Apple & Apricot Jam Tart

Having a batch of pastry stashed away in the freezer meant that I was itching to bake another tart this week! I came across Mary Berry's French apple tart on Channel 4's website and decided to give it a try. Hailed as the Queen of Baking, surely her recipe was going to be a winner! Well it did not disappoint as the result was quite professional and our Sunday Lunch this weekend ended with high praise from my friends! Thank you Mary - you rock!

Ingredients:

Sweet pastry - rolled out & blind baked in loose bottomed tart tin/ Ready made pastry shell

Filling: 

3 Bramley apples peeled and roughly chopped

100g of butter

splash of water

6 tbs of Apricot Jam

125g of caster sugar

Top layer:

2-3 Bramley apples sliced thinly

Lemon Juice

1 tbs of Apricot jam heated to glaze

Sprinkle of caster sugar

To get the finished tart to look like the picture on line, I peeled and thinly sliced 3 Bramley apples and immersed them in water and lemon juice to stop them browning too quickly. I then lay them out on the tart tin to check I had enough to create the pretty fan effect at the end.

All the rest of the apples in the bag got peeled, cut into chunks and gently heated in a bit of water and about 100g of butter. When the apples were stewed down into a soft mulch I passed them through a sieve into a bowl with 6 tablespoons of Apricot jam and 125g of caster sugar. This was then mixed together and gently reduced over a medium heat for about 10 minutes. I had to be very careful at this stage because the hot lava of sweet and sour apples was very hot indeed & difficult to stir continuously while it was spitting! When it became a thick paste, I set it aside to cool.

I defrosted my already made sweet pastry the night before so on the day I just rolled it out as thin as I dared then placed it on a loose bottomed tart case. I then trimmed off the excess, pricked the base and then chilled in the fridge for 30min. Then the tart got covered in foil and I placed rice grains in it to blind bake at 190 degrees for 10 min. I then removed the foil and baked the pastry for another 5 minutes until biscuity & cooked. This was then set aside to cool a little as well.

Finally the apricot and apple puree got spooned into the case before I carefully arranged the slices of apple on top. I then sprinkled it with caster sugar and baked the tart for another 30 minutes - I switched the grill on at the end to get a bit of caramelisation on the edges of the apples. The final glaze was done using a bit of heated up apricot jam & lemon juice brushed over the apples with a pastry brush.

I served this cold [with a bit of cream] & it was delicious. Thank you Mary Berry - I shall be using this easy recipe again.. perhaps with a few more tweaks of my own next time. I'm sure a bit of cinnamon would work in the recipe as would, dare I say it, a bit more sugar! Oh dear I think I'm developing a sweet tooth. This won't do - back to healthy recipes next time!