Recipe Components
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Ingredients
25g puff pastry
8 Cox’s apples
Apple compote
2 vanilla pods
250g unsalted butter
4 tablespoons caster sugar
vanilla ice cream -
Apple Compote
50g unsalted butter
400g Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
50g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla pod -
Vanilla ice cream
Makes 700ml
5 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
500ml milk
25g milk powder
100ml whipping cream
2 vanilla pods split and seeds scraped out
“I love apples – as a kid growing up I’d always look forward to my mother’s apple tart, which she made from apples picked from our orchard by me!”
Michael Caines MBE
As the Summer warmth is being slowly pushed out by the upcoming autumn and winter season, what better way to prepare for the colder temperatures than with a lovely hot apple tart with vanilla ice cream.
Apples come in season from September to March and for this recipe, you will be using one of Britain’s most celebrated apples: Cox’s Orange Pippin. Red and orange in colour, they are considered an eating apple, but for this recipe they will be cooked, giving you a perfect balance between sweetness and sourness.
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Recipe MEthod
Serves 4
For this recipe, you will need to make sure the Apple Compote is made in advance and that your puff pastry is rolled out and set aside in the fridge so that it is easier to work with.
To make the Apple Compote
Melt the butter in a stainless steel saucepan and add the apples and sugar. Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod and add the seeds and pod to the apples. Cook for approximately 30 minutes on a moderate heat, stirring from time to time, until you receive a thick texture.
Remove the vanilla pod and place the apples in a blender. Blend to a fine purée, then pass through a fine sieve. Place in a container and reserve for later.
To make the Vanilla Ice Cream
Cream together the egg yolks and sugar until white and stiff. Put the milk, milk powder, cream and split vanilla pods and seeds into a saucepan and bring it to the boil.
Pour some of the milk on to the creamed eggs and sugar, whisking continuously, then return the mixture to the saucepan over a medium heat and heat to 85’C.
Strain through a sieve put the vanilla pods back in the mixture and cool.
When required, pour into an ice cream machine and churn. Store in a deep-sided container in the freezer.
To make the apple tart
Preheat the oven to 200’C/gas mark 6.
Roll out the puff pastry approximately 3mm thick, then, using a 12cm cutter, or cutting around a plate, cut out four circles. Place directly on the baking tray and leave to rest for 10 minutes in the fridge.
Using a peeler, peel the apples and cut them in half from top to bottom. Remove the cores, then slice the apples thinly.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and prick the surface using a fork. Place some apple compote in the middle, then fan the apples around the tart base, finishing with some slices in the middle of the tart. Do this evenly, as it helps with the cooking time.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix them with 150g of softened unsalted butter. Using a pastry brush, brush with vanilla butter over the tarts and then sprinkle lightly with sugar.
Place in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove, brush with the vanilla butter again and put back in the oven for a further 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush again with the vanilla butter and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Serve your hot apple tart with vanilla ice cream or clotted cream.