A town by the name of Bakewell in the Derbyshire district is where the famous British tarts originated. As the popularity grew the tart became associated with the town and hence was referred to as Bakewell Tarts. The Bakewell tarts earned fame for being extremely delicious and an apt dessert or tea time munch.
Baking, as such, if given a bit of attention to detailing is a piece of cake. Tarts are lot easier to bake. What makes it look difficult are the preparation and the wait time to let it set. If you are trying your hands at preparing a Bakewell tart, it sure will be an experience youâd relish.
Here are the steps for you to bake your own tart:
Preparation Time for pastry: 15 mins to make dough, 30 mins to 1 hr to set in fridge
Bake time for tart: 40 mins
Complexity Level: Medium (challenge lies in rolling the pastry)
Ingredients for Pastry
- 150gms refined flour or pastry flour
- A pinch of salt
- 80gms Butter or lard
- 2-3 tbsps cold water
Ingredients for stuffing
- 2-3 tbsps Raspberry Jam
- 100-150 gms butter
- 3 eggs well beaten and 1 yolk
- 150 gms ground almonds
- Lemon Zest (Orange Zest can be substituted
- Flaked almonds for garnishing
- 1 Egg white slightly beaten
Method to prepare Pastry dough
- Preheat the Oven at 170 C.
- In a large bowl add flour, salt and butter.
- First rub the butter well with the flour in such a way that it looks a crumble. Itâs important to keep the butter cold and work fast with the kneading to avoid the butter melting off.
- Add the water and mix well. Take the dough, separate it into two balls and roll it in cling film. For half an hour let the dough sit inside the fridge.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and not the cling film.
- Along with the cling film roll two pastries and work really fast to avoid the dough warming up. The cling film helps hold the pastry for easy transfer handling. Line one of the rolled pastry on a greased baking tin.
- Cover the pastry with a baking sheet and over it; add double beans or garbanzo beans. Pre bake for 15 minutes. This step is important in order to make the pastry a bit tough and avoid it from becoming soggy once the stuffing is put. Remove the beans and sheet and spread little jam all over and let cool.
- Whisk the butter and sugar well, till it looks pale in color. To the mixture add little by little the eggs and egg yolk. Finally fold the almond paste into the mixture
- Pour the mixture on the pastry by gently spreading it equally and all over.
- Bake the pastry with stuffing in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes approximately
- Garnish it with almond flakes and cook for another 20 minutes, till golden brown.
- Remove it from heat and let it cool. Serve with custard, scoop of ice cream or cream and devour it.
Note: It is important to let the dough set for at least half hour to 1hr in order to roll a good pastry.
