~*Home-made Apple Tart *~

This is made with shortcrust pastry (you can use ready-made of course and even flaky pastry is great for Apple tart but if you make the pastry yourself you can use higher quality of butter or margarine which makes for a nicer flavour).

Shortcrust Pastry: (Traditionally shortcrust pastry should be approx 1/2 the amount of fat to flour e.g. 6oz Flour 3oz Fat (marg. / butter) the following amounts are not in ounces or grammes so you don’t need a weighing Scales just a cup)

Pastry Base:

* 2 Cups Flour (Self-Raising or add 2-3 teaspoons Baking Powder)
* ¼ teaspoon Salt
* 3 tablespoons Butter or Margarine or Ghee (cold from the fridge)
* ½ - ¾ cup very cold water
You can also add a little sugar as well as vanilla sugar to make a sweet pastry.

Method:
Sieve the dry ingredients (Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt) into a bowl
Cut the margarine into small chunks and rub into the Flour lifting it while rubbing briskly between your fingers ( both hands in the bowl ) to incorporate air into the mix until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the cold water a little at a time mixing with a fork (do NOT knead the mixture like bread dough - handle it very lightly and gently) until the mixture starts to bind into a dough. As soon as the mixture starts to clump together gently gather it together with your hand being careful not too add too much water - any stickiness in the dough can be used to gather up the rest of the flour from the inside of the bowl - if the dough is still a little dry add a little more water taking care not to make it sticky. Chill for a while in the fridge to make the dough firmer and easier to handle. Then roll out 1/2 of the dough until it fits the baking tin - pressing it up the sides and over the edges of the tin.

Then you can prepare the apple filling.

3-4 apples -peeled and sliced
a few tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a large bowl mix the cinnamon with the sugar before adding the apples for ease of mixing. Spread the apple mixture over the pastry base:




Cover the tart with the remaining pastry, pinches the edges and trim with a knife. Make a small hole in the centre of the tart to allow the steam to escape. Brush over the top of the pastry with a little beaten egg or some milk if you prefer then sprinkle with some more sugar:



Bake in a moderately hot oven until the top of the pastry is golden.



Serve hot or cold with fresh cream or ice-cream or as seen in our pic, a mixture of heavy tinned creamed mixed with whipped Creme chantilly (dream topping)


Enjoy!


Special thanks to my daughter Hajer for baking the tart in my pics.