After watching one of the latest Masterclass episodes on MasterChef, we were tempted by the raspberry tart made on the show, and the extremely easy method of making shortcrust pastry. They used a food processor to make the pastry and it looked a lot easier than my very recent experiment with making pastry by scratch in my first Daring Bakers Challenge of the Bakewell Tart.
As they didn’t have the video or recipe for the raspberry tart up on the MasterChef website at the time we made it (that night I believe), we had to search for a similar recipe. This one is adapted from one of Jamie Oliver’s recipes and it turned out great. Nick made up the rest of the recipe, using up some of our apples in the fridge and making it into a tart crossed with a pie, naming it Nick’s Apple Parcels.
Nick’s Apple Parcels
Recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry adapted from Jamie Oliver’s recipe
Serves: 2 (with some pastry left over, which can be rolled and made into biscuits or used to cover the top of a small pie)
250g organic plain flour, plus extra for dusting
50g icing sugar, sifted
125g good-quality cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg, beaten
A splash of milk
Flour, for dusting
2-3 Pink Lady (or other) apples, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon caster sugar
Icing sugar, for dusting
Place flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and pulse until it turns into fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and pulse until mixture comes together and forms a nice dough. Add a little milk if necessary and process. Knead until smooth, cover and refrigerate for 30m minutes (we used ours straight away as we couldn’t wait).
Mix apples, cinnamon, vanilla essence and caster sugar in a bowl and set aside.
Roll out dough and cut into large squares (12 x 12cm), 2 for each parcel. Place some of the apple and cinnamon mixture on top of one square of pastry and place another on top. Seal edges and cut slices on top layer. Place on a baking tray and bake for 20minutes, until pastry golden and cooked. Dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
I think I missed this Masterchef episode. They look great and ice cream is indeed an essential accompaniment to an apple parcel! 🙂
Looks delicious! I was craving something just like this last night (I get so hungry watching Masterchef!), which I could have had some haha! Food processors make it so much easier to do shortcrust pastry hey? I love it.
Oh these look yum! I love all things apple + ice-cream 🙂
Wow apple parcels look delicious, i would love to experiment with the filling, thanks for sharing!
Yuummm I can taste the soft, crumbly pastry already mmmm
Looks yumm….and soft
These look like flaky buttery pockets of heaven. I love pink lady apples and bet they were very tasty in that pastry!
Yum! These look delicious, and I am always after a quick and easy way to make pastry that doesn’t turn out like cardboard.
Good for you for trying shortcrust again–it looks like a good recipe. Nicely done with the treats.
j
oh they look so AMAZING! I love that pairing of the ice cream!
Looks like you did a good job! There is something comforting about apple pastries 🙂
These look fantastic! So do you think the pastry tasted good enough to make it worth making from scratch versus buying ready made one? I always think making pastry is a hassle though the Masterchef masterclass did make it look easy!
This looks SO GOOD! I love apple pastries in general, and your pie/tart/parcel seems delicious!
Oooooo, Nicks apple parcels look so yummy. They remind me of MacDonalds apple pie, but these probably taste a million times better!
Very cute parcels. I love baked apples, with pastry, and ice-cream. Perfect for this horribly cold weather! 🙂