Apple Flan

Prep Time: 0:30

Cook Time: 0:25

Serves: 6

Ingredients / Shopping List

Pastry:

150g plain flour

85g butter

Water to mix

Few drops vanilla essence

1 egg yolk

Filling:

400g cooking apple ( Bramleys)

200g (approx 2) eating apples

60 g caster sugar

2 tablespoon apricot jam

Prep to Cook: Oven 200ºC electric or Gas Mark 6

Mixing bowl, measuring jug, pastry knife, basin, pastry brush, microwavable bowl, chopping board, vegetable knife, peeler, tablespoon

Prep the pastry:

Rub the butter into the flour

Add a few drops of vanilla to cold water and use this to add to the flour mix to make pastry dough

Roll out on a floured surface to a circle

Line a flan tin taking care not to stretch the pastry

Press baking parchment over the pastry base and drop in some baking beans

Cook for 15 – 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and baking beans and check the base it crisp

Beat the egg white with a fork to loosen it

Brush the base with egg white and return flan to oven for 5 minutes

Allow pastry to cool

Prep the filling:

Peel and quarter the Bramley apples and remove core

Slice into a microwavable jug ( or into a saucepan)

Cover with cling film

Cook on high for 5 minutes until apples have turned to puree

Add the sugar and stir. Allow to cool

Prep topping apple:

Halve the eating apples.

Remove the core and thinly slice the apple

Drizzle with lemon juice to prevent browning

Prep the apple flan:

Tip the stewed apple into the pastry base

Level out the stewed apple and layer the sliced apples pieces round the flan

When the surface is covered with thin apple slices warm the apricot jam

Stir it well and remove and lumpy pieces of fruit

Brush over the thinly sliced apples

Return to the hot oven for 10 minutes to soften and caramelise the apple slices in the jam

Cool and serve.

Check it out!

Apple flan looks good. It can be prepared well ahead of time. I think it is nice served warmed with either vanilla ice-cream or custard.

Apple flan uses both cooking apples and eating apples

Recipe Science

Cooks Know How: Making pastry to use when lining a flan shows more skill than just pie making. This pastry is enriched with the egg yolk so it should be a lovely colour. It is likely that you will stretch the pastry during lining the tin. This means that when cooked shrinkage will show on the sides of the flan. To avoid this, take care when rolling and leave the pastry to relax for a couple of minutes once you have the correct circular size. Fold the pastry circle into half and then a quarter. Lift the quadrant and position in the flan tin. Carefully unwrap and press the pastry across the base of the flan and support the pastry up the sides starting from the bottom edge. Finally, press the pastry into the flutes and over the top edge to allow neat trimming by rolling the rolling pin over the whole of the top of the flan. Weighting the base down using parchment paper and baking beans stops the pastry from rising up during cooking.

Stewing the Bramley cooking apples in their own juice gives you a soft and smooth apple puree. The juice from the fruit turns to steam and breaks down the apple slice. Eating apples do not stew like this. They tend to remain in pieces and therefore they make a good sliced topping to the flan. The sweetness will come from the apricot jam brushed over the apple slices. It also stops the air turning the apple slices brown. Cook the flan gently at this stage to thicken up the jam and seal the top of the flan.