Line a baking tin with a piece of short crust pastry, large enough to reach up the sides. Stew the sliced apples with half a cup of sugar and a little cinnamon until soft. Cool slightly. Fill pastry with mixture (can include nuts or chopped fresh dates). Cover with a sheet of pastry, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake until golden.
Almond Cream:
Peel and halve pears, remove cores. Poach in sugar syrup until tender. Beat butter until creamy, add dry ingredients then 1 egg at a time.
Fill pre-cooked tart shell (16cm) with the almond cream. Arrange the pears on top and dot with half the chocolate pieces. Bake in moderate oven for 20 minutes or until almond cream is puffed and golden. Allow to cool. Decorate with cream and coarsely grated chocolate.
Mix almond meal into ready-made custard and spread into the centre of short crust pastry squares. Fold in edges and layer with chunks of chocolate and thin slices of poached pear. Bake until chocolate has melted and pastry is crisp and cooked.
Tip: use foil scrunched around tart to hold in apple pie shape while baking.
Crisp, firm and sweet. Perfect size for kids lunchboxes. In season and instore now from February to August.
These ripen from the inside out, so choose them slightly firm. When ripe they change from light green to a yellow skin.
