Baking: Jam Tarts
Jam tarts always remind me of my Irish Nanny. When I was little, my Dad would often take me and my sister to her house for Sunday lunch and she would be there, in her tiny kitchen, in her blue cardigan and pinny, flour up to her elbows, making all manner of baked treats for her five grown sons and their families. Her speciality was pastry. Her apple pie was legendary. But the biggest prize was a slice of her lattice jam tart. My Dad and my uncles would battle over it like starving schoolboys grabbing at slices after Sunday lunch. As children, we would be wide eyed with excitement over the smallest sliver with a spoonful of Birds custard. It was the ultimate treat.
I haven’t made jam tarts for years but was prompted by one of Jen Campbell’s lovely videos and also inspired to add the hearts and stars by this photo on the BBC Good Food site. I love how pretty and imperfect they look. And they taste pretty good too. It turns out the secret is a dash of vanilla essence in the pastry. I made this up a little bit as the BBC recipe calls for a vanilla pod but I didn’t have one so essence had to do. It adds a little extra something.
The method is really simple. Take 250g of plain flour and 125g of cold butter cut up into cubes and rub them together in a bowl until they resemble breadcrumbs. Add one beaten egg with a tiny dash of vanilla essence and one tablespoon of cold water to bring the mixture together into a dough. You can use a knife to do this and then your hands once it’s nearly in a ball. Try not to over work it and add a little more cold water if it’s still too crumbly. Then leave the dough in the fridge, wrapped in cling film for 30 minutes.
Roll the pastry out so it’s about 1/2 cm thick and cut out circles. You can use a glass if you don’t have a cutter. Then place the circles into a buttered 12 bun / muffin baking tin. Dollop in whatever jam you prefer. I used up some apricot, strawberry and raspberry jam. Don’t over fill, you can see what happens in the picture below! And then add little cut out hearts and stars if you fancy adding a bit of prettiness. Cook at 180 degrees (fan oven) for about 18 minutes. Once the pastry has browned a little, take them out the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes before moving the tarts to a wire rack to fully cool. Enjoy several jam tarts with a big mug of tea while curled up with a good book.
