Cookery for every household

This circle may be either plain or fluted ; it is usually about 1 inch in depth, and can be had in various sizes according to the kind of tart required. In this way greater depth is obtained than in our ordinary open tart made in a flat dish. A good compote of fruit, a puree of fruit with cream, small pieces of uncooked fruit, a custard, or some other sweet mixture may be used for filling the pastry case. A flan may either be baked first and then filled, or the filling may be baked along with the pastry. This will depend on the kind of mixture used. The following are directions for making the flan. To Make the Flan. — Short crust, dripping crust, or cornflour pastry are the best to use for this. It should not be made too rich, or the tart will be inclined to break on being lifted. Take a tart ring, either plain or fluted, and according to the size you wish the flan to be. Grease it inside and place it on a baking tin with a piece of greased paper below it. Then roll out the pastry to rather less than J inch in thickness, and line the tin within the tart ring with it. Press the pastry well on to the ring and at the bottom, where the ring touches the tin, in order to make a neat case. Trim off round the edges with a pair of scissors, leaving about £ inch of pastry above the top of the ring. Mark this round with the back of a knife or with a pair of pincers to give it a finished appearance. Now prick the pastry at the bottom of the case, and it is ready for filling. Or, if the case has to be baked before the filling is put into it, line it with greased paper, and fill it up with raw rice or haricot beans in order to keep the shape. Then, when baked, remove this padding and return the pastry to the oven for a few minutes to thoroughly dry the inside. The following recipes will illustrate the various kinds of fillings which can be put into flans : 1537. Flan of Apples (Flan de Pommes) 5 or 6 apples. 1 oz. butter. 2 or 3 oz. sugar. Rind of | lemon. 1 table-sp. cake or biscuit crumbs. Short crust or cornflour pastry. First prepare the apple mixture for filling the flan. Reserve one good apple to use afterwards, and peel and slice the remainder very thinly. Put them into a saucepan with the butter, sugar, and grated lemon rind, and cook them over the fire until reduced to a pulp, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Then turn the mixture on to a plate to cool. Make a flan or open tart with short crust or cornflour pastry as directed above. It should be 6 or 7 inches in diameter for the above amount of mixture, and the mixture is put Apple Flan into it before it is baked. Prick the pastry, sprinkle in the cake-crumbs, and fill three parts full with the apple pulp or marmalade. Now take the uncooked apple, peel it, cut it in quarters, remove the core and slice the pieces evenly and rather thinly. Arrange these slices in a circle round and round the top of the tart, placing them one leaning on the other and covering the apple marmalade entirely. Bake in a good oven until the pastry is nicely browned and well cooked. 'When ready, remove the tart from the oven and allow it to stand a few minutes, then remove the ring, and serve the tart on a plate with a dish paper under it. Note. — Small apple tartlets may be prepared in the same way as the above.