I’m scared of the section on Sweet Pastry and as I haven’t tackled anything in that said section yet, I decided I had to do it. I have chosen the Somerset Apple Tart, not because it looks easy, but just because. I only needed to buy apples and apricot jam so took a quick trip to my local supermarket.
Ingredients, all set to go
I started at 4pm, so I had heaps of time. I made the dough, even used the kitchen Wizz to speed up the process. Into the fridge to cool. What could make this even more fun I decided was watching another of my favourite shows, one of those ones you put on when you want to relax – “One Born Every Minute.” Lovely.
Luscious pie dough
I rolled out the beautiful soft pastry but couldn’t bake it blind as got called, or should I say texted to pick my daughter up from school, then had to take her to work. So by 5pm, I was now baking blind, peeling apples and getting the custard ready. Excellent. I figured I might as well make dinner at the same time, so had crumbed some chicken using the egg white from the pastry. But, I’d forgotten, the gas bottle was empty, and husband is away overseas (not that I can’t do it, but laziness seems to have a way of creeping in, in these situations and one tends to find a solution without having to lug heavy bottles under the house) so I used the electric frying pan.
(I even managed to do a poached egg that same way for lunch!! New discovery.)
New way to poach an egg! YUM 🙂
I took a quick trip to the loo and unbeknown to me the tie of my apron dropped into the toilet water (pre use!) and dripped all over the floor. Great. I grabbed the Handy Andy floor cleaner and managed to spill half the bottle on the floor, so on hands and knees started mopping the floor, then thought, might as well do the hallway while I’m at it. Well, aren’t we having fun baking!!
CLEAN floor
Back to the baking, I sliced the apples (with very clean hands now), arranged them on the ‘cooled’ blind baked pie casing, poured over the custard mixture and voila, into the oven. 
“One Born Every Minute”, was a poignant reminder of life in the real world. There was a midwife who had two children with Cystic Fibrosis and another woman giving birth to her 4th child under four who had twins with Cerebral Palsy. It really puts life in perspective when you hear these stories. It was like when my daughter, aged 3, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, our hospital ward was surrounded by much more serious cases, including CF and Crone’s Disease. It made us feel lucky to have what we had, despite the 5x/day blood tests and twice daily injections. There is always someone worse off and it makes you appreciate what you have.
All the dramas aside, and lessons learned, I took my pie to my Portuguese class where it was a great hit and my teacher, Anelita, now wants the recipe. One can’t complain about making people feel good with food, that’s for sure. You can find the recipe for this tart on https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/food/517890/The-Great-British-Bake-Off-recipes
The finished product
