A thick layer of grated cooked apple between two sheets of short, almost biscuity dough. The apples are cooked down first so the base stays crisp instead of turning to paste. Best eaten the next day, cut into squares and dusted with icing sugar.
6 Steps
Peel, core and coarsely grate the apples. Cook them in a wide pan over medium-high heat with the sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring, until the liquid has boiled away and the pile holds its shape on the spoon. Cool completely.
Rub the cold butter into the flour, icing sugar, baking powder and salt with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs. Add the yolks and sour cream and press together quickly; do not knead it or the pastry toughens.
Divide the dough two thirds to one third. Press the larger piece evenly into a lined 24 x 30 cm tin, prick it with a fork and chill 20 minutes. Wrap the smaller piece and put it in the freezer.
Heat the oven to 180 C. Bake the base alone for 15 minutes until it is dry and just barely coloured at the edges.
Scatter the semolina over the hot base, spread the cooled apple on top in an even layer, then coarsely grate the frozen dough over the fruit so it falls in loose strands with gaps showing through.
Bake for 40 minutes until the top is golden and firm when tapped. Cool fully in the tin before cutting, and dust with icing sugar just before serving.
Grate the top layer of dough straight from the freezer onto the apples for the classic crumbled finish; a rolled top sheet works but cracks more. Sprinkle a spoon of semolina over the base before the fruit goes on, it soaks up any juice the apples release in the oven.
Comments (3)
grating frozen dough over the top is such a good trick, so much faster
used bramleys and cut the sugar to 60 g, still plenty sweet
cooking the apples down first is why my base finally stayed crisp