusting
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Method
Heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Cut the pastry into six equal pieces. Dust a work surface with flour and roll the pieces into 11cm circles using a saucer or cookie cutter as a guideline. Etch a 1cm border with a blunt knife. Prick with a fork all over and right through the pastry inside the border. Beat the egg yolk smooth and paint the border. Smear a non-stick or baking parchment-lined baking sheet with butter and transfer the pastry circles. Halve the pineapple and remove the skin, cutting out the eyes. Cut 10 very thin slices. Quarter the slices and cut out the woody centre. Arrange 6-8 overlapping slices to cover the pastry within the border. Bake in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes until the pastries have started to rise. Remove from the oven and paint the risen sides with egg yolk. Return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes until the pastry is crusty and golden brown and the pineapple scorched at the edges. Lift on to a cake rack to cool. Heat the jam and rum in a small pan, stirring for a minute or so until syrupy. Paint the jam over the pineapple and leave to cool. Dust the edge of the tarts with icing sugar just before serving.