Individual Apple Tarts

Ingredients

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 teaspoons unsalted butter, divided
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 large Honeycrisp apples

Steps

1. Assemble the ingredients. Preheat to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), line a baking sheet with parchment and have two 6-ounce ramekins ready.
2. Leave the puff pastry on a work surface to thaw for just 5 minutes; it must remain partly frozen and very firm. Cut out 2 dough rounds with a round pastry cutter matching the ramekins' diameter. Put them on the prepared sheet and prick each all over with a fork.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes, until puffed with golden-brown bottoms.
4. Take out of the oven and slide the parchment off the pan onto the work surface. Lightly press the warm pastries with the back of a fork to deflate a little, then leave to cool.
5. Raise the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). In a bowl, combine the brown and white sugars with a pinch of cinnamon and a very small pinch of salt.
6. Grease each ramekin's base and sides generously with 1 1/2 teaspoons butter. Spoon the sugar mixture evenly into the ramekins, keeping about 1 1/2 teaspoons for later. Shake gently to settle and flatten the sugar.
7. Put 3 cups cold water in a bowl and add the lemon juice.
8. Set one apple on its side, take about 1/4 inch off its top and bottom, then halve through the center. Do the same to the second apple.
9. Peel away and discard the skin from the apple halves. Continue peeling the flesh into ribbons as long and thick as possible until the core is reached, dropping them into the water. Ribbons 3- to 4-inches long are fine.
10. Take out 3 to 4 of the longest ribbons and join them on the work surface into a long ribbon, overlapping the ends by about an inch.
11. Roll the ribbon tightly into the tart's center, then stand it on its end.
12. Keep coiling ribbons around the center, overlapping them, until the coil matches the ramekin's diameter. Lift it into the ramekin with its flat side on the sugar. Repeat for the second tart.
13. Dot each tart with 1/2 teaspoon butter and sprinkle the reserved sugar mixture over them.
14. Set a pastry round on each tart with its fork-pricked side facing down against the apples.
15. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until the pastry is brown and juices bubble. Take out and press the hot pastries gently with a fork. Cool for about 10 minutes.
16. Run a knife around each pastry and invert onto serving plates. If desired, work a spoon around each tart to separate the layers and give more definition.
17. Serve the tarts and enjoy them.