Who doesn’t love a jam tart? With crumbly, buttery pastry and a sharp zing of jam they are reminiscent of sticky children’s parties, dreamy picnics and Sunday afternoon teas. This is such an easy recipe although the pastry is very ‘short’ so a little difficult to handle at the rolling stage. The trick is to have everything very cold and to rest it in the fridge once mixed. It’s a perfect pastry for all manner of tarts and pies and is the preferred recipe for Christmas mince pies in our house.
6 oz (170g) plain flour
3.5 oz (100g) fridge cold butter cut into cubes
1oz (30g) icing sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon very cold water
A few drops vanilla extract
Good quality jam, we like Bonne Maman, raspberry, apricot, strawberry…..
Put flour butter and icing sugar in a food processor and pulse until just resembling bread crumbs. Or you could go ‘old school’ and rub in by hand, which I find strangely satisfying and relaxing in a worthy sort of way. Add the egg and vanilla and while the machine is running, drip in the water to just bring everything together. Or stir in with a knife if not using a processor. The pastry needs to be soft and pliable, probably erring on the side of wet than dry, it may take more or less water to achieve this. Lightly pat the dough into a disc with your hands, strictly no kneading, squishing or pinching and place, covered in the fridge until cold.
Roll out the pastry, as thin as you dare, on a lightly floured board or work top and stamp out rounds, re rolling the scraps until all the pastry is used. Place the rounds in a lightly floured individual tart tin, preferably with rounded bottoms. If the pastry is very soft at this point, chill again. Then put a teaspoon of jam in each of the holes. Don’t be over generous or the jam will boil over the edge of the pastry and burn onto your tin meaning much soaking and scrubbing. They cook in 7 to 10 minutes in a hottish oven. I have an Aga, so the temperature is what the Aga decides it will be. Keep an eye on them, the pastry should have just a hint of colour. Resist the temptation to eat straight from the oven, the jam remains furiously hot for quite some time.
A delicious alternative is a teaspoon of breadcrumbs in place of the jam which are then doused in a spoonful of Golden Syrup. Cook as above.
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