Double Crusted Jam Tart Food

JAM TART WITH SALTED CRACKER CRUST

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Pulse the crackers in a food processor until very finely ground. Add the butter and sugar and pulse until thoroughly combined. Remove a rounded tablespoon of the crumb mixture and set aside.
• Turn the mixture out into a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom set on a cookie sheet and press evenly along the bottom and up the sides. Bake until light golden, about 15 minutes. Lightly press down on the crust if it has puffed up on the bottom.
• Spoon the preserves into the tart shell and gently smooth to spread evenly. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top. Bake until the jam is a shade darker and the edges are bubbling slightly, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely on a rack.
• Serve at room temperature with whipped cream, if using.

DOUBLE-CRUSTED JAM TART

Steps:

• Pulse flour, granulated sugar, and 2 teaspoons salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and shortening; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with a few pea-size pieces remaining. Add 3 tablespoons water and pulse. Add 3 tablespoons more and pulse. Next, work in longer pulses, stopping to scrape sides and bottom of bowl as needed, until dough holds together when pinched (if necessary, add remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time). Shape into 2 rectangles.
• Roll out one rectangle between 2 sheets of lightly floured parchment to 12 by 10 inches, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer on parchment to a baking sheet. Repeat with second rectangle; stack on top of first. Refrigerate both until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove dough from refrigerator; set aside one sheet. Remove parchment from top of second sheet; spread jam evenly over dough, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Remove parchment from first piece of dough and place over filling. Fold edges in and press to seal with the tines of a fork. Poke top all over with tines of fork. Brush with beaten egg. Freeze 10 minutes or refrigerate 30 minutes. Bake until golden brown and bubbling in center, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool on sheet on wire rack.
• Gradually whisk lemon juice into confectioners' sugar to create a glaze with the consistency of honey. Add remaining pinch of salt; whisk to combine. Spoon glaze over tart, spreading almost to edges; sprinkle with freeze-dried berries and let stand until set, at least 1 hour. Slice and serve, or store, lightly wrapped with foil, at room temperature up to 1 day.

EASY JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Put the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a bowl and rub them together with your fingertips (or you can pulse these ingredients together in a food processor if you have one). When the mixture looks and feels like fresh breadcrumbs, stir in the egg and vanilla seeds, if using, with a cutlery knife. Add 1 tbsp cold water, then start to bring the dough together in one lump with your hands - try not to knead it too much. Add 1 more tbsp of water if it's not coming together, but try not to add more than that. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Butter a 12-hole tart tin, then dust your work surface with flour. Unwrap and roll out the chilled pastry so it's about the thickness of a £1 coin, then use a straight or fluted round cutter to cut out 12 circles, big enough to line the holes in the tin. Dollop 1-2 tsp of your chosen filling into each one and, if you like, cut out little pastry hearts (perfect for Valentine's Day) and pop them on top.
• Bake for 15-18 mins or until golden and the filling is starting to bubble a little. Leave to cool in the tin for a few mins then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

GATEAU BASQUE (FRENCH CUSTARD OR JAM TART)

Steps:

• Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep at hand.
• Working in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until smooth. Add the egg and beat another 2 minutes or so, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture may look curdled, but that's OK. Add vanilla and mix for about a minute more. Then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two or three additions, mixing only until they're fully incorporated into the dough.
• Place a large sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper on your work surface and put half of the very soft and sticky dough in the center of the sheet. Cover with another piece of plastic or wax paper, then roll the dough into a circle just a little larger than 8 inches in diameter. As you're rolling, turn the dough over and lift the plastic or paper frequently, so that you don't roll it into the dough and form creases. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
• Put the dough on a cutting board or baking sheet and refrigerate it for about 3 hours or for up to 3 days.
• When you're ready to assemble and bake the gateau, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F Generously butter a 2-inch high, 8-inch round cake pan.
• Remove the layers from the refrigerator and let them rest on the counter for a couple of minutes before peeling away the plastic or paper. Fit one layer into the pan. If it breaks, just press the pieces together. If there's a little extra dough running up the sides of the pan, you can either fold it over the bottom layer or cut it so that it's even. Spoon some of the jam or pastry cream onto the dough, starting in the center of the cake and leaving one inch of dough bare around the border. Add more filling if you don't think it will squish out the sides when you press down on it with the top layer of dough. (I find that 3/4 cup is usually just the right amount, but if you're using a very thick jam, you might want a bit more.).
• Moisten the bare ring of dough with a little water and then top with the second piece of dough, pressing down around the edges to seal it. If you'd like, you can work your finger between the top dough and the edge of the pan, so that you tuck the dough under a little. Because of the softness of the dough and the baking powder, even if you only press the layers together very lightly, they'll fuse as they bake. And, no matter how well you press them together, it seems inevitable that a little of the filling will escape.
• Brush the top of the dough with the egg glaze and use the tips of the tines of a fork to etch a cross-hatch pattern across the top.
• Bake the cake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes before carefully running a blunt knife around the edges of the cake. Turn the cake over onto a cooling rack and then quickly and carefully invert it onto another rack so that it can cool to room temperature right side up.

MAIDS OF HONOR TARTS I

Steps:

• Move oven rack to bottom position and preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 2-inch tart tins.
• Roll out pastry and cut 12 3-inch circles. Fit one pastry circle into each tart tin. Spread one teaspoon of raspberry jam into the bottom of each tart shell.
• In a medium mixing bowl, cream together softened butter or margarine and white sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg. Add flour, baking powder, and almond extract and mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour 1 tablespoon of batter into each tart shell.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until risen and firm. Dust tarts with confectioners' sugar.

MINI JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon; process for 10 seconds. Add butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, 15 to 20 seconds.
• Combine 1 egg yolk with 2 tablespoons ice water and add to flour mixture. Process until the dough comes together, about 7 seconds. Transfer to a clean work surface and compress into a flattened circle.
• Lightly dust the work surface with flour; roll out dough to just thinner than 1/4 inch. Using a round or square cookie cutter, cut out shapes and press into 2- to 3-inch tartlet tins or a small muffin-top pan. Shape crust as desired, fill each with 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons jam, and decorate tops with cutouts of dough. At this point, the tarts can be refrigerated for several hours.
• Combine remaining egg yolk with cream; lightly brush exposed dough with egg wash. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer tarts from tins to a wire rack to cool.

LITTLE JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a lightly floured surface to just under the thickness of £1 coin. Stamp out 20 x 5cm circles using a pastry cutter and line 2 mini muffin tins (or make in 2 batches).
• Prick with a fork and spoon 1 tsp jam into each (we used apricot, blackcurrant and strawberry). Stamp out shapes from the leftover pastry to decorate the tarts, if you like.
• Bake at 200C/180C fan/gas 6 for 12-15 mins, until the pastry is golden.