Dan Lepard's sherried apple tart recipe

Sherried apple tart For the third recipe in our four-week series on baking without dairy or eggs, I've used an oil and almond pastry to line the base and decorate the top of this apple tart. By using lots of apples and making them, rather than the pastry, the ultimate star of the recipe, you won't miss the butter too much. Be a little careful and stand back when you add the apples and sherry to the caramel, because it will spit and splutter at first. Serve this tart warm with a little dairy-free ice-cream or a simple caramel syrup. Croft sherry is thought to be vegan-safe, though you can use brandy instead, if you prefer. 200g plain flour ½ tsp salt 50g ground almonds 50g icing sugar 50ml sunflower oil 120ml sherry, plus a little extra for brushing 6 dessert apples, peeled and cored Demerara sugar 1 tsp cornflour Put the flour, salt, almonds and icing sugar in a bowl and mix evenly. Add the oil and 50ml of the sherry, mix everything to a smooth dough, then wrap well in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and use it to line a deep round 20cm tart tin; cut the excess dough into small 5cm discs – you'll use these to decorate the top – and return them, covered, to the fridge. Press some nonstick baking paper weighed down with baking beans inside the tart case and lightly blind bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 for 25 minutes. Cut the peeled and cored apples into eighths. Spoon 50g demerara sugar into a frying pan along with a few tablespoons of water, and cook over a high heat until it turns to a golden caramel. Add the apples and 50ml sherry (stand back!), lower the heat and simmer until the caramel melts, the apples are almost tender and the liquid has reduced. Stir a tablespoon each of sherry and demerara with the cornflour, and mix this through the hot apples. Brush the reserved pastry circles with sherry and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Spoon the apples into the pastry case, decorate with the pastry circles, and bake at 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 for 35 minutes, until golden. danlepard.com/guardian