Bara-Kornekoú with Stewed Apples and Custard

“Bara-Kornek” means “bread crescent”in Breton. A Hungry Breton’s creation…

To celebrate the apple season and the end of September, I wanted to do something a bit special. Also to illustrate my previous story I posted a couple of days ago, “Boxin The Fox”, when I had to raid an orchard as I was so hungry on the road… I hope you will like it, this is not a traditional recipe, rather original… You never know, it might enter a Traditional Breton cookbook one day?

First, I decided to make a nice flaky pastry, cut them into discs, fill them with homemade thick vanilla custard ( or Crème Patissière) and gently stewed cubed apples from the garden… This is how it went!

For The Flaky Pastry: You’ll Need

• 250g of organic flour
• 150g of salted butter
• 50g of organic sugar
• a few tbsp of cold water ( I’ll explain below)

How To:

Put the flour and sugar in a bowl, and the butter in the freezer for just 5-10 minutes. Take a coarse cheese grater, and grate the butter in the flour. If it starts to melt a wee bit, dip the butter in the flour and keep grating. Use a spatula to mix them gently together, the idea is to keep it cool. While you do that, start adding a bit of cold water and gently mix. Start using your hand then, if it’s too dry, add a little bit more, too wet, add a little more flour. Fold a few times, but not too long. The dough has to remain cold. Once you are happy enough with the dough, roll in a ball and wrap in cling film. In the fridge in goes for at least an hour.

Now that the dough is resting, we can start working on the apple stew. I gathered a few from the garden and despite the average summer we’ve had in Ireland, the trees were quite generous this year!

Washed, ready to peel and core…

For the apple stew: you’ll need

• About ten small organic apples ( five large)
• 20cl of water
• 50g of honey

How To:

Core and peel the apples, and cut them in little cubes. You don’t want to stew them to hell, so 15 to 20 minutes should do. You can put all the ingredients together. Once nice and tender and when the liquid has turned into a soft syrup, allow to cool while you do the custard…

Now for the crème patissière, it is not that complicated; the secret is to be there all the time, stirring on a low it.

Crème patissière: you’ll need

• 4 egg yolks
• 50g of sugar
• 50g of organic flour
• 25cl of milk
• 5cl of vanilla extract

How to:

In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, then add the flour, pour the milk and the vanilla extract. Pour the mix in a saucepan on a low heat. The secret is to keep stirring with a spatula until quite thick. It has to be able to stay on a spoon so it won’t leak out of the pastry… Allow to cool of course!

Almost there… All you need to do now is to roll the dough with a lot of flour…

Roll the pastry, but not too thin. With a pastry ring, about 10cm or 4 inches, start making little discs. As many as your toppings will allow to do so. If you have extra dough, freeze it until next time!

Fill the disc in the centre, with first a bit of custard, then top it with a bit of the stewed apples. With a pastry brush, paint all the edges with a beaten egg. Fold in half, and press the edges with the tip of a fork…

Ok, the moment of truth… Ready to bake. Place on a baking tray with a bit of flour. In a bowl, beat an egg and brush the pastries for a nice golden finish!

Bake at 200c for 30 minutes; serve with a nice coffee and a bit of custard on the side… If you have some left that is!

A little closer?

We all need a wee Kornek from time to time; especially if it is filled with apple and custard. I thought this would be a nice way to conclude September…

Keep Well and Eat Happy!

Slán Tamall

Franck