Ingredients
1.5 Kg Eating Apples
1 Lemon
3 tbsp caster sugar
1 quantity of rich flan pastry (see below)
4 tbsp fruit jelly/jam (apricot is good)
Rich Flan Pastry
125g butter
75g caster sugar
1 egg yolk
Salt
Vanilla extract or essence
250g flour
Method
Preheat the fan oven to 180C.
Set aside 5 apples of similar size. Peel and core the remaining apples and puree them in a blender Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon plus 2 tbsp of sugar.
Roll out the pastry and use to line a buttered 10”/25cm tart pan. Prick the bottom of the pastry case with a fork and cover with the apple puree.
Peel and core the reserved apples. Cut into quarters then slice as thinly as possible. Arrange the slices in overlapping layers on the puree and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the pastry case is firm and golden.
Warm the fruit jelly and brush over the apple slices as soon as the tart is removed from the oven. It looks so good it seems a pity to cut it up.
The Pastry
Cut the butter into pieces and warm to soften.
Mix the egg yolk with the sugar then add the butter, a pinch of salt and a drop of vanilla. Mix well then add the flour and quickly work all together with your hands. Form into a ball and chill for 1 hour.
Roll out the dough and fold in three.
This makes a very fragile pastry which will be difficult to remove from the pan when cooked unless you use one with a loose base. If you find the pastry difficult to roll, you can flatten it with the palm of your hand, place it in the pan and work it up the sides with your fingertips.