Old Fashioned Apple Slice with Pineapple and Ginger

Old fashioned apple slice with pineapple and ginger, takes me back to my childhood

When I was a little girl, my mother (a beautiful cook in her own right) always took me to cake shops as a treat at the end of our shopping expeditions.   Together we adored sampling freshly-made millefeuille, vanilla slice, strudel and chocolate eclairs.  Another of our favourites was the simple, but delicious, apple slice.

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A family member gave me her handwritten recipe for this rather divine slice decades ago and since then I've adopted it as my own.  It's lovely served warm as a dessert with a dollop of King Island cream.

ANITA'S APPLE, PINEAPPLE AND GINGER SLICE
185g unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
13/4  cups plain flour
2 tablespoons chopped Buderim crystallised ginger or baby stem ginger
1 x 470g can crushed pineapple (well drained)
3 apples peeled, sliced and lightly steamed
Cream the butter, lemon zest and sugar.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time then carefully fold in the sifted flour and ginger.
Spread half of this mixture into a lined lamington tin. Top with the pineapple and apples.  Spoon the remaining mixture evenly over the top - it will spread as it cooks. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg C 45 minutes until golden brown.  Serve cut into squares generously dusted with icing sugar. Hint:  Use a combination of Granny Smith and Delicious apples for a good consistency.  A 410g tin of pie apples can be substituted.