apple custard tart

upon purchasing a new food processor (eep!) I was most looking forward to using it to make pastry, having never used anything but the old fashioned hand method - albeit to great success - and lo in but a few short hand-gunk free minutes lovely pate sucree did I have! awesome.

so, the apple custard tart, from the divine Joy of Baking, is pretty easy to make but has several different sections to it so only attempt this when you have some hours to burn (bake)...

the pastry - pate sucree

ingredients

210g plain flour

50g granulated sugar

1/8 tsp salt

113g butter

1 egg, beaten

method

1. sift the flour and salt together into a medium bowl

2. in a food processor, beat the butter for a few minutes

3. add the sugar, mix well, then add the beaten egg

4. add the flour and mix until a ball is formed

5. remove the pastry, flatten, cover & chill for 20 minutes

6. roll out to 5mm thick and line a greased, 8" loose-bottomed pie dish - prick with a fork and then return to the fridge for a further 20 minutes

7. line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beads, pushing the beads to the edges to stop shrinkage...if you have no beads then use foil, which I used to use until Father Christmas came...

7. bake in a preheated oven at 205C for 20 minutes, remove and cool

the apricot glaze

ingredients

1/4 cup apricot jam

1/2 tbsp water

method

1. heat the jam in a small pan until boiling

2. strain into a bowl to remove any lumps

3. mix in the water and use to glaze the cooled tart shell

the custard

ingredients

1/4 cup plain flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup single cream

1/2 vanilla pod, split length ways

method

1. whisk the plain flour and granulated sugar together in a medium sized bowl

2. mix in the eggs and stir to a paste

3. heat the cream in a small saucepan with the vanilla pod until it is just boiling

4. remove the pan from the heat ad the pod from the pan, scrape out the seeds and pop them back into the cream (you can also rinse and dry the pod, and use it to make vanilla sugar)

5. add the cream to the flour/egg paste and whisk to incorporate, set aside

the apples

ingredients

500g apples, granny smith/braeburn etc

30g butter

3 tbsp caster sugar

method

1. peel and core the apples

2. slice the apples into 1/4" thick slices

3. melt the butter in a large skillet (thick flat bottomed frying pan)

4. add the sugar and stir in, let it melt a bit into the butter over a medium heat

5. add the apples and saute until they begin to soften, about 5-10 minutes

6. set aside to cool

the cinnamon sugar

mix together 1 tbsp granulated sugar & 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

the assembly

1. preheat the oven to 177C

2. place the cooled, glazed tart shell on a baking sheet

3. line the apples in concentric circles in the tart shell

4. carefully pour over the custard

5. sprinkle over the cinnamon sugar

6. bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes until set

now you have a choice either let it cool and bit then scoff it right down as we did for the hour was late ad the smell too tempting...or....

7. sift over a layer of icing sugar and place under a high grill to caramelise...then serve...