guest blogger: claire of culinary goddess

I'm swishing away on the slopes of Park City UT, so many thanks to Claire for being my first-ever guest blogger! Now on to her scrumptious post...

When Beth asked me to do a guest post, I was both shocked and honored. Me? Why me? I am always in awe of Baking Therapy's delicious creations! She always makes everything look so good that I sometimes find myself wishing I was a few blocks from her apartment so I could come over and indulge in the food. It is probably a good thing that California is on the opposite side of the country than New York for that reason :)

So, here we go. This is my first guest post. Ever! Who am I? I'm a recent, well I guess no SO recent, college graduate who lives and works in the city by the bay. San Francisco is full of inspiration. I love all of the farmers markets, coffee shops, and eateries. I love to cook and bake but am super new to it all. My boyfriend is my personal vacuum and cheerleader. Oh and I absolutely am obsessed with eggs.

Being that this is a baking blog, I decided to share a baking recipe. I browsed through some of my cookbooks and came across this yummy apple custard bar recipe. I've had a recent obsession with apples so it only seemed fitting that I would try and tackle this recipe. The only problem I had was having the wrong size pan but everything still worked in the end. Success! I hope you like them!

Apple Custard Streusel Slice
adapted from Kitchen Classics' Picnic Hamper

Crust Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon caster sugar

4 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

1 egg yolk

Apple Custard Topping Ingredients:

3 green apples

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Crumble Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

4 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and softened

1. Lightly grease a 7x11 inch pan or tin.

2. Sift flour and sugar into a bowl. Add the butter, egg yolk, and 2-3 tablespoons of water. Mix to form a ball. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper. Remove top sheet of baking paper. Place bottom sheet and dough in the base of the pan. Cut edges of dough along the edges of the bottom. Make sure baking paper is hanging over the two long sides.

3. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

5. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with uncooked rice/baking beads. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove rice and paper.

6. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake the pastry for 5 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool.

7. Peel, core, and chop the apples and put in an saucepan with the butter, half the sugar, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons water. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, or until soft.

8. Uncover and simmer for a further 5 minutes to reduce the liquid. Use a wooden spoon to break down the apples until they have a smooth texture. Allow to cool.

9. Whisk together the eggs, cream, remaining sugar, and vanilla extract.

10. Spread cooled apple mixture over pastry and then carefully pour over the custard mixture.

11. Bake for 20 minutes or until the custard has half set.

12. For crumble, mix flour, sugar, and butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the custard and bake for 15 minutes. Cool in the tin before slicing into pieces.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Next time, I will use the right size pan. They turned out thinner than I wanted but they still tasted delicious :)