Sweet Pastry

Sweet pastry isn't much different to the standard shortcrust pastry, although it utilises an egg to give a glossy and smoother texture and helps it to raise a small amount giving a lighter texture. You can use sweet pastry in a variety of ways, for tarts, tartllets or even for little parcels. Its also possible to make sweet dumplings out of if you so wish.

Makes a 400g mix (enough for one large tart with a bit leftover)

250g flour
125g butter or baking spread
80g sugar
1 egg
few drops vanilla essence

You can also add things to the pastry to complement your dish, such as cinnamon, cocoa powder, nutmeg etc. If adding syrups be sure to adjust the flour accordingly to texture.

Method:

Rub the flour and butter and sugar together into a breadcrumb texture then add the egg. Form into a uniform dough but do not overwork. If necessary chill the pastry wrapped in clingfilm for 20 mins before use. Otherwise use straightaway.

Chocolate & Pear Tart

Going to a fireworks party wouldn't be complete without a little sweetness. This I concluded as I pondered the weekends events, and having set in motion some pear wine for the festive period, the leftover pears seemed to provide a wonderful element for a dessert for a hearty palate.

So I decided that the classic chocolate & pear tart would be perfect. Everyone likes chocolate after all. There were also other feelgood benefits attached to this ideal. My rabbit has developed a new found love for pear peel and cores, and the cat has been guarding the oven in the hope of liberating some of this wonderful dessert.

An approving bunny :)

Happy in the knowledge that everyone is kept content from its production, im sharing with you this simple but wonderful recipe.

You will need:


125g ground almonds
- 1 Blind baked sweet pastry case
• 2 large free-range or organic eggs
• 125g butter, softened
• 95g caster sugar
• 185g dark chocolate, melted
• 3 conference pears, peeled, cored and quartered

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Roll out the pastry until ½cm thick and use it to line a 24cm tart tin. Leave in the freezer to rest for at least 20 minutes, or longer if you can.

Bake the pastry blind for around 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then remove, set aside, and reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/325°F/gas 3.

Mix your almonds, eggs, butter and sugar together and stir in the melted chocolate while it’s still warm. Pour the mixture evenly into the pastry case and then press the pears into the chocolate and almond mixture.

Bake the tart for 45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the chocolate and almond mixture is firm. Serve warm with crème fraîche, ice cream or double cream on its own. Personally i like cinnamon and honey creme fraiche, but thats me.

Et Voila! 

Treacle Tart

Image provided courtesy of femalefirst.co.uk

Treacle Tart is a wonderful thing and is nice year round, but often presented from late summer through winter. Its surprisingly easy to make, and provides a wondrous accompaniment in a variety of settings, inclusive of elevenses, afternoon tea, or as a dessert at mealtimes. In the more social settings however i belive its best enjoyed with coffee.

Ingredients:

500g of Golden syrup

Juice of one lemon

500g of fresh bread crumb crusts removed

50ml of double cream

2 egg yolks

Line the flan tins with sweet short crust pastry , then blind bake

Warm up the syrup & lemon juice, then add the egg yolks and beat in very slowly

Stir in the breadcrumbs and add the cream

Pour into the pastry cases and bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes or until it is light golden brown

Can be served with a variety of accompaniments inclusive of warmed pecan nuts, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, creme chantille or even double cream on its own.

Devour.

Sweet Pastry

500g of Plain flour

500g of self-raising flour

125g of Caster sugar

500g of butter

Vanilla essence

4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

Bread crumb the flours, sugar and butter

Mix in the eggs and essence to form paste leave to set for 30 minutes before use

Classic Lemon Tart (Tarte Au Citron)

Image courtesy of waitrose.com

If there's one lemon dessert i like out there, its the classic lemon tart. Its wonderfully sweet, has a brilliantly clean flavour, and ticks every box for me with a lemon dessert. Ill be honest, its going to take a bit of time (leaving the lemon mix for 24 hours) but think if it this way - is time well spent. The prep time around this is minimal - its only a means of putting it together and if you really want to save yourself a bit of labour you can buy the flan cases (shhh). Its brilliant year round, although is favoured in spring and summer. But with the lemon's availability in supermarkets, its a winner any time of the year.

This recipe makes two, so if like many people who love lemon desserts, you'll end up eating one pretty sharpish. If you want to freeze one, it does freeze well. It also means that if you're called upon to produce one, you have only to defrost it.

Ingredients:

(Makes two)

12 Eggs

8 Lemons juice and zest

450g of Caster sugar

350ml of double cream

2 30 cm flan case

Whisk eggs and sugar till pale

Add to this the lemon juice and zest

Fold in the cream

Leave to stand for 24 hours & strain

Pour into two 30 cm flan cases lined with sweet pastry, which has been blind baked

Bake at 160 degrees till set. (the lemon mix should be firm to the touch)

Variant: For citrus tart use 6 lemon and 4 limes. To make orange tart use 6 oranges instead of lemons