How to make Treacle Tart from scratch, it’s totally worth it

Treacle tart is a real guilty pleasure for me. I love the sharpness of the lemon that cuts through the delicious sweet stickiness of the syrup.

When making pastry, you just need to follow a couple of simple rules – use a light touch and chill! Keep all your ingredients as cold as possible, and mix just enough to combine. If you work the pastry excessively, gluten in the flour will develop, causing the pastry to shrink in the oven and be tough. If you have any pastry left over, it can be wrapped and kept in the freezer.

Making your own pastry is somehow very satisfying. With a little effort, learning this technique will give you pastry that’s much better than the frozen block from the shop. Sweet pastry is ideal for a range of fillings – Lemon, jam, chocolate, frangipane, or as my recipe today, treacle tart.

Use a 22 – 23 cm shallow tart tin, preferably with removable base. Serve it slightly warm with ice cream, or a good dollop of cream.

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Treacle Tart made from scratch

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Recipe by Petrus Madutlela Course: DessertCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Moderate

Servings

8

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

55

minutes

Total time

1

hour 

25

minutes

Ingredients

• Pastry

• 225 g unsalted butter, softened

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• 2 medium egg yolks

• 250 g plain flour, and a bit extra for dusting

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Filling

• 100 g fresh white breadcrumbs

• 2 medium eggs, beaten

• 400 g golden syrup

• Pinch of ground ginger

• 1 lemon, zest and juice

• Cream or ice cream, caramel sauce, to serve

Method

• Grease your tart tin with butter.
• Add the flour to a food processor. Add in the egg yolks and blend. Cut the cold butter into little cubes, and add into the mixer as it’s on.
• Add the sugar and vanilla extract and turn the mixer to “pulse”. The dough will take on the consistency of wet sand; continue pulsing and the dough will begin to form a ball (add a little cold water if it looks dry).
• Turn off the machine and remove the pastry. Knead a couple of times, then wrap in cling film. Place in the fridge and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
• Dust a work surface with flour. Unwrap the pastry and place it in the centre of the flour. Roll out into a disc no more than 4 mm thick. Move the dough over the top of the tart tin, using the rolling pin to carry it.
• Use your thumbs to press the pastry into the sides of the tin. Don’t worry if the pastry breaks, it can be patched up with another piece. Prick the tart base with a fork, and pop back in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• While waiting for the pastry to chill, pre heat the oven to fan 160°c, std oven 180°C, gas 4. Then you can make the filling. Heat the syrup and until just warm. Stir in the other ingredients.
• When the tart case is chilled, line it with parchment paper and fill with dried rice, or baking beans if you have them.
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 mins (top shelf is too hot). Take out the parchment paper carefully with the beans / rice. Cut the excess pastry of the edges of the tin.
• Spoon in the filling and return to the oven for 30 – 35 mins. It should still be a little wobbly in the middle. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with your choice of ice cream or cream, and add a few more calories with some caramel sauce if you want to really indulge.

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