Hug needed!

Slow day! My sister came to visit for a few days and she left last night. Living in a different country I don't get a lot of visits so when my sister is over from France I try to make the most of our time together. It always goes too quick though!
She never gets to sample a lot of my cooking because we end up eating out a lot and this time was no exception. I want her to try all the varieties of food on offer in the UK you see. France is much more traditional in terms of cooking so it was a great occasion for her to enjoy curries, burgers, fish and chips and of course Sunday dinner. At this point of the story it is wise to avoid mentioning the weight gained during her 4-day visit.

I did, however, bake her a batch of scones which turned out lovely surprisingly enough. She loves scones and they're not easy to find back home. All my previous attempts at baking scones fell flat (very literally) and I ended up with anorexic scones that looked like they had purged themselves from all raising agents by the time they came out of the oven ! For this reason I'm defo keeping hold of this recipe cos it seems foolproof!
The result:

Scones:
300g plain flour
2tbsps baking powder
1 pinch of salt
40g caster sugar
50g unslated butter
1 egg, beaten
150ml milk a little extra to brush the scones
100g of sulatanas or cranberries (I used a mixture of both)

After dropping my sis off at the airport and having a little cry and moan, I went home and fancied some comfort food, French style. I browsed recipes for a while and found one for a tart that would make use of the apples I had recently been buying by the shedload (my new low-fat breakfast best friends). I used the puff pastry that had been lying in the freezer for the past 2 months and boom! It got my mind distracted for a while so I guess it did the trick. The smell in the house while I was frying the flaked almonds, sugar and butter!

Being from Normandy, I used to eat a lot of apple tarts as a kid. My grandma used to bake one almost every week. I overdosed as a teenager and for a long time I stopped eating them. What I wouldn't give for my grandma's apple tart now!

And now, after my husband has used his posh camera and equipment to make it look all professional and proper:

For the tart filling:
4 apples (think I will add peaches or pears next time to give it a different texture)
120g caster sugar
35g corn flour
3 egg yolks
250ml milk
1tsp of cinnamon


For the topping:
60g flaked almonds
20g butter
2 tbsps caster sugar

I served the tart with a bit of sweet creme fraiche but my husband reached for the vanilla ice cream instead. He took some to work today and people were very complimentary...so he says!