Crostata Squares

This recipe is one of my sons favourites, it is an adaptation of a recipe from the publication "Cooking Naturally with Australian Dairy Foods"

Pastry
1½ cups self-raisin flour
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 tablespoon sugar, optional
3 tablespoons lemon juice (and zest of 2 large lemons grated finely for the filling)
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
2/3 cup raisins
1 egg

Filling
1 x 500 g  smooth cottage or ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1-1½ teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour
½ cup castor sugar
½ cup milk

Method
1. Rub fat into flour.   Add sugar and mix to a stiff dough with lemon juice.
2. Knead lightly in a mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Peel and slice apples.    Place in a microwave container and cook for 4 minutes on High.    Make sure not to over cook them.
4. Roll out pastry to approximately 1 cm thickness and line a 21 x 21 x 5 cm square glass dish.    Reserve left-over pastry for the top.    Place slices of apple on the pastry base.    Sprinkle with cinnamon, and most of the raisins.
5. Place cheese, sugar, flour, lemon zest, eggs and a little milk in a bowl and beat lightly.    Add the rest of the milk and stir through.   Mixture should be thick and not too runny.    In humid weather use less milk.
6. Pour this filling over the apples.    Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into 1 cm strips.   Arrange these in a lattice pattern over the filling.    Place the rest of the raisins in between the pastry strips on top the mixture.    Brush with beaten egg.    Bake in fan-forced oven for 1 hour at 170ºC, or until the mixture is set.

Makes 16 square helpings as a desert; can be served with cream or ice cream.