11/06/2012

Easy Jam Tart Recipe



Even though it's been over a week since the Jubilee, I've only just got round to looking at the pictures I took over the weekend.




Unfortunately it rained and dampened the spirit a bit but it was nice to see some people preparing for a slightly wet street party and not given into the elements. I also had a great view of hot air balloons flying over Bath and saw an amazing fireworks display from my bedroom window.
To get into the Jubilee mood, I did the tutorial for the nails (the next post below) before the weekend also baked red,white and blue cupcakes and jam tarts. 




I've made the tarts previously and they seemed to be very popular so I thought i'd share the recipe with you.
What you’ll need;
Ingredients:
- 250g plain flour
- Pinch of salt
- 100g cubed butter
- 2-3 tbsp cold water
- Strawberry jam (or any fruit jam you have. I used blueberry jam as well strawberry and it was just popular) or lemon curd.
Preheat the oven to180°C and lightly grease a 12 cupcake tin with a little butter.
For the pastry;

Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean bowl.


Once chilled;
 - Be careful not to overfill the cases as the jam will spill out when hot and burn/stick to the tin (as I found out on my first attempt)


Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, working as quickly as possible to prevent the dough becoming warm.
Add the water to the mixture and using a cold knife stir until the dough binds together, add more cold water a teaspoon at a time if the mixture is too dry.
Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes.
The dough can also be made in a food processor by mixing the flour, butter and salt in the bowl of the processor on a pulse setting. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add the water, slowly, through the funnel until the dough comes together in a ball. Wrap in Cling film and chill as above.
Jam Tart Pastry Cases
Unwrap the pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and roll roughly to a 0.5cm thickness. Using a tart cutter, cut circles from the pastry just slightly bigger than the holes in the prepared tart mould. Gently press one disc into each hole.
Place a heaped teaspoon of jam or lemon curd into the pastry lined tins.
Repeat until all the pastry is used up – you can squish the pastry trimmings back together and reroll several times, so don’t worry, just make sure you rest the pastry circles before cooking.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 mins or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Tips and Tricks;
Strawberry and Blueberry Jam Tart recipe
If they’re looking a little empty, add a little jam towards the end or just after they’ve been taking out of the oven.
- For alternative fillings try adding Nutella, peanut butter,  different flavoured jams or experiment with cheese.
- If you don’t have a cutter use a large glass and pinch the edges once in the tin.
- They are great for British  or even Alice in Wonderland theme parties. Just add heart shaped pastry to the top and you have Queen of Hearts, Jam Tarts.
- And lastly do not eat while hot or you may burn your your mouth, (the jam stays hot for a long time).

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