Apple Tart

Wednesday, 15th February 2012

Give your Apple Tart a little zest with lemon and cinnamon. Real comfort food with a new twist.

Ingredients

You will need a 23cm (9ins) Tart tin about 3 cms (1 inch) deep.

Pastry

- 280g (10 oz.) Plain Flour

- 140g (5 oz.) Butter

- 1 teaspoon Caster sugar

- 4 Tablespoons cold water

Filling

- 2 lbs eating Apples (Irish ones are best)

- 2 Tablespoons Caster Sugar

- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon (fresh)

- Juice of 1 Lemon

Method

Make the pastry in the food processor or rub in the butter to the flour and then add the water. Let it rest for 10 minutes in the fridge. Divide into two balls, roughly one third and two thirds. Use the two thirds ball for the base Flour a counter lightly, then make the piece of pastry into a flat circle in the centre of the flour. Roll it out evenly, moving the disc in a circular way so that it expands into an even circle a few inches wider than the diameter of the tart tin.

Fold the pastry over first in half and then fold the half over so that it is a quarter of a circle. Place this carefully in the tin with the point of the pastry at the centre of the tin. Then unfold gently. This way you can fit the pastry into the tin without breaking. If it does break it can easily be repaired with spare pastry. Push the pastry well into the corners of the tin and gently build up the walls leaving a surplus overhang the sides..

Peel the apples and then slice them into chunks off the core into a bowl. Add the sugar and the cinnamon and the lemon to the apple and mix together. Pile these into the pastry base, if they mound up over the top don't worry, they will shrink down while cooking.

Take the other third of Pastry and roll that out in a similar fashion, into a circle just a little bigger than the tin for the top. Again fold into four but before you put the top on paint the edges of the bottom with a little water to help the pastries to stick.

Lay the pastry over the tart, unfolding like you did the base. Press the two edges together either by pinching roughly or by pressing with a fork. Cut off all the surplus pastry. Sprinkle over some extra sugar.

Have the oven at 175C, 350F, Gas 4 and cook at this temperature for about 30 to 45 mts until the pastry is golden brown. Serve warm or hot with cream., custard or ice cream.