18
August

Treacle Tart

Categories:Desserts, Sweet Pies and Tarts
Tags:, , ,
madnad

I love fresh bread, but often the loaf starts to get a little dry before I have the opportunity to eat it all. When this happens, I don’t throw it for the birds (it’s actually quite bad for them anyway), I make breadcrumbs. They can then be put in a bag and frozen until you need them for use in a schnitzel for example. This was my intention for the breadcrumbs I made last week, until someone mentioned treacle tart. Once the idea was in there, I couldn’t shake it.

The treacle tart has been a staple of British desserts since the late 1800s, using that quintessential British ingredient, golden syrup. Made in the process of refining sugar cane or sugar beet juice into sugar, it is often incorrectly referred to as treacle, hence the tart’s name. Not as commonly found in other countries, there really isn’t a substitute in this case.  In another recipe, I would perhaps recommend corn syrup if it was just an inverted sugar that was needed, but it is the gentle caramel flavour of golden syrup that really makes this dessert. That said, I would be curious to try this with light sorghum syrup.

Treacle Tart

Print recipe
Treacle Tart

Ingredients

Pastry

  • 200g Plain Flour
  • 100g Unsalted Butter (cold, cubed)
  • 1 Large Free-range Egg
  • Ice Water

Filling

  • 2 Large Free-range Egg
  • 400g Golden Syrup
  • 50g Salted Butter
  • 200g Breadcrumbs
  • ½ teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon Lemon Zest
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180°C / 350°F. Grease and flour a 9" pie dish
2. Roll out the pastry into a circle just a little bigger than the pie dish and line. Fold the edges over to create a slightly thicker crust or trim off
3. Line with greaseproof paper and baking beans, then blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and paper
4. Beat the 2 eggs lightly, and brush the pastry, reserving the rest of the eggs. Bake for a further 5 minutes
5. Meanwhile, melt the butter gently, then continue to cook until the butter froths and turns a caramel colour
6. Add in the golden syrup to the butter, and stir through until the syrup looks a little cloudy. Pour into a mixing bowl and allow to cool a little
7. Add vanilla extract to the remaining egg, then pour the egg slowly into the syrup whisking the whole time
8. Stir the lemon zest and cinnamon into the breadcrumbs
9. Add the breadcrumbs mixture into the syrup mixture and mix well. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 20 minutes
10. Reduce the heat down to Gas Mark 1 / 140°C / 275°F. Bake the tart for a further 20 minutes or until the crust is golden and the filling is set with a slight jiggle
11. Allow to cool for about 20mins before slicing, and serve with custard or ice cream. Alternatively, allow to cool fully and serve with cream

Note

Instead of cinnamon, trying substituting with Ground Ginger for a more spicy tart.

If using your own breadcrumbs, why not try wholemeal for a change of texture.

Other posts you might enjoy:

Peanut Butter Pie with Caramel Drizzle
Mutherfudger's Ultimate Brownie
Yorkshire Rascals
Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars
Chocolate Whoopie Pies
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