First I need to blind bake my tartlets, rolling out my sweet pastry, line a 4.5 cm – 6.5cm diameter tartlet case with the pastry, cover with cling film and dried peas/beans and bake for 7-9 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Using a mandolin, very thinly slice the cox’s apples and place on a baking paper lined tray and place in a hot plate/ very low oven until died out and crisp.
Peel and core my Bramley apples, roughly chop and place in a pan with a sprinkle of sugar on a low heat, covered, until most of the apple is cooked and broken down, this can then be used to fill the tartlets half way up.
Slice the Lancashire cheese about half a millimetre thick, cutting each slice down to make sure it fits and covers the apple compote in the bottom of the tartlet. This can go in the oven when ready to serve.
Whilst in the oven, bring to the boil 250ml of cream and then pour over 4 egg yolks, 75g sugar and 1/2 split vanilla pod, whisk rapidly and then transfer all back to pan and whisk continuously until the sauce has thickened taking extra care not to let it boil again as this will scramble the eggs.