Baked Apples In Pastry - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup butter
6 -8 tablespoons ice water
6 apples (medium sized dessert)
6 prunes (pitted)
6 dried apricots
2 1/2 tablespoons raisins
1 egg (beaten to glaze)
cream (to serve)
mint leaf (to serve)

Preparation

Preaheat oven to 350F (160C fan forced, 175C conventional).
Sift the flour, salt and spices into a large bowl.
Cut the butter into dice and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (I would use a food processor on pulse to do this).
Mix in enought water to produce a smooth pliable dough.
Divide the dough into six pieces and roll out into a square approximately 8 inches.
Peel the apples with a sharp knife and carefully remove the centre cores with a apple corer.
Chop the prunes and the apricots and mix these with the raisins.
Place oe prepared apple into the centre of each pastry square, and fill the cavities with equal amounts of the dried fruit mixture.
Brush the edges of each square with a little water and draw them up and around the sides of the apples, sealing them well with a little water and trimming off the excess pastry to give a neat finish.
Roll out the pastry trimmings =, cut into decorative leaves and stick the leaves onto each apples for decoration.
Glaze each pastry apple with the beaten egg and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake the apples in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve hot with the fresh cream and sprigs of fresh mint.