This refined apple pie is scarily easy to make yet very impressive when entertaining. It’s a brilliant Sunday dish as can be made ahead and there’s only a few ingredients required for a show stopping end to your Sunday roast.

(serves 6-8)

Ingredients

3-4 large bramley cooking apples, about 750g
50g caster sugar
25g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 ready made all butter puff pastry sheets
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tbsp demerara sugar
Clotted cream to serve

Method

You can prepare the apple slice at any time and leave it in the fridge until your ready to bake it.

To make the apple sauce peel, core and chop the apple into rough chunks. Add to a saucepan over a medium heat with the caster sugar, butter, vanilla and a splash of cold water. Bring the mixture to the boil stirring well then turn down to a simmer for 7-8 minutes or until the apple is softened and almost a puree, taste the mixture and if it’s too tart add a touch more sugar. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool and refrigerate until needed.

Working quickly to avoid the pastry getting warm, to make the apple slice place one sheet of pastry onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Spread the cooled apple puree over the pastry in one single layer making sure to leave a 1 inch border all of the way around. Brush the border with lightly beaten egg yolk. Place the second sheet of pastry onto a clean work surface and fold it in half lengthways, carefully score the pastry on a 45°angle cutting from the folded side toward the cut side down the length of the pastry at even 1 inch intervals. Ensure you leave the folded side of the pastry in tact. Unfold the scored pastry and then layer it over the apple covered pastry to form a neat rectangle lattice. Crimp the edges with your fingers to seal and then trim away any excess pastry to create a neat finish.

You can place the tart in the fridge at this stage for a couple of hours. When ready to bake pre-heat the oven to 180°c, remove the apple slice from the fridge and brush the pastry with the remaining beaten egg and sprinkle all over with the demerara sugar.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until golden and crisp. Serve immediately with clotted cream, ice-cream or custard.