Wild-flavoured Homemade Jam Tarts
As a child, homemade jam tarts were easy treats for my sisters and I to make and devour, filling the gap on boring rain-filled days with something sweet to lift us. This pastry is laced with a little less sugar and a pinch a wholemeal flour to create a more balanced snack for adults or children.
Lots of these jams are in my book Wild and Sweet.
Makes 12
Wild-flavoured Jam Tart Recipe
Ingredients
- 150 g white flour
- 25 g wholemeal flour
- 25 g unrefined icing sugar
- 100 g cold butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
- 300 g haw jam, blackberry jam, elderflower jam, rowan marmalade, Japanese knotweed jam or pineapple weed jam, sloe and apple jam (recipe coming soon)
Grease a 12-holed cup-cake tin and sieve the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and the butter is thoroughly mixed in. Whisk the egg and add into the bowl, roughly mix together and add enough water to bind the mixture and roll into a ball. Do not over mix. Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and refrigerate for ½ an hour to 2 hours.
Half an hour before you plan to bake the tarts, heat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out the cooled dough to about 3 mm thick, and use biscuit cutters to cut out 12 circles. Place into the cup cake holes, lightly pressing down, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack. Fill each pastry with a large tablespoon of haw jam and store in an airtight container.
Vegan Wild Jam Tarts
Here's a vegan version. The method is slightly different and produces a lovely crumbly pastry.
Ingredients
- 150g plain flour
- 30g icing sugar (optional)
- 4 1/2 tbsp oil (vegetable or olive)
- 1 1/2 tbsp water
- 12 heaped teaspoons of wild jams (see recipe above for ideas)
In a large bowl sieve in the flour and icing sugar. Blend well. Add in the oil and water. Combine well into a dough, roll into a ball and cover with a waxed paper or grease-proofed paper and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Lightly grease a 12-holed shallow tart tin. Cut the dough into quarters, and each quarter into three pieces. Press each piece into one of the holes and mould evenly to fit the shape. Continue with all the pieces. Fill each tart base with a generously heaped teaspoon of foraged jam. Bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the jam is bubbling. Take out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before slipping out of the tin and onto a cooling rack. Once cool, keep in an airtight tin for eat with a week.
