Apple and Lemon Grass Frangipane Tart

As a child in Chicago’s Chinatown, I knew very little of European or American desserts. The one exception I remember very well is apple pie. For reasons that, even today, are unclear to me, the Chinese in my neighbourhood enjoyed apple pie and coffee. Not that apple pie is anything but an excellent sweet; it is just not very Chinese.

In my youth and while living in France, I discovered the joy of apple tarts, which are lighter, flakier and more buttery than traditional apple pies. A