Tendresse aux pommes

Stale bread (equivalent of 2 baguettes)
1 litre milk
1 cup raisins
8 eggs, beaten
8 T (tablespoons) sugar
4 T rum
4 apples, peeled and sliced
butter for greasing

1. Take all the bread and put in a large bowl.  Pour over enough milk just to cover.
Add the raisins and mix with your hands.  Leave in the fridge overnight.

2. The following day, the milk should have been soaked up by the bread.  Mix together the eggs, sugar and rum and pour over the bread preparation.  Add the sliced apples.  Add more sugar, rum or fruit to taste.  The mixture should be moist, like a cake dough.

3. Grease a cooking dish with butter and heat the oven to 180C.  Pour the mixture into the dish and bake for about 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.  Serve dusted with icing sugar.

(Times Magazine, January 22, 2011)

Apple Desserts

I have just read the most wonderful article in the Guardian Magazine this weekend on a bakery in Paris.  I can't wait to go one day.  (Sigh!)  It's called Du Pain et des Idées and is found at 34  Rue Yves Toudic. (http://www.dupainetdesidees.com)

The article included two recipes, one called 'Tendresse aux pommes', and the other, 'Tarte Fines aux pommes'.  The simplist first!

Tarte Fines aux pommes

1 package of puff pastry
Ground almonds
Apples
Butter
Sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C

1. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and unroll you puff pastry.
2. Sprinkle generously with ground almonds and scatter with sliced apples.
3. Add a few chunks of butter and 4 to 6 large spoons of sugar.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the apples start to look caramelsied.