A traditional British apple tart served with homemade vanilla ice-cream - a great recipe for any occasion
Ingredients
Before you start...
The ice cream will need to be made in advance so that it is ready to go with the apple tart.
For the pastry:
- 220 g plain flour
- 150 g cold unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 egg yolk, reserve white for brushing
- 3 -4 tbsp cold water
For the crème pâtissière:
- 280 ml milk
- 25 g plain flour
- 2 tsp corn flour
- 4 egg yolks
- 60 g caster sugar
For the filling:
- 4 large cox apples
- 60 g butter
- 75 g sugar
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 6 tbsp crème pâtissière (see separate recipe)
For the topping:
- 2 -3 granny smith apples
- 4 tbsp apricot jam, strained
- 1 lemon
For the vanilla ice-cream:
- 550 ml milk
- 7 egg yolks
- 150 g caster sugar
- 5 vanilla pods and pips
- 150 ml double cream
Method: How to make Apple tart, vanilla ice cream and creme patissiere
For the pastry:
Butter a ring and place onto a baking sheet.
Put the flour into a processor and add the cold butter. Mix until it resembles breadcrumbs and then add the icing sugar, pulse, then add the egg yolk and water.
Remove the mixture and bring it together into a pastry being careful not to over work it. Put onto a floured surface and roll out to 36cm circle.
Place the pastry over the ring and push into all the edges. Cut around the top of the pastry taking care not to cut off too much as the pastry will shrink during cooking. Now put into the fridge for an hour prior to blind baking.
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper and fill to the top with rice.
Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Once cooked remove the greaseproof paper and rice and put the pastry back into the oven for a further 5 minutes or until golden brown. Once removed from the oven, brush immediately with egg white to seal and put back into the oven for 1 minute. Remove from the oven again and allow to get cold.
For the crème pâtissière:
Whisk the egg-yolks and sugar together and then add the corn flour and flour.
Boil the milk and whisk it slowly into the egg mixture.
Pour it into a clean pan and bring it slowly to the boil, until it thickens. Simmer it for a minute, put through a fine sieve and then allow it to cool. Cover it with cling-film, touching the crème pâtissière to prevent a skin forming
For the filling:
Peel and core the Cox apples and chop finely. Put them into a pan and cook gently until completely soft. This should take about 20 minutes. Add the butter and sugar to taste and allow to cool.
To assemble the tart:
Preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 4.
Put the crème pâtissière on the base of the tart forming a very thin layer, followed by a layer of the apple purée. Then peel, core and finely slice the Granny Smith apples, placing them in a bowl with a little lemon juice as you go to prevent discolouring. Drain off any liquid and place over the top in a spiral pattern.
Put the tart in the oven and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Heat some apricot jam and put through a sieve. Carefully brush the jam over the top of the apples and allow to cool.
For the vanilla ice cream:
Whisk the sugar and eggs in a bowl.
In a saucepan add the milk and vanilla pods and pips and bring to the boil.
Strain the milk to remove the vanilla pods and pips and Whisk into the eggs. Place the mixture into a clean saucepan and Stir gently to make a custard. Remove and allow to cool. It is now ready to put into an ice-cream machine.
