The Bakewell Tart originated in Bakewell (funny that) and, like many classics, was the result of a mistake. It started out life as a pudding on a puff pastry base served warm, and over time has become a tart served cold for afternoon tea. The modern day version is essentially sweet pastry, jam, and frangipane topped with flaked almonds, or iced and decorated with a glace cherry.
Most recipes I've seen are for one large tart, but I've decided to go with individual portions. I could have gone mini-muffin size, but it is the peak of winter and too many carbohydrates are just not enough at this time of year, so it is regular muffin tin size for me.
Individual Bakewell Tarts recipe (makes 12)
Pastry
250g plain flour
100g unsalted butter
100g pure icing sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
Filling
2 heaped tbsp raspberry jam
125g unsalted butter, softened
125g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
25g plain flour
zest of 1 lemon
Decoration
Flaked almonds or icing
To ice six tarts, you will need:
125g soft icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 glace cherries cut in half
Lightly process the butter, sugar, flour and salt in a food processor and add the eggs. Pulse until the mixture comes together. Tip onto a floured surface and work lightly to bring the dough together to form a disc. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out on a floured surface to about 2mm thickness. Cut 12 circles from the dough (I used the top of my metal measuring cup) and line the muffin tin. Refrigerate the tin for at least an hour.
Blind bake the pastry at 180 degrees celsius for 10 minutes, then remove the pastry weights and bake for another 7 minutes until the pastry is cooked through and golden. Cool the pastry cases, and reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees celsius.
To make the filling, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest and mix through. Process the ground almonds and caster sugar in a food processor until combined. Do not over process, otherwise the almonds will heat up and release their oils resulting in a more dense mixture. Add the combined sugar and almonds to the butter and beat until light. In a separate bowl, gently beat the eggs and egg yolk with a fork and add to the mixture in small batches, incorporating well after each addition. Add the flour and mix until combined.
Put the raspberry jam in a small bowl and mix with a fork until loose and runny as this makes it easier to work with. Place a teaspoon of jam at the bottom of each pastry case.
Place a dessertspoon of the frangipane over the top, and decorate with flaked almonds (or not, if you are going to ice).
Bake at 170 degrees celsius for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
I decorated six tarts with flaked almonds, and iced the others with lemon icing after the tarts had cooled.
These tarts have texture and flavour, which is everything you need in a tart. I'm putting them on high rotation.
