Bakewell Tart: how did my brain work one cold Saturday to get me to bake these delicious treat? Here it goes…
My Grandparents have one of the most proficuous cherry trees ever; every two years (that’s how cherry trees give fruit apparently), in summer, my mother spends a great deal of time on a ladder, collecting cherries for her mother to prepare jams, cakes, biscuits… well, at least the ones that make it to the kitchen!
Where I come from, we are blessed with four seasons and plants have the right amount of time to grow with water and sun, and trust me… you’d only need one of my Gramma’s cherries to know this.
A couple of years ago, during a long summer, my father got the jam-making bug… one day he went to the local weekly market and purchased some cases of fruits that had not been sold during the day; these included peaches, apricots, and my loved cherries. Now, picture this… two years on, I still have a couple of jars in my cupboard and I live in another country, so when I say ‘jam-making-bug’ I mean it! I can picture this big man, 6 foot 5’, removing the pit from every single cherry!
On the other hand, when I started looking at the nutritional values of food, although nuts have a very high-calorie count, I learned that they are extremely healthy and have plenty of nutrients. Almonds nutrition facts: full of proteins, fat, fiber, magnesium, and Vitamin E. By looking at these facts we can clearly understand the health benefits of almonds.
So…
Bringing this whole introduction to a full circle… I was cleaning my kitchen cupboard (like all the best cooking stories start!) and found a jar of my father’s cherry jam, which reminded me of Bakewell tarts… which made me think I can’t have a whole slice unless it’s an occasional treat, which I find unfair (obviously!)! So… lo and behold… here’s the recipe for my Mini Bakewell Tarts, which, if accounted for, can become quite a regular tasty treat!
~~ Love butter based biscuits! These glorious chocolate chip shortbreads are ready in little time and need only four ingredients!
Ingredients
- 150 g All-Purpose Flour
- 100 g Unsalted Butter
- 50 g Caster Sugar
- 3 tbsp Chunky Cherry Jam
- 5 g Flaked Almonds
Instructions
- Preheat the fan oven to 150 degrees Celsius (or 170 degrees Celsius static/gas 3).
- Take the butter, that has been out of the fridge for about one hour, and cut into 1 cm cubes, then put it into a bowl.
- To the butter, add the flour and sugar and mix well with your hands. The more you work it, the more it will start looking like big breadcrumbs and it will then turn into a dough, which should be worked until it turns homogeneous.
- Divide the dough into 15 equal size balls and, from each, remove about one fifth. Use the larger part of the dough to form a round-shaped base, about 3mm thick, while using the second one to create the border. To create the border, roll the small piece of dough into a string and then place it on top of the biscuit, like a ring.
- As you prepare each biscuit base, lay them on a baking tray that has been covered with a baking sheet, allowing at least 2cm between the biscuits. Once all of the biscuit bases and borders are prepared, place the tray in the oven, covered with cling film, and leave to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.
- After about half an hour, remove the tray from the fridge and evenly divide the chunky jam into the center of each of the biscuit bases.
- Once this is done, sprinkle evenly the almond flakes.
- Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the edges and the almond flakes turn golden brown. Cooking times may vary depending on the performance of the oven, so it may be anything between 18 and 23 minutes for most ovens.
2 Responses
These look so yummy Elle. Always wanted to try them probably now is a good time during lockdown to tick off things from baking bucket list 😀
Hey, Samantha! Absolutely… a smaller (portion controlled) version, but ever so delicious! 😃