'Tis the season for blackberrying

Blackberries are in season right now - so go to your nearest hedgerow and grab an armful! (Mind the thorns!). Here's what I did with mine.

Apple and Blackberry Flan
Ingredients
For the pastry

• 290g Plain flour
• 165g Butter
• 95g Caster sugar
• Very cold water

For the filling

• 50g Butter
• 75g Dark muscovado sugar
• 500g Diced Braeburn apples (3 good sized apples)
• 445g Blackberries
• 100g Honey
• 1 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon

Method

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub the butter in until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Mix in the caster sugar.
3. Add just enough water to bind into a dough.
4. Roll out and line a flan ring and a sandwich tin, reserving some dough for decoration.
5. Prick the base both all over with a fork.
6. Refrigerate for 10 mins.
   
7. Line and weigh down both cases with baking beans.
8. Bake blind for 15-20 mins at 190C, remove the baking beans and bake for a further 5-10 mins. Allow to cool in the tin.
   
9. In a saucepan, melt the butter, and mix in the sugar.
10. Add the diced apples and cook over a moderate heat for 15 mins to soften.
11. Add the blackberries, honey and cinnamon and stir well.
12. Pour the mixture into the prepared cases.
13. Roll out the reserved dough and decorate as desired.
14. Bake at 190C for 25-30mins.
    

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted that this is basically a modified upside-down tarte tatin. Why reinvent the wheel?! Here are the flans at the end of step 12. I think they look supremely pretty, personally.
Ready for the oven! I had intended to make them both lattice tarts, but I hadn't left enough pastry to do the big one - so I made an apple and a blackberry instead (yes, that is supposed to be a blackberry!).Finished! The pastry on each could probably have done with a little bit longer in the oven, but I was worried about the top of the filling burning. I think it's okay though. It came out of the oven bubbling and just generally looking gorgeous - I can't help but think that this would simply be fantastic served hot with a big dollop (that's a technical term, by the way) of good vanilla ice cream...