Friday 21 April 2017

Mini Jam Tarts.



Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

They're the perfect addition to your next tea time!
I feel like jam tarts are such an old-fashioned British treat.
I hadn't eaten them in years until very recently. After baking this Bakewell tart, I had leftover pastry and my Mother suggested we make jam tarts with them.
We rolled out the simple sweet shortcrust pastry into little tarts before filling them with our favourite jams. I did experiment with a few chocolate spreads too but found that they went hard in the oven. If you really want to use your favourite chocolate spread, I suppose you could bake the pastry cases first and then spoon in the spread. Yum!
Anyway, back to when we first made these tarts. I wasn't really expecting much from them. That is, until I tasted one. 
It was so simple yet so delicious. With a homemade buttery, crisp and sweet pastry paired with the tart berry jam, it was a hit with everyone. You could use one type of jam if you want but where is the fun in that? Be like us and put every jam in the fridge to good use. Strawberry jam, raspberry jam, lemon curd, orange marmalade - all jams are welcome.

A Simple List of Ingredients:

For the Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:
1. Plain Flour
2. Cold Butter
3. Icing Sugar
4. An Egg
5. Cold Water

For the Filling:
1. Any Jam Of Your Choice

Bismillah, let's begin!

We start by making the easiest sweet shortcrust pastry. I use a food processor but you can make it by hand too.

Into the processor bowl, add 112g Plain Flour.

Add in 75g Cold and Cubed Butter. Blend until the two are well combined and crumbly. By hand, rub the two together with your fingertips.

Add in 15g Icing Sugar to sweeten things up.

Blend again to combine.

Crack 1 large Egg into a bowl.

Add in 1 tablespoon Cold Water and beat with a fork.

Gradually add the liquid, blending as you go ...

... until you have a ball of dough. You may not need all the liquid.

Bring the dough together with your hands and wrap in clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Once the pastry has been chilled, we can roll out our tarts. Pre-heat the oven to 200C and lightly grease a cupcake tin or tart tin. I used a cupcake tin that wasn't very deep.

Place the pastry onto a lightly floured surface. Grab a rolling pin and get rolling. If the dough is too cold and is hard to roll, let it sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before rolling.

Roll the pastry, turning it as you go, until it's about 1/4 inch thick.

Start cutting the pastry with a 7cm / 3 inch round cutter. I used the fluted side.

Cut the circles as close to each other as you can.

Lift off the excess pastry.

Gently lift the pastry rounds off the surface with a palette knife or spatula.

Pop the rounds onto the tart tin holes.

Gently press in to fit.


It's time for the jam. You can use any you like but I went with Lemon Curd, Raspberry Jam, Strawberry Jam and Orange Marmalade. I did try using chocolate spread once but it somehow went hard in the oven - you may try, if you wish.


Grab your jam of choice ...


... spoon 2 teaspoons of Jam into each pastry case. Don't be tempted to add too much jam because it does bubble up when baking.


Once all the cases have been filled, you can bake the tarts as they are.


But I wanted to use up some of my leftover pastry scraps. With some of it, I cut more rounds to make tarts.


I gathered the rest into a ball.


And, rolled it again to 1/4 inch thick.


I used different shaped cutters to cut more pastry.


And, popped some of them onto the tarts to make little lids.


Now, we can bake the tarts at 200C for 10-14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and crisp.


See what I mean about the jam bubbling up?


Let the tarts cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Don't let them sit longer than that or they may stick.


Then, move the tarts to a wire rack and allow to cool completely.


Once you're ready to serve, pop the tarts onto a cake stand and make some hot tea.


Now, which one shall we taste first?


I went with a strawberry jam one. It was so good with the buttery, crisp pastry and berry jam. Jam tarts are so old-fashioned British classic but so good. I hope you give them a go this weekend.

Mini Jam Tarts.

Prep Time: About 45 minutes including pastry chilling time.
Bake Time: About 10-14 minutes per batch.
Serves: I made 21 mini jam tarts.

Ingredients

For the Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
112g Plain Flour
75g Butter, cold and cubed
15g Icing Sugar
1 large Egg
1 tablespoon Cold Water

For the Filling
Jam, of your choice. I used:
Lemon Curd
Raspberry Jam
Strawberry Jam
Orange Marmalade

Make the pastry:
In a food processor, blend together the flour and butter until well combined and crumbly. Blend in the icing sugar. Beat together the egg and cold water. Pour the liquid mixture in batches, blending as you go, until a dough forms. You may not need all the liquid mixture.

Chill the pastry:
Wrap the pastry in clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll and fill the tarts:
Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface until about 1/4 inch thick. Cut with a 7cm / 3 inch round fluted cutter. Cut the rounds as close to each other as possible. Fit the pastry rounds into a lightly greased mini tart tin or a cupcake tin. Fill each pastry case with 2 teaspoons jam.

An optional step, but I like to gather together the extra pastry, roll and cut with different shaped cutters. Put the pastry shapes onto the jam.

Bake the tarts:
Bake the tarts at 200C for 10-14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and crisp. Cool for no longer than 5 minutes in the tin before moving to wire racks to cool completely.

Serve:
Serve the tarts with tea. They will keep in an airtight container for a few days.

Recipe Notes:

  • Don't be tempted to overfill the pastry cases with jam as the jam will bubble up when baking.
  • I have tried filling the tarts with chocolate spread but found that the spread tended to harden up in the oven. You may try it, if you wish.

Keep me in your duas please, and enjoy your jam tarts!

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu!


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