Mincemeat and Apple Streusel Slice

Mincemeat and apple streusel, what could be more comforting? Perhaps the addition of a big bowl of softly whipped cream or a jug of steaming yellow custard.

Without further ado I will give you the recipe as I know that this is a cake that you will want to make immediately.

175g self raising flour
125g sugar
1 egg
125g unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and sliced
Half a jar of mincemeat, better if it is homemade.
Crumble about 6 digestive biscuits.

1 baking tin approx 18cm x 27cm. It will not be a problem if it is slightly larger or smaller. Not too much though.

Heat the oven to C160 fan or C170 top and bottom heat.

Put the butter, sugar and egg in a largish bowl and beat well to combine. No need to cream really as this is not going to be a sponge.
Fold in the flour to make a fairly stiff mixture. Sort of half wak between a sponge and pastry.
Spoon into a  buttered baking tin. Smooth out with the back of a spoon or a spatula.
Top with spoonfulls of mincemeat and then with slices of apple. Finally top with the crumbled biscuits.
Cook for about 40 minutes. Check with the point of a knife, if it is not cooked then leave to cook for a few more minutes.
Leave to cool and cut into slices to serve.

Apple Custard Tart

I seem to remember having read somewhere that the dessert that men usually choose is apple tart and they no doubt eat it with custard. So in this tart they get both of their favourites in one slice.

Pastry:

120g plain flour

75g butter

60g sugar

1 egg

I'm not going to bore you with the method for making pastry. You know what to do.

Line an 8 inch tim with the pastry and bake blind until light golden brown.

Filling

2 largish apples. I used renette as I was luck enough to have them growing on my tree, but you can use russets. 3 will probably be about right as they are small. I clean and slice the apples and put them in a layer on a microwave proof dish. Cover with cling film and microwave until just soft. If you do this your apples will stay golden and not brown.

2 eggs

50g sugar

1/4 litre of single cream

1 dessert spoon of cornflour

What you need to do:

mix the ecc, sugar and cornflour together. There is really no need to whisk them and all that faff. It really will not make any difference to the final; custard.

Heat the cream to just below scalding point and add to the egg mixture. Beat well while adding the cream. This is important as you risk curdling the eggs if you don't mix it really well while you're adding the hot cream. Return to the heat to cook the custard until it thickens but not so much that it curdles. The addition of the cornflour should prevent this. Allow to cool slightly.

Pour the custard into the cooked pastry shell and cover with a layer of cooked apples.

Return to the oven for about 15 minutes to brown the apples and custard.

Cool before serving. Slightly warm is so good.