Title: Apple Rose Tart
Categories: Tarts
Yield: 1 Tart
MMMMM------------------SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY-----------------------
250 g Plain flour
125 g Butter; chilled and diced
75 g Caster sugar
1/2 Lemon; grated zest only
1 Egg; beaten
MMMMM-------------------------DECORATION------------------------------
8 Red-skinned eating apples;
-as red as you can find, I
-used Pink Lady
1 l Apple juice
500 g Caster sugar
MMMMM-------------------APPLE CUSTARD FILLING------------------------
3 Braeburn apples; or apple of
-your choice.
100 g Sugar
120 ml Extra thick double cream
1 tb Lemon juice
1/2 Lemon; grated zest of
1 lg Egg
2 lg Egg yolks
1 tb Corn flour; up to 2 tb
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:
Blitz the first 4 ingredients in a food processor until the mixture
resembles breadcrumbs. With the motor running, pour in the beaten egg
IN STAGES. This is important. Add about 1 tb at a time and give the
flour time to absorb the liquid. The mixture will comes together when
sufficient liquid has been added. When the mixture has come together,
tip it out of the processor and knead once or twice into a ball.
Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Decoration:
Stir the sugar and apple juice together in a large pan until the
sugar is fully dissolved. Cut apples in half vertically. Remove core
and cut into thin (semi-circle) slices. Put the slices into the apple
syrup and simmer gently for 10 minutes or until tender. You need the
apples to be soft enough so that you can roll them, but not so soft
as to fall apart. Depending on how thickly you sliced the apples,
probably no more than 15 minutes. You'll find that the colour from
the skins leeches into the syrup, and turns the flesh of the apples a
wonderful dusky pink. Lift the apple slices from the syrup with a
slotted spoon and allow to drain/cool in a sieve. When cool enough to
handle, lay out the apple slices as follows.
* Place 1 slice of apple on the left-hand end of your chopping board,
flat side towards you.
* Lay the next slice so that it overlaps the first by half.
* Continue in this manner until there are 12 slices laid into a
single strip Lay out 12 strips, one for each tart. Cover with
cling film until required.
Apple Custard Filling:
Mix the sugar, cream, egg, yolks, lemon zest & juice. Peel, core and
grate the apples finely over a sieve to drain off excess juice. Stir
into the egg/cream mixture. Put the corn flour into a cup and add
some of the apple custard mix to it. Stir until fully combined. Stir
corn flour mix into the main mixture.
To Assemble:
Heat oven to 200 C, 180 C Fan. Roll out the pastry thinly about 3
mm. Line the holes of the cupcake tin with pastry by whatever method
you prefer I quite like the gently folded creases created by using a
round cutter and parchment, but for a neater finish you could use the
template method suggested here. Spoon in filling, 1 to 2 tb per hole.
Roll up the apple slices, starting from the left hand side of the
board. The overlaps will help keep everything together. Drop the
resulting roses gently into each cup. Cook for 10 minutes.
Turn pan 180 degrees, then cook for another 10 minutes, until pastry
is cooked and browned.
While the tarts are cooking, simmer the apple/sugar mixture over a
medium-high heat until thickened into a syrup.
Remove tarts from the oven, leave for five minutes and then remove
from the tins. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
Brush tarts with the apple syrup and sprinkle with a light dusting of
icing sugar to serve.
Make apple custard tarts with any leftover filling and pastry 10-15
minutes in the same temperature oven, or until filling is set. If
making tarts larger than cupcake size, blind bake for 10 minutes to
avoid the dreaded soggy bottom, then just 10 minutes with the filling!
