I was recently lookingback through my blog posts and noticed that to date I have included relativelyfew recipes that use apples. I was actually quite surprised because they areeasily obtained, are hugely popular and I love them.
One of the most populardesserts in any Irish household is apple pie. In fact, most restaurant menus inthis country always have an apple pie, tart or crumble of some type on it! Tobe honest, no matter how accomplished a baker you are, if you can’t produce anoteworthy apple tart, you might as well give up! In Ireland your bakingreputation stands or fails on the quality of the apple pie you can produce. Whenmaking my apple pie, I like to use two or three varieties of apple; Bramleys,because they break down to a purée-like consistency when cooked, Granny Smithsbecause they retain their shape and provide texture and I also sometimesuse Pink Lady or Braeburn for their distinctive apple taste. I havealways preferred using a pinch of ground cloves rather than ground cinnamon inmy apple pies, but each to their own. I know some bakers who like to use groundginger, but for me, the judicious use of ground cloves (only a pinch isrequired) really bring out the flavour of the apples. Finally, I should mentionthat I recommend using Granny Smith apples for making these squares. I findthat cooking apples are too mealy and break down too much, but that the GrannySmiths retain some texture. Also unlike ‘normal’ pastry which should be given achance to rest, you can roll out and use this pastry once you have made it.
So many people, even insuburban areas have their own apple trees and this can be a wonderful source offreshly picked fruit later on in the year. I have a number of apple treesgrowing in my garden, which have been planted for six or seven years at this stageand provide me with some wonderful fruit at the end of the summer. It is asource of great annoyance to me that my children love to go out into the gardenafter a windy night and use the fallen fruit as makeshift sliotars whenpractising their hurling and camogie! Windfall apples, provided they haven’tbeen lying on the ground too long, can still be used for making chutneys or inbaking… so you can imagine my irritation at seeing the apples being hurled downthe garden at force rather than for being used to make tasty treats!
The recipe that I’m givinghere is my version of the Apple Shortcake Squares which are on sale in manyIrish bakeries. At their simplest these are made with apples sandwiched betweentwo layers of pastry and dredged with caster sugar. My version usesself-raising rather than plain flour which creates a pastry with a moreshortcake-like consistency but without being spongy like a cake. The pastry doughis on the soft side so I don’t roll out the base but rather press it gentlyinto the tin with the tips of my fingers to create an even layer. For the top Iflour some non-stick baking parchment and place the pastry on this, flatteningit out slightly with my hands. I then flour the slightly flattened pastry andplace another layer of non-stick baking parchment on top. I then proceed to rollout the pastry into a thin layer, large enough to cover the top of the AppleSquares. This is such a handy way of rolling out any pastry, but particularlythis one which is very soft and a little difficult to manage.
Ingredients:
Apple filling: 25g caster sugar 25ml water Pastry: 240g self-raising flour 125g butter, cubed 15g icing sugar 1 large egg, lightlybeaten 30ml cold water
5-6 large Granny Smithapples, peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm cubes
To finish:
25g caster sugar fordredging
Method:
Apple filling:
1. Place the apples, sugarand water into a medium sized saucepan over a moderate heat. Bring up tosimmering point and allow to cook for 8-20 minutes until the apples havesoftened but not broken down. Remove from the heat, set aside and allow to coolcompletely.
Pastry:
2. Preheat oven to 180C/Fanoven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Line a 30cmx20cm traybake tin with non-stick bakingparchment and set aside.
3. Place the flour into alarge mixing bowl and add the cubed butter. Rub the butter into the flour usingthe tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a wellin the centre and add the egg and water and mix together using a fork untileverything comes together.
4. Divide the dough in half.Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared tin, flattening itout with your fingers or the back of a spoon to create a level surface. Spoonthe COOLED apple mixture onto the pastry into the tin, spreading it out evenly.
5. Roll out the other halfof the dough between two sheets of floured non-stick baking parchment into arectangle the same size as the tin (30cm x 20cm). Remove the top sheet ofbaking parchment and lifting the rolled out pastry on the other layer of bakingparchment flip it over to cover the apple filling. Tuck in the edges of thepastry making sure that the apple is covered.
6. Bake in the preheatedoven for 25-30minutes until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and dredgewith the caster sugar. Set aside to cool before cutting into 12 even squares.
Makes 12 squares.
