Maple Apple Rose Tart recipe: Family dinner joys and how to re-claim your kitchen-boss status

So recently, as mentioned in my October Round Up post over here ( you really should check that post out – its all things Octoberish and fun), we were blessed with a visit from my brother-in-law, all the way from the States.

Now whilst you may think, ya, ya, so what, a relative from overseas,blah, blah, blah, the thing is, this visit was an extra special one! You see, it would be the first time he EVER set foot in our new home, as well as the very first time he EVER met any one of OUR children! Yes! Special, right? Right!

Not to mention that I always feel ontop of the world when I have my family over! We’re quite a large bunch and we’re used to being together often, however life for all of us in recent years has us all geographically pretty spread out. No suprise then that it really is a treat for me when we get together.

So clearly my bland old cooking and boring desserts Ive been whipping up for the past four and bit years just wouldn’t cut it (notice how my cooking boringness happens to coincide with the time that I started having kids? Coinky Dink? I think not!) Fortunately for him, and everyone else who came over for dinner that night, a sweet blogger popped on over onto my blog about three or four months ago, and inspired me with one of her cool recipes. It was for a Rose tart and I couldn’t wait to use her recipe.(Im still trying to relocate her link, will post it, once I find it again)

However, given my big fam – even though not all pictured here- there was no way that I could’ve managed making small individual tarts for each of them. So instead I googled for larger recipes and found this one. Such a great recipe, that’s easy to follow and to make. And is especially cool for all you gluten-free people!

My blender however was on the brink, so instead of walnuts, and thus destroying any gluten-freeness of this recipe, I used Digestive biscuits instead- till as delicious! Also, I then used my “manual blenders” to ensure that the biscuits were crushed to a fine texture, perfect for tart/pie crusts! (Also kept little hands busy and chaos-causing free…for a while)

I loved the fact that I made my own custard – from scratch, yo!!! It totally made me feel like a kitchen-boss again. And what’s even more kitchen-boss worthy is that it wasn’t no ordinary custard, oh hell no! It was MAPLE custard!This custard served as the beautifully textured tart filling,and was pretty tasty.

Now I could go on about how it was also real maple syrup and not maple flavoured syrup, but I’d have to draw the line at it being ORGANIC maple syrup – cause that stuffs just like stupid expenso! Having said that, though, please know that this recipe will work with maple flavoured syrup just as well.

What you will need:

For the Custard:

• 1½ cups milk (I used lowfat)
• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup Maizena cornstarch (although cake flour will work just fine)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Walnut/Biscuit Crust:

• 2½ cups walnut pieces/ 2 ½ cups Digestive biscuits
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 egg white
• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the Apple Roses

• 2 apples (I recommend red ones for the rose effect), quartered, cored, and thinly sliced (keep in lemon water until ready to use – so that they don’t brown so easily)
• juice of a lemon
• ¼ cup apricot jam, warmed (optional)

For the recipe method go to her blog here. It really is easy-peasy! Even the creation of roses: Just roll and stick in. And taaa-daaa!

My recipe tips:

-If you’re going to use digestives, I suggest using 1 ½ to 2 packets. And use a little more butter than originally stated in this recipe.
-For these measurements, use the 22 to 25 cm pie dish as recommended in her recipe, otherwise the crust will just end up too thick. Like mine.

-Also, for aesthetics sake, it really is best to use the pie dish with the removable base, so that you can serve and see the brown biscuit base in all it’s glory.. So removeable base, just as recommended. Again. You’d think I’d start following recipes as stated, right?
-Also not just for aesthetics, it may make for a drier crust if its too thick. So dont make the same mistakes I made!

And thats it! Now you can also be a kitchen boss with this gorgeous little tart. Cant wait to try out the smaller versions though!

Hope you get to share your tasty wares with those you love.
Happy baking!x