Strawberry Bakewell Tarts

Drizzled with icing goodness

Something sweet!

The blog has been depressingly savoury lately. I mean, I know we need to cook “real” food to survive and be healthy and everything.. But sweet treats are so much more fun to make than savoury dinners!

So, seeing as we are coming into summer and I live in England now, I had a go at something which I think of as a quintessentially English dessert –Bakewell tart! I came over all “Mary Berry” for a moment. I did a mini version because they look cuter and I use any excuse to pull out my small pastry tins! You could easily halve this and make a full sized tart.

Practically naked!

I really liked the way this turned out. As I’ve grown older (sob!) I find my tastes changing, and I really like the almondy/frangipane/marzipan flavour. This is a perfect combination – crisp pastry, fruity jam, light nutty filling and sweet sugary topping. Feel free to top with a glace cherry (as is tradition) if you like. 

Delish!

Ingredients for the pastry

• 100g butter
• 200g plain flour
• 40g icing sugar
• 1 egg, beaten

Ingredients for the filling

• 110g butter
• 110g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 80g ground almonds
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• A few tablespoons of strawberry jam
• 85g icing sugar

You will also need some mini tart tins or halve the recipe for one large tart tin.

Makes 9-12

Method

For the pastry, this is the usual drill. Rub the butter into the flour until you get coarse breadcrumb consistency, then stir in the sugar. Roughly add the beaten egg. Press together, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3mm. Cut the pasty using an appropriately sized cutter (I used a small bowl) and use this to carefully line the cases. Trim off the excess and prick the bottoms with a fork.

Chill these for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

While chilling again, make the filling mixture. Add the sugar and butter to a bowl and mix well. Whisk in the eggs, almonds and flour until the mixture is light.

Remove the pastry tins, and spread ½ tsp jam over each base, then pour over the filling.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, then allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool.

When completely cooled, mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick pourable paste. 

Drizzle over the top of the tarts and allow to set.

Serve to grateful friends!