Beth O’Brien’s apple tart

1. You will need a 25cm Pyrex or ceramic plate.
2. First, prepare the apples: peel, core and chop into roughly 3cm chunks. Place in a saucepan with the caster sugar, spices and lemon juice, and cook over a low heat until the apples are just softened, about 6-8 minutes. Don’t overcook – you don’t want them to break down fully at this point. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl in the fridge to cool fully.
3. For the pastry, place the butter, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and blitz until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Add the ice-cold water and blitz again until it forms a rough dough. Shape into a rectangular block, wrap in baking paper or cling film, and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees.
5. To assemble: divide the pastry into roughly one-third and two-thirds. Roll the smaller piece out on a floured surface into a disc shape, approximately half a centimetre thick – it should cover the plate with some overhang. Place on the plate, and pour in the cooled apple filling.
6. Roll the remaining pastry out to a similar thickness (it should be approximately the same width but twice the length of the first piece) and cut strips approximately three centimetres wide. Cover the apple filling with strips of pastry, parallel (all vertical). Then peel back every second strip of pastry to halfway across the tart, and place a long strip perpendicular to the rest of the strips (horizontally). Put the strips back in place, then peel back alternating strips of pastry again, before placing another pastry strip perpendicular, and replacing them.
7. Repeat until you have covered the tart with a lattice pattern. Trim any overhanging pastry, then tuck in the sides, forming a neat crust. This can be tricky to get the hang of, but it’s like basket weaving – you want each strip to go over and then under the perpendicular strip.
8. Beat the egg and use it to egg wash the tart. Sprinkle generously with Demerara sugar, and then bake at 190 degrees for 15 minutes, before reducing the temperature to 170 degrees and baking for about another 20 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling.
9. Serve either warm or at room temperature, with ice-cream, softly whipped cream or custard.

[ How to make the perfect apple tart ]