Mini Raspberry & Lemon Bakewell Tarts

Still on my quest to finding the perfect pensioners party treat, I found a super cute looking tart recipe in "The Great British Bake Off- How To Bake" book. This one being for a mini blueberry bakewell tart recipe. 

They looked perfect! and just enough pretty and not too pretentious. The only problem is that i'm not a huge fan of blueberries, I don't think they really have much taste... Maybe it's just a problem I have :/..

Also, the weather recently has definitely not been optimum for celebratory occasions. So i thought i'd do my own filling, and bring a little sunshine to a very grey and miserable Matlock. (that's where the party was).

I'm all about the raspberries at the moment, and teaming it with lemon really sings out summer and sweetness to me. The result was brilliant, the raspberries were sweet and slightly tart which cut through the sweet almond of the frangipane. And lemon gave the pastry case a zingy, fruity hint.

Even people that were self- proclaimed bakewell tart haters ate more than one! And it was a big hit with the kiddies- so that's gotta be good :)

I'm a bit of a skimper when it comes to decorating, as i usually just wanna stuff them all into my mouth as soon as they come out of the oven... So i'm sure anyone else that follows this recipe can be way more creative!

I wouldn't say this is entirely my recipe as I just adapted my fillings and frills into Mary Berry's recipe. So here it is:

Mini Raspberry & Lemon Bakewell Tarts (makes 12)


Jam

• 125g raspberries
• 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar (add an extra tbsp if you have more of a sweet tooth)
• A squeeze of lemon juice

Pastry

• 200g plain flour
• 100g unsalted butter, chilled
• 40g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 large egg, beaten
• Zest of 1 lemon

Frangipane

• 55g unsalted butter, softened
• 55g caster sugar
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 40g ground almonds
• 15g plain flour
• Zest of 1 lemon

To Decorate

• 50g icing sugar
• Dribble of water
• Drop of pink food colouring

You'll need

• 1 x 5cm round cutter (I used a cup to cut with, approx. the same size as the base of the holes in the tray)
• 12 hole muffin tray

Here's what to do:

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / gas 3.
2. Gently heat the ingredients for the jam in a small saucepan. Stir occasionally until the berries lose their watery appearance and the jam becomes thick. Press the jam through a sieve to remove the seeds and leave to cool completely.
3. Sift the flour into a medium bowl and rub in the chilled butter until it forms a fine breadcrumb texture. (Make sure your hands are never too warm when dealing with pastry, as it will result in a tougher pastry, and it won't be as crumbly). Stir in the sugar, and then using a palette knife, cut in the beaten egg. Press the dough into a ball and wrap in clingfilm. Chill for at least 30 mins.
4. Roll out the pastry between a sheet of greaseproof paper and the clingfilm until about 3mm thick. Use the cutter or a cup (like i did) to cut out 12 discs and line the bases of the muffin tray. Cut 12  strips of pastry about 1cm wide and 20cm long, and use these to line the sides of the muffin holes, carefully pressing together with the bases so they seam. Chill again for 15 mins.
5. Beat all the ingredients for the frangipane in a bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and well combined.
6. Prick the bases of the pastry cases with a fork. Divide the cooled jam among them and top with frangipane. Bake for about 25 mins, or until the frangipane is risen and golden. Cool in the tray for a few minutes, transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.
7. Mix up the icing sugar ingredients until it forms a firm yet runny paste, capable of drizzling, and drizzle over the tarts.

Dark Chocolate Tart

So i've been working "really hard" for my final year at uni. And today, me and Lizzie just weren't feeling it.

No work for us today, thanks.

I had an amazing work-free day. Not quite relaxing, but more fulfilling, productive and decadent.

Decadent? I hear you say? Well yes let me explain.

As a thank you for the birthday cupcakes I made for Lizzie's mum, I was taken to Nisbets and treated to some equipment. "SQWEEEEE!!" said I. And i bought a rather attractive palette knife and some baking beans, perfect for the dark chocolate tart I had decided to make later.

After this little trip, we went to a small town nearby called Moseley, and lost ourselves in an extremely cute Delicatessen and were "Ooooooh!"ing and "Ahhh..."ing at all the diverse ingredients. And then we saw these beautiful little Italian pastries in the window. I'm still not quite sure what they were, they were very crispy pastry, filled with different flavours. I chose a lemon and custard and Lizzie opted for a safe chocolate.

They were bloody tasty morsels, I could have had 10 in my mouth if i had the chance.

With our mouths covered in flaky pastry, we glanced across the road to see a cafe bakery, selling fresh bread and even had a garden area. Unfortunately, we were running short on time but promised to go another day :( boohoo..

So we got home, and i got my head down and started following a recipe I'd been meaning to do for a while. Dark chocolate tart from the Primrose Bakery book. And whilst I baked, Lizzie was turning the kitchen upside down for a thorough spring clean. So apologies if you can see some clutter.

I've never made sweet pastry before, so i was trying to be super careful and gentle and make sure my hands were cool at all times.

And i think it's fair to say, it turned out pretty spot on! For a first time, I was pretty thrilled :)

sweet pastry pre-chilling

When I rolled out/ pushed the pastry out, i was quite nervous about the whole thing cracking and disintegrating. I followed the technique advised and just pushed the rolling pin into the pastry to form ridges, turned it round and continued, til it was about the width of a 50p coin.

Getting into the tin was the hardest part, this pastry was seriously prone to cracking. I managed to slide the tin under just in time. But i did have to do some surgical patching up work.

And as i have nails, i pushed the pastry into the sides using a balled up spare bit of pastry. 

Look! you can see my new palette knife! I also brought my rolling pin back from home. No more smirnoff bottles for me!

Using my classy new baking beans ^_^ simple pleasures for simple student

I then patiently waited until my pastry case was all blind-baked. It needed maybe 5 more mins than stated in the recipe, but that's because my oven is very temperamental.

my first sweet pastry blind-baked! i'm quite happy :) minimal shrinkage.

a fuzzy close-up of the edge

Next, was to make the filling. Using copious amounts of Green & Blacks, double cream and butter. O_O"

I only faced one problem when making the filling. After heating the cream, you're meant to add it to the cut up butter and chocolate and stir to melt it.

I hadn't cut up the chocolate properly in preparation (as the book didn't state! but then again i should have known -_-)

So it didn't melt properly so i had to heat it over the steam of some simmering water.

And that's when the whole thing split. The oil was just sat on the top and the bottom was just like curdled chocolate.

I just couldn't come to terms with just loosing 450g of pricey chocolate, so i got out the electric whisk and forced it back together. And thankfully, it worked.

Thank God. Disaster adverted.

Looking pretty shiny- left to set for 2 hours

I then dusted it with cocoa. Forgot to move my sieve to, so i had a massive clump in the middle. WHOOPS!

close-up of the side

Me and 2 of my housemates shared this after dinner. 

IT WAS SOOO GOOOOOD especially served with leftover double cream and strawberries.

But the title doesn't lie, it was extremely dark.

And the pastry was short and crumbly :) no soggy bottoms here, Mary Berry!

I seem to be a fan of my close-ups.

And that was about it for today, besides painting our nails, watching X-men and having a bubble bath :)

Me having a bubble bath by myself that is.

Also, Hollie my housemate tried her hand at some food styling... The lighting is a little off, as by now it was evening. But either way, she did a much better job than I could ever do!