- 250g/9oz plain flour, plus extra for flouring
- 250g/9oz very cold butter, cut into small cubes
- ½ tsp salt
- 25g/1oz icing sugar
- 40g/1½oz butter
- 2 large Bramley apples, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
- 125g/4½oz blackberries
- 1 lemon, juice only
- 300ml/10fl oz double cream
- For the rough puff pastry, place the flour in a mound on a clean work surface and make a well in the centre.
- Place the butter and salt in the well and work them together with the fingertips of one hand, gradually drawing the flour into the centre with the other hand.
- When the cubes of butter have become small pieces and the dough is grainy, gradually add 125ml/4½fl oz of ice cold water and mix until it is all incorporated, but don’t overwork the dough – you should have a marbled effect with the butter without mixing it in properly.
- Roll the mixture into a 2.5cm/1in thick rectangle, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry into a 40x20cm/16x8in rectangle.
- Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up to meet then fold the top over. Give it a quarter-turn.
- Roll the block of pastry into a 40x20cm/16x8in rectangle as before, and repeat the folds. These are the first two turns. Repeat two more times to make four turns.
- Wrap the pastry in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
- For the tart, preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
- Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured work surface to about 3-4mm thick. Cut into three rectangles of 7.5x15cm/3x6in and dust the pastry with icing sugar to cover totally.
- Lift the pastry onto a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling.
- Heat a small frying pan until hot, add the butter and apples and cook for a minute, then add 2-3 tablespoons of water and continue to cook.
- Add the vanilla pod and seeds, blackberries and lemon juice and cook for 5-6 minutes, or until softened and pulpy.
- Remove from the heat and cool in the fridge while the pastry cooks.
- Whisk the double cream in a large bowl until firm peaks form when the whisk is removed from the bowl, then spoon into a piping bag.
- Once the pastry is cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. Slice the cooled pastry sheets in half widthways through the length of the pastry – you have the same size rectangles as before but half as thick: one glazed piece and one bottom piece for each sheet.
- Spoon the blackberry and apple mixture onto one layer of pastry, then pipe the cream over the top.
- Place another piece of pastry on top and then repeat with another layer of blackberry and apple and cream.
- Finish with a piece of glazed pastry. Repeat with the remaining pastry and the stacks can then be cut into portions to serve.