How to Make Apple Tart: Recipe for Homemade Shortcrust Pastry and Custard

Step by step instructions with my own photos on how to bake:

Apple Tart or Pie

An Apple Tart or Pie covered with hot custard or cream and ice cream is a delicious combination.

Shortcrust Pastry

Combine this recipe by making your own short crust pastry too and you have a delicious homemade dessert for all the family to enjoy.

Jam Tart, Roly Poly

This recipe for Jam Tart is perfect for using any left over shortcrust pastry from the apple tart.

Custard

Making your own custard rather than using tinned custard is so much tastier and easy to do.

Step by Step instructions for baking Homemade Apple Tart



Ingredients

• 3 large cooking apples
• 6 oz of plain flour
• 3 oz of butter
• Pinch of salt
• Small amount of Milk
• Small amount of Sugar

Making Homemade Short Crust Pastry

Put 6 oz of plain flour into a mixing bowl. Use a sieve so that you are adding as much air as possible. Add a pinch of salt.

Take 3 oz of butter and cut into small pieces. The butter is best if at room temperature.

Add the butter to the flour and mix in with your fingertips. Do this as quickly as possible until the mixture is a crumbly texture.

Make a hole in the middle of the mixture and add water.

Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture is a sticky, but not too wet. Throw some flour on to a flat surface where you intend to roll out the pastry.

Add flour to the mixture now so that you can remove it from the mixing bowl in one piece. Roll out the pasty to the approximate size of your dish.

Preparing the cooking apples

Peal and cut the cooking apples and put in a dish.

Add some sugar to sweeten the apples and a small amount of water.

When the apple tart is cooked in the oven this will create a lovely sweet juice.

Creating your Apple Tart

Add the pastry to the top of the dish containing the cooking apples.

Cut the pastry to fit the size of the dish.

Add a small amount of milk to the pastry.

Put in the preheated oven in the middle shelf for 45 mins at 200 degrees.

When you remove the cooked apple tart from the oven immediately add a small amount of milk with a brush and throw some sugar around the top. This gives the apple tart a nice glazed appearance.

Using the left over short crust pastry

If you have made too much pastry it freezes very well.

Or you can put it in the fridge wrapped in a plastic bag. This will stay fresh for up to 3 days.

But what better way to use a small amount of left over short crust pastry than making a jam tart or as we call it where I live a Jam Roly Poly.

Roll the pastry over till you reach the end and seal the edges with a fork.

Brush some milk on top of the pastry

Prepare a baking dish by greasing it and adding some tin foil.

Place the Jam Roly Poly on to the baking tin. Cook for 30 mins at 200 degrees.

The Jam Tart always tastes better eaten straight from the oven covered in hot custard.

Step 1

You can buy tinned custard to eat with your Apple or Jam Tart. This does taste alright but as always homemade tastes even better.

It is extremely quick and easy to make your own custard using the custard powder available in supermarkets and stores.

Ingredients





• Half a pint of fresh milk
• Packet of custard powder
• Small amount of Sugar

Step 1

• Add a very small amount of milk to a cup.
• Add one tablespoon of custard powder and stir in well.
• Making sure there are no lumps in the mixture
• Add the remainder of half a pint of milk to a pan and heat.
• Stir the milk in the pan constantly or you will end up with burnt milk.

• Give the custard powder and milk in the cup another quick stir.
• Just as the milk is about to boil in the pan add the custard mixture gradually but quickly.
• In order to make lump free custard it must be stirred ALL the time until the hot milk turns in to the custard.
• It is a matter of taste whether you make thin or thick custard.
• Always make thicker custard than you require and then if necessary thin it out by adding some more milk.
• The custard is cooked and ready to serve immediately on to your tarts, pies or fruit.

As you can see from the photos I have provided here along with my instructions it really is easy to teach yourself how to do some delicious home baking.

My own recipes

There are a number of different ways to bake Apple Tart and Jam Roly Poly, these are my recipes above.

Apple Tart is very nice to eat either hot or cold. It can be served with hot custard or ice cream and cream.

Jam Tart or Jam Roly Poly is really best served with hot custard.



Custard can be bought in a can and heated up if you are in a hurry. But making your own homemade custard is something that is quite easy to learn once you get used to stirring constantly as you add the custard powder.

As always homemade baking is the best for taste and price. I also believe that it is better to make your own food dishes wherever possible for hygienic reasons.

© Copyright 2011. L.M.Reid.