The Core Facts

Overall verdict: I loved this apple tart. It was delicious considering a) the minimal use of butter and sugar and b) the fact that I misread the baking instructions and only baked it for 35 minutes instead of 45. There’s loads of apple in it and a very successful combo of spices (cinnamon and cloves). If I made it again, I’d up the pastry quantities a bit so I had more to work with to make the base a bit thicker.
Timings: 20 mins prep + 30 mins chilling pastry + 45-55 mins bake (I only gave it 35 by mistake)
Sugar: 100g + 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
Butter: 100g
Type of apple: Bramley

The Long Peel

I had high hopes for this apple tart recipe from Neven Maguire. It combines a more old-school approach to pastry with some interesting use of spices in the apple.

The Pastry

Neven’s pastry is much shorter than the one in Clodagh McKenna’s apple pie recipe or the Darina Allen apple pie recipe – they both use more butter to flour. But this version rolled out well and the finished product was crisp and tasty.

The only problem I actually had with Neven’s recipe was that there wasn’t enough pastry. This is partly because of my choice of tin – he specifies a plate and I was using a deeper dish – but even so; I used every tiny scrap of pastry and the base still wasn’t quite thick enough for the amount of apple.

Neven uses a milk wash instead of the eggwash that I’ve used on all the other recipes so far, and he asks for a tablespoon of sugar to be sprinkled on top. This worked well – it gives a bit of extra crunch and sweetness. The Angela Hartnett apple pie recipe uses demerara for the sprinkling, which worked even better.

The Apples

Neven asks for 900g of apples, which meant around 4.5-5 of my medium sized Bramleys. I was really pleased to see a lot of apple going in, as my previous bakes have all been a little light on the fruit.

I wasn’t sure about adding 1/4 of a teaspoon of cinnamon AND a pinch of ground cloves. I’d liked the cinnamon in Clodagh McKenna’s apple pie recipe but the cloves had slightly overpowered my first attempt at Darina Allen’s pie. Amazingly, they formed a great combo for Neven – they play off each other very nicely.

This was another recipe where I ended up leaving the apple coated in sugar and spices for around 15 minutes while I sorted the pastry. This always results in juice being pulled from the fruit and gathering in the bottom of the bowl. I only tipped some of that juice into the pie and although I didn’t regret that decision (as the finished pie was juicy enough), I probably should be adding it, as it’ll contain flavour as well as liquid.

The Bake

I have no idea how I misread the instructions, but I did – Neven asks for 25-30 mins at one temperature and then for the oven to be lowered for another 20-25 mins. I gave it 35 minutes only. This is probably why the apple hadn’t softened as much as I would have liked.

The Dish

It got a bit tricky here. I’ve decided to use the same dish for all my apple pie/tart bakes but Neven specifies a 20cm pie dish or a 23cm flat plate. I was using a 23cm dish. This meant that the pastry was stretched to its limits.

The Hot Slice

It’s interesting how apple tarts look different when you’re seeing an individual slice. This slice looked pale, which isn’t really surprising considering I hadn’t baked it for long enough. The apple was still quite crunchy as well, for the same reason. The base didn’t quite hold when I sliced it. But I’ve seen worse.

The Rested Result

You can see more clearly here that the base wasn’t thick enough to hold the apple. But it’s great to see so much apple.

If We Repeeled

• Increase the ingredients so there was more pastry to play with (or use a plate or smaller dish)
• Follow the baking time instructions!

Scores

Simplicity of bake: Simple
Pastry texture: Crisp on top and soft base
Pastry taste: Pastry not overly sweet but sugar sprinkle topping gave it a boost
Apple texture: Slightly too crisp for my personal liking
Apple taste: Cinnamon + pinch of cloves worked brilliantly together, while Bramleys always seem to give the best edge
Apple to pastry ratio: The best yet – loads of apple and thin pastry
Overall score: 9 out of 10