MAM’S APPLE TART
For the pastry 170g plain flour 55g icing sugar 110g butter, chilled and cut into cubes 1 egg yolk
For the filling 5 cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped
4 cloves and 1 cinnamon stick 2 tablespoons caster sugar
For the glaze 1 egg, lightly beaten (or milk) caster sugar
1 Preheat the oven to 170o C/ gas 3 and grease a 20cm pie tin.
2 Sieve the flour and icing sugar together, then add the butter. Beat slowly until the mix goes sandy and there are no lumps of butter visible. Add the egg yolk and mix. The pastry should gradually cohere.
3 Wrap the lump of pastry in clingfilm, then put in the fridge for at least an hour.
4 Meanwhile, put the chopped cooking apples into a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bash the cloves and add to the apples along with the cinnamon stick. Add the caster
sugar and 2 tablespoons water and stew over a gentle heat.
5 When the apples are soft but still lumpy – this should take about 20 minutes – test for sweetness. If you think they’re a bit sour, add more sugar.
6 Remove the pastry from the clingfilm. Divide the pastry into two halves, one slightly bigger than the other. Shape the bigger half into a round, then place on a piece of clingfilm, about 30cm x 30cm. Place another piece of clingfilm – roughly the size of the first one – on top of the pastry, then use your rolling pin to flatten the pastry.
7 Roll the pastry, then turn the whole clingfilmed parcel 90 degrees and roll again, and so on, until your pastry is roughly the right size and shape to line your tin.
8 Remove the top layer of clingfilm. Place your rolling pin horizontally across the dough and using it almost as a hinge, fold the pastry in two and lift it off the bottom layer of clingfilm – do this very quickly.
9 Trim the edges with a sharp knife, then add in the stewed apple.
10 Roll out the second half of pastry then drape it over the top of the tart. Stick the edge of the bottom layer against the edge of the top layer, using the egg wash or milk.
11 Swipe the top layer with the egg wash or milk and prick several times with a fork. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.
12 Scatter caster sugar over the top just before serving.
Marian Keyes, Saved by Cake, Michael Joseph
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