Friday Baking Challenge - The Bakewell Tart

My angel standing guard over MY Bakewell Tarts.

I did a lighter amount of glaze.  We voted here that the 

glaze was just enough.  A neighbour, who owns a deli,

popped by for a minute and was happy to take one home 

for his evening snack.  I will be very interested in his

thoughts on the tart.  My DH (the aspiring breakfast

chef) just came in and said that he  gives it 

a three out of three thumbs up.

Friday Baking with NotQuiteJuneCleaver

The Bakewell Tart:

Pastry:

2 cups all purpose flour 6 ounces Unsalted butter, soft 1 Egg yolk 2 teaspoons caster sugar Cold water as required – only a couple of teaspoons probably

Filling:

4 ounces Unsalted butter 4 ounces Caster sugar 2 Eggs 2 ounces ground almonds (you can do this in a coffee grinder – clean of course! or food processor) 2 ounces Self Raising flour 1 teaspoon Almond extract Strawberry jam

Icing:

2 cups Confectioners Sugar 1-2 tablespoons water or whatever you need to make a glaze Glacé cherries (half for each tart)

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and sugar and mix with a knife (it’s more effective than a spoon). Add enough water to bring the dough together – you’re aiming for firm but not hard. I always use my hands to do this as it gives you better control. If you’ve added too much water and the dough is sticky, don’t panic – just add a little more flour. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap or waxed paper and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes no more than 30.

Preheat oven to 400°F grease 12-14 individual pie tins or use a couple of muffin tins (12 muffin size) – Roll out the pastry using as little flour as possible.  Using a cutter slightly bigger than the diameter of your  tin, cut out circles. You will have to re-roll the pastry to get enough but it’s very good natured and will re-roll several times.  Line the greased tins with the pastry circles, crimping the edge as you would for a pie and spoon some jam (about a teaspoon) onto each pastry.  Now make the almond filling. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, and after each egg, add half of the ground almonds. The mix will curdle but don’ panic – as soon as you add the flour it will correct itself.  Add the flour and almond extract and stir well. You can just mix it – there’s no need to fold or be careful. Spoon this mix into each pastry and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before removing from the tin. This is because the pastry is fragile when fresh from the oven and firms as it cools.  Mix together the Confectioners sugar and water until smooth and glossy – adjust the measurements as required to get the right thickness for a glaze. You’re aiming for thick but still runny, opaque and glossy.  Spoon onto the top of each cooled tart. Before fully set, add half a glacé cherry on top – LOVELY to behold, LOVLIER to eat!

Happy Baking Everyone!