One of our favorite things to do in the autumn is go apple picking! We had so many apples to use this year and this is one of the things I made with them! Apple & Custard Tart
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 1/ 4 cups flour
1/ 4 tsp sea salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter cold
1/ 4 cup ice water
For the filling:
2.5-2.8lb apples
3 tbsp Lemon or lime juice
2 eggs
1/ 3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1/ 2 cup cream
1/ 2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/ 2 tsp cinnamon
1/ 4 tsp nutmeg
Method:
For the crust:
1. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut butter into nickel-sized pieces and put into the bowl.
3. Using clean hands, mix the butter into the flour until coated. Then rub the butter into the flour until you get a sand-like consistency with some pea-sized pieces left. You don’t want to get this mixture too warm, so if needed, refrigerate for a few minutes during this process.
4. Add 1/ 4 cup water to the mix and lightly mix through. You don’t want to mix this too much but make sure all the flour is saturated. (I use my fingers in a sort of claw-like fashion to mix it around.) Take a golf ball sized portion in your hands and see if it stays together, if not add up to one tablespoon more water until this is achieved.
5. Form dough into a disc and wrap in cling film.
6. Chill for at least half an hour and up to 24 hours. If chilling more than an hour let the dough sit out 15(ish) minutes before trying to roll it out.
Filling and Assembly:
1. Peel, core and thinly slice apples. As you go, put apple slices in a medium bowl filled with water and three tablespoons of lime juice to keep from browning.
2. In a measuring jug whisk together: eggs, sugar, milk, cream, vanilla and spices. The spices will still be clumped together a bit, but this is normal.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Roll out dough on a floured surface until it is about 1/ 4 inch thick. Place dough into your tart tin and make sure it’s pressed into all the sides.
5. Layer the apple slices into the prepared tin in concentric circles until they are level with the top of the tin.
6. Pour custard filling over the apples.
7. Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 45-60 minutes. (Until the custard is set. ) Check the tart at about 30 minutes to see if it’s getting to browned. If so, cover with tin foil.
8. Remove from tin and let cool at least ten minutes.
9. Enjoy!