Did you watch Bake Off this week? It was pastry week and the ‘signature bake’ was to create a savoury tarte tatin. So I used that as a bit of inspiration and decided to make a toffee apple tarte tatin. Here’s how it ‘panned’ out…
I’ve been spending the past few weeks making use of all the ripening fruit from our garden; plums, damsons and now apples. We don’t know the type of apple this is – we think it’s an ‘eater’ rather than a ‘cooker’, although it’s a bit on the tart side.
I was going to make a ‘plain’ apple tarte tatin, but I fancied a bit of extra bit of caramelisation. Sweet, gooey, sticky and chewy.
As a tarte tatin is an ‘upside-down’ cake, you want to lay the fruit on the base of the pan in an attractive pattern.
I could have done with making a little bit more pastry. I felt like I was stretching it across the top to thinly. But hey, it’s a rustic tart, a couple of cracks didn’t detract from the splendid taste and flavour.
Slice & serve with thick cream or vanilla ice cream. We’ve really been enjoying all our recent autumnal desserts; warming, hearty, filling and delicious; what will next week bring?
Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest!
- 110g/4oz plain flour
- 50g/2oz butter, cubed (room temperature)
- pinch of salt
- 25g butter
- 25g Demerara sugar
- 1tbsp golden syrup
- ½tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 large or 3 medium apples, cored, peeled and sliced into segments
- Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas mark 4
- Sift the flour and salt together into a medium-sized mixing bowl
- Using your fingertips, lightly and gently rub the cubes of butter into the flour. When the mixture looks uniformly crumbly, sprinkle a tablespoon of cold water evenly over the top
- Using a round-bladed knife, repeatedly cut through the mixture, which will begin to form larger lumps. Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth ball of dough.
- Cool the ball of pastry, in a ziplock bag, in the fridge for half an hour
- In a heavy-bottomed, cast iron skillet pan, melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally
- Sprinkle in the cinnamon and stir to combine
- Arrange the apple segments into an attractive pattern on top of the toffee mixture in the skillet pan
- Roll out the pastry into a 1cm thick round, with a slightly larger diameter than your skillet
- Cover the apples with the pastry, gently pressing it down and tucking it down the sides
- Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry begins to brown
- Cool for a couple of minutes and loosen the edges with a sharp knife if necessary
- Flip over, apple-side-up, on to a serving plate
Cakes & Bakes: Cheesy baked bean tartlets
I recently saw a picture somewhere (I can’t remember where) of little cheesy baked bean tartlets and thought they looked delicious.
I started by making a basic, savoury shortcrust pastry. After that, all that’s needed is a small can of baked beans and a little bit of grated cheddar. Only 4 ingredients – not counting the pinch of salt and tablespoon of water.
Just before I put them into the oven, Justin said something like, “Aren’t they getting any pie lids?”. As they’re cheesy baked bean tartlets, I wasn’t planning on topping them. However, I has some leftover pastry so re-rolled some and cut out four extra rounds.
The tartlets (and the mini-pies for, that matter) were lovely with a little smear of tewkesbury mustard that we got from Tracklements.
These tartlets are really easy to make – you can even buy ready-made pastry if preferred. They’d be perfect for a picnic or served at a buffet or children’s party.
Save my recipe to Pinterest by clicking here
- 200g plain flour
- pinch of fine salt
- 100g cold butter, cubed
- 1-2 tbsp cold water
- (small) 220g tin baked beans
- 50g mature cheddar cheese, grated
- Put the flour, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse about a dozen times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
- Add a tablespoon of water and pulse again until small lumps begin to form. Add another tablespoon if necessary
- Tip the mixture out on to a cross made from two lengths of cling film. Bring the four ends of cling film together and squeeze and pat down the mixture to form a dough. Chill in the fridge for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Grease a bun tin
- Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured work surface
- Using a round pastry cutter slightly larger than the holes in the bun tin, cut out circles of pastry and carefully and evenly place them over the holes (If you'll be adding lids, brush around the edge with a little milk
- Spoon about a teaspoonful of baked beans into each followed by a generous pinch of grated cheddar (brush the edge of the underside of each lid before carefully pressing it down on to the edge of the lower pastry round. Brush the top of the lid with a little milk or egg wash)
- Cook for 12-15 minutes in the middle of the oven until the pastry has browned slightly
- Remove from the oven and allow the tartlets to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing
Cakes & Bakes: Jammy marzipan tartlets
When I asked Justin what he fancied me making for this week’s Cakes & Bakes item, he replied: “I like jam, I like almonds, I like pastry.” So, that was my mission set; I’ve come up with jammy marzipan tartlets.
There are three stages to the method; the pastry, the marzipan and then the filling… four, if you count the bringing it all together.
Consequently, this means you can make the pastry and marzipan days – or even weeks (they can be prepared and frozen) – in advance if needed; making the filling and finishing off on the day.
The recipe is similar to a Bakewell tart – using marzipan rather than frangipane.
I have a cupboard full of my different home-made jams & jellies, so I chose a jar of mixed berry jelly for the bottom layer. If some of your jam/jelly bubbles up and leaks over (like half of mine did), don’t allow the tartlets to cool completely in the tin before trying to remove them. Unfortunately, my jelly set like cement and it was impossible to prise them out in one piece.
Despite this, they were gorgeous, bite-sized morsels of sweetness… and went down a treat with a cup of tea. I’ll be making these again!
Save my jammy marzipan tartlets recipe to Pinterest
- 90g/3oz plain flour
- 36g/1¼oz 'tant pour tant' (18g/⅔oz icing sugar + 18g/⅔oz ground almonds)
- pinch of salt
- 65g/2¼oz very cold butter, cubed
- ½-1 tbsp cold water
- 150g/5oz ground almonds
- 200g/7oz icing sugar + extra for rolling
- 2 tsp almond extract
- 1 egg white
- 100g/3½oz ground almonds
- 45g/1½oz caster sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- ½ tsp almond essence
- 1 tbsp fruit jam or jelly
- 15g/½oz flaked almonds
- Put the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and salt into a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine
- Add the cold butter and pulse again until you get to the fine breadcrumb stage
- Whilst still pulsing, add the ice cold water until the mixture begins to get lumpy - like dry scrambled eggs
- Empty the pastry into ziplock bag and seal
- Form the dough into a ball by bringing it all together, still in the sealed ziplock bag, as if you’re making a snowball
- Chill in the fridge for ½ to 1 hour - you can use this time to make your marzipan (directions below)
- Once the pastry is chilled, grease a 6-hole muffin tin
- Lightly flour your work surface, remove your ball of dough from the fridge, unwrap and divide it into 6 equal pieces (about 20-22g each)
- One by one, roll each piece of dough into a ½cm thick round shape. Cut into perfect circles with a cookie cutter (or upturned drinking glass if you don't have one) that's slightly wider than the hole of your muffin tin. **Rolling each pie case individually means that you don't overwork the pastry by re-rolling over & over again**
- Gently press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin holes (handy hint: use a small lump of pastry to do this if you have long fingernails!)
- Set aside while you make the filling
- Put the ground almonds, icing sugar, almond extract and egg white into a food processor and combine until a thick ball of dough is formed
- Turn the paste out onto a work surface and knead it a few times. Roll it into a short, fat log (you want the diameter to be slightly smaller than the pastry case base). Wrap the log tightly in cling film and chill in the fridge for ½ to 1 hour - you can use this time to make your filling (directions below)
- Put the ground almonds and caster sugar into a bowl and combine
- Add the beaten eggs and almond essence and combine well
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Spread a generous layer of jam/jelly onto the bottom of each tartlet pastry case
- Remove the marzipan log from the clingfilm, Slice off 6 x ½cm rounds. Any unused marzipan will keep for a month in the fridge or 6 months in the freezer
- Place a round over the jam/jelly in each of the tartlet pastry cases
- Spoon over enough filling to just below the rim of the pastry case
- Sprinkle the top with a few flaked almonds and bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until the filling is baked through and golden-brown all over
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool a few minutes in the muffin tin. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
- Dredge a little icing sugar over the tops
Cakes & Bakes: Cherry pie
Justin’s favourite pie is bilberry, closely followed by strawberry. I on the other hand, like Twin Peaks’ Special Agent Dale Cooper, prefer a nice slice of cherry pie. Whatever the flavour, we agree on having it à la mode, with thick pouring cream… or better still, both!
A few weeks ago, I discovered bags of frozen cherries for sale at Lidl. I’ve often banged on about the nutritiousness, convenience and value for money of frozen blueberries… well, the same goes for cherries.
To give the pie a bit of a twist, I made a sweet almond pastry – a classic, complimentary flavour to cherries.
The vibrant red fruit makes for a very attractive dish.
The combination of buttery pastry, tangy fruit and cold cream – truly delicious! What’s your favourite fruit pie?
Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest.
Cherry pie
Rating:
Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Number of servings: 6
Ingredients
- 500g/17½oz frozen cherries (de-stoned)
- 150g/5¼oz caster sugar
- 150g/5¼oz plain flour
- 50g/1¾oz ground almonds
- 20g/¾oz caster sugar
- pinch of salt
- 100g/3½oz cold butter, cubed
- 1 egg yolk
- 2-3tbsp ice-cold water
- A little milk to brush the pastry top
- 1tbsp flaked almonds
For the filling
For the pastry
To finish
Method
- In a large saucepan over a low heat, add the frozen cherries and 125g caster sugar. Stir carefully, occasionally until the sugar has fully dissolved and the cherries have thawed. Set aside to cool completely
- In a food processor bowl, add the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt. Pulse a couple of times to combine.
- Add the butter and yolk and pulse 6-12 times until it reaches a breadcrumb texture
- Add the ice-cold water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing a couple of times between each addition until the texture begins to turn a bit lumpier
- Empty the contents of the food processor bowl on to the middle of a 'cross' of two sheets of cling film. Use the cling film to bring together the pastry into a flattened disc. Chill in the fridge for an hour
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- After the hour, divide the pastry into two uneven pieces - ? and ?s. Put the smaller piece back into the fridge
- Grease a 25cm/10" pie dish. Set aside
- Roll out the larger piece on a floured work surface into a circular shape and carefully push in down into the bottom and sides of the greased pie dish. Trim around the edge so that there's a ½cm overhang as there will be a little shrinkage
- Cover the pie crust with a piece of parchment, cover with baking beans and blind bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely
- Remove the smaller piece of pastry from the fridge and roll out into a round, slightly larger than the top of the pie dish
- Fill the pie crust with the cooked cherry filling and some of the syrup
- Brush the top edge of the baked & cooled pie crust with a little water and cover with the pastry top. Trim and softly press the pastry lid into the pie crust
- Brush the top with a little milk and sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top
- Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the top of the pie is golden brown
- Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving with cream or ice cream