Spelt Russet Apple Slice

  • Prep time:

  • Cook time:

  • Total time:

  • Portion/Yield:

    Serves 6

  • Difficulty:

    Easy

The nutty wholemeal rich spelt shortbread base is a pure melt in the mouth delight. I spent a cold grey Friday wandering the streets of London looking for inspiration. I searched the stalls of Borough market and found these delightful russet apples along with the spelt flour from Sharpenham Park. I wish I could describe the aromas and fragrances that escaped from the oven as I removed this tart,  absolutely divine. The russet apple compote recipe is a little gem in itself and is ideal to be squeezed into freshly baked doughnuts and profiteroles.

The Spelt Shortbread Paste makes perfect spelt and semolina shortbread biscuits, topped with a crunchy semolina and sugar topping, ideal for dunking in that perfect cup of tea. The versatility, lightness and whole grain goodness of this recipe is remarkable. I am very proud of developing this recipe, one I shall treasure forever. photo of Spelt Russet Apple Slice

Ingredients & Method

Spelt Shortbread

  • 225g spelt flour
  • 225g unsalted butter
  • 100g corn flour
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 1tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch of salt

For the apple filling

  • 80g Russet Apple compote
  • 2 whole russet apples, cored removed
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1tbs unrefined caster sugar icing sugar
  • 1tbs chopped pistachio nuts

First prepare the spelt shortbread. Place the spelt flour, corn flour, icing sugar, ground cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut the cold butter into small cubes, add the butter to the flour and use a paddle attachment of the mixer, set the mixer on low spread and mix until all the butter has been rubbed in to the flour and it comes together. Do not overwork the pastry, as it will make the paste tough and elastic.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll the shortbread out to 1cm thick on a lightly floured work surface, line a tart tin, 35cm long x 11cm wide x 2.5cm deep, with parchment paper, cut the shortbread to line the bottom only. Gently place the short bread in the base of the tart tin.

Spread the apple compote on top of the shortbread base leaving a 1cm border. Use a mandolin to slice the cored apples 3mm thick, sprinkle the lemon juice over the apples once sliced.

Arrange the apples on top of the russet apple puree; sprinkle the caster sugar over the sliced apples. Place the tart in the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. Once cooked, remove the tart from the oven, heavily dust the tart with the icing sugar and chopped pistachio nuts.

Let the tart cool completely before gently removing the tart from the tray.