Jam Tarts

Jam tarts are one of those recipes that feel like they are so much harder to make than they actually are – probably due to the fact that a pastry is involved.

However, with a pastry that takes only minutes to prepare and a filling that is already pre-made, it honestly doesn’t entail as much effort as one would expect. And for those that want a cheat bake that requires even more minimal effort, then use shop bought pastry instead – no one will ever know the difference.

I made these tarts as a last minute addition to my dessert table, and felt that they completely tied the table together. The strawberry jam went perfectly with my ‘red’ theme, otherwise I would’ve experimented with apricot flavoured tarts too!

I cut out mini hearts to place on top of my tarts to go with my valentine’s theme, but alternatively, by personalising with letters to spell out the name of your recipient, a simple bake becomes a much more thoughtful gift.

I used this recipe from the BakingMad website.

Ingredients (makes ~12):

• Plain Flour
• Pinch of Salt
• 110g Unsalted Butter (plus extra for greasing)
• 60ml Cold Water 
• Strawberry jam or lemon curd.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C, gas mark 4). Grease a 12 hole tart tin with butter.
2. For the pastry, put the flour and salt into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Using a knife stir in enough cold water to bind the dough together.
4. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge for fifteen to twenty minutes.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to ½ cm thickness. Use a round cutter to cut discs of pastry, slightly larger than the hole in the tin, then press one disc into each hole.Using the scraps cut out mini hearts.
6. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of strawberry jam or lemon curd into each pastry case. Place the mini hearts on top of the jam.
7. Bake in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes (mine needed much longer than this ~20-30 mins) or until golden brown. Remove the tarts from the oven and cool on a wire rack.