A Perfectly Turned Out Tart...

No, not me dressed up and out on the town, but just a cheap attempt at grabbing attention, all for the sake of sharing a rather excellent recipe that you might enjoy in these times of bounty in the orchard.

May I present for your approval Canterbury Tart...

Part apple tart, part lemon tart, this is a pudding which never fails to please.  Here's the recipe.

For the pastry:

100g butter

225 g plain flour

25g icing sugar

1 egg ( I use a largish one)

I'm a cheat and make this in the food processor by simply combining all but the egg till it resembles breadcrumbs, then briefly blitzing with the beaten egg till it forms a ball.  But you could do it the traditional way by hand, of course.

This then needs wrapping and chilling for half an hour or so.

Roll the pastry out to line a 28cm/11in (3.5cm/1½in deep) flan tin.  I now do this the 'Mary Berry' way.  In case you didn't watch 'The Great British Bake-Off Masterclass', this is how you do it.

Place your slightly flattened mound of pastry onto the lightly floured base of the tin and roll out to beyond the rim of the metal.  It will slip around a bit, but it makes getting the pastry into the tin so much easier that it's worth it!

When the pastry extends beyond the metal rim the depth of the tin plus a bit more, and 

you have the required thickness, simply lift and transfer into the tin.

Gently push the excess pastry down into the corner - don't stretch the base pastry into the  corner as this will make it more likely to shrink when cooking.  Leave the excess pastry dangling over the edge of the tin, prick the base with a fork...

Then chill again...

...before lining with baking parchment and weighing down with dried beans...

...and baking blind for 15 minutes at 200C/Fan 180C/400F/Gas 6.

Remove the beans and parchment and trim the edges with a sharp knife...

...before returning to the oven for a further 5 minutes or so, till lightly golden.

Now make the filling.

Peel, quarter and core 5 medium cooking apples, then grate.

Put the grated apple in a bowl, then add the rind and juice of 2 lemons, 4 lightly beaten eggs, 225g caster sugar and 100g melted butter.

Put the lemony-appley filling into the cooked tart case.  (Don't overfill it or it will overflow and get stuck in the tin!) Peel, quarter, core and thinly slice 2 eating apples, then arrange overlapping slices in a circle round the edge of the tart.  Sprinkle with about a tablespoon of demerara sugar.

Bake at the previously mentioned temperature for 45-50 minutes, till cooked and slightly caramelised.

A light dusting of icing sugar, et voilà!

Seriously delicious!