A'RIGHT TREACLE? (TEMPTING TREACLE TART)

Crunchy, crispy, sweet and tangy.  Disarmingly honest and simple. Treacle tart is a great choice for an easy to make traditional dessert. This one wont disappoint! 

On a trip to the Norfolk countryside with my family, my brother brought along the most wonderful cook book along with him Nose to Tail Eating by Fergus Henderson (of St John restaurant fame). Its stuffed full of hearty traditional British recipes of the game and offal variety. But my brother brought the book along this particular weekend not to cook game but another timeless British classic, Treacle Tart. 

We made it together and the proportions suggested in the book resulted in an extraordinary amount of pastry. I have halved this in the recipe today as we had far far too much for a sole tart. However this almond pastry can be frozen and reused at short notice which is how I made the tart pictured above.

You can use any white bread pieces in the tart filling. As a rule generally I like to keep the end pieces of any loaves of bread I cook in the freezer to use in stuffings etc. This came in very handy for this dish as I used a wonderful medley of scraps of brioche, sweet white bread and waffles, which gave it a nice range of sweet flavours over and above the Treacle. The original recipe calls for lemon but having none in the house I substituted for limes and was amazed with the result. A lovely simple dessert.

Nick

RECIPE
Pastry
350g butter
150g sugar
2 eggs beaten with a fork
150g ground almonds
500g plain white flour


Filling
200g fresh white bread (try brioche and waffle pieces for extra lushness)
Two big table spoons golden syrup
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (or 1 lime)


Method
First cream the butter and the sugar together, either in a mixer or with a wooden spoon and bowl until they are white and fluffy. Add the eggs bit by bit, gradually mixing as you go to avoid curdling.
Fold in to this mixture your almonds and flour. A light touch is vital, not too much, the less you handle your pastry the better.
This will produce a very soft pastry. Rest it in the fridge for around 8 hours.
You may have problems rolling it out, so resort to pressing it in to the tart case with your thumb. Remember to aim for a thin tart shell. If time is on your side allow this to rest i the fridge for 1 hour then bake blind in a medium to hot oven for 15 minutes (watch closely to make sure it doesn't burn).


Mix the filling ingrediants together, fill the blind baked tart base, bake in a medium hot oven (180c) for 35-45 minutes. 


When ready remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes, serving it warm. Serve with thick cream or ice cream. Lovely!

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