Recipe by Helen Strange

Ingredients (Serves 8)

For the pastry
225g plain flour
115g butter
A pinch of salt
1 egg white (for sealing)
Ice cold water
For the apple purée
4 JAZZ™ Apples – peeled and chopped
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
3 tbsp water
For the crème pâtissière
3 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
250ml milk
10g plain flour
10g cornflour
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
For the decoration
3-5 JAZZ™ Apples
200ml fresh orange juice
50g butter

Method

For the pastry, rub together the butter, salt and plain flour until the mixture has a sandy texture.
Add ice-cold water, a few teaspoons at a time, and bring together into a dough. Wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

For the apple purée, place the apples in a pan with the cinnamon, brown sugar and 3 tbsp of water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes. When cooked, use a stick blender or small food processor to blitz into a purée. Set aside to cool.

For the crème pâtissière, heat the milk and vanilla bean paste in a pan until just about boiling, and then remove quickly from the heat. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and both flours until well incorporated.

Pour one-third of the heated milk over the egg yolk mixture, whisking until smooth and well combined. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining milk, and cook over a medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens. It will probably go very lumpy but this is fine! Keep whisking and it will go smooth, thick and glossy. Cook for another two minutes after this stage, and then remove from the heat. Pour into a bowl or jug and cover with cling film touching the surface of the crème pâtissière, to stop a skin forming. Leave until completely cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out your pastry to fill a 20cm tart tin. Fold into quarters and gently unfold into the tart tin. Use a small off-cut of pastry to help press the dough into the corners of the tin, especially if using a fluted tin. Trim the edges for a neat finish. Cover and rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Prick the base of your pastry case a few times with a fork. Fill with a greaseproof paper lining and some baking beans and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry looks less translucent. Remove the greaseproof paper and baking beans, and return to the oven for 5 minutes until the pastry looks dry, and feels sandy. You could then brush the base with egg white, then return to the oven for 3-4 more minutes to ensure that nothing will leak from the case!

Leave to cool completely.

For the decoration, finely slice the JAZZ™ Apples and poach for 5 minutes in the orange juice and butter until slightly translucent and flexible. You could use a mandolin to slice the apples for this, or a sharp knife, but be sure to get the thinnest slices you can manage, and keep the skin on, because the colour makes beautiful petals!

Remove the apple slices, a few at a time, and drain on kitchen paper. Then lay out 8-10 slices end to end, with slight overlaps. Roll them up from one end – the first will be a really tight roll, and as you get to the last, you should have a rose when you turn the curved edges to the top. Place in the well of a cupcake tin to cool slightly while you make the rest of the roses!

To assemble your tart, first, fill your pastry case with a thin layer of apple purée. Make sure you spread this right to the edges of the case. On top of the purée, spread a thicker layer of the crème pâtissière – I normally use a piping bag for this layer as it is easier to cover the purée than spreading it out! Finally, top with your apple roses. You will probably have some gaps between roses – you can fill these with smaller roses (made with 3-4 apple slices) or use apple slices to fan out towards the edges as if your roses overlapped.

The tart will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days but is best served on the day you make it! Happy baking!