Little Jam Tarts Food

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.

JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Mix flour, shortening, sugar, and salt together in a food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add water and mix until a ball is formed. Refrigerate pastry until well chilled, at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 24 shallow muffin cups.
• Roll pastry out thin; cut into rounds with a cookie cutter. Place each round in a muffin cup. Add 2 teaspoons of jam to each cup.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool tarts on a wire rack.

EASY TRADITIONAL JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F / 180 C Gas Mark 4. Lightly grease a 12-hole tart mold with a little butter.
• Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter.
• Working as quickly as you can, use a pastry blender or your hands to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the water to the mixture 1 tablespoon at a time and use a cold knife to stir and bind the pastry together. Stop when the pastry comes together.
• Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for a minimum of 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes.
• Unwrap the pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to a 1/4-inch thickness.
• Using a tart cutter or cup, cut circles from the pastry just slightly bigger than the holes in the prepared tart mold. Gently press the discs of dough into each mold.
• Place a heaped teaspoon of jam or lemon curd into the pastry-lined tins. Be careful not to overfill as the jam will bubble out when hot and burn.
• Repeat until all the pastry is used up-you can squish the pastry trimmings back together and reroll as needed.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
• Once cooled, serve and enjoy.

MINI JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse to combine flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Combine 1 egg yolk with the water and drizzle evenly over flour mixture. Pulse just until dough comes together. Press dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour or up to 1 day.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough just thinner than 1/4 inch. Cut out round or square shapes and press into 2- to 3-inch tartlet tins. Trim excess dough flush with rims; fill each shell with 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons jam, and decorate tops with cutouts or thin strips of dough. (Assembled tarts can be refrigerated for several hours.)
• Combine remaining egg yolk with the cream; lightly brush over dough. Bake until pastry is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Unmold tarts and let cool completely on a wire rack.

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS - VALENTINE'S JAM TARTS

Steps:

• Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl, add the butter and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
• Use a knife to mix in the water, a little at a time stirring with the knife until the mixture comes together and you can form a ball with your hands.
• Wrap the pastry in a piece of clingfilm and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes - this will make it easier to roll out.
• Turn the oven on to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
• Sprinkle the work surface and your rolling pin with a little flour and roll the pastry out to about ¼ cm thick.
• Dip the cutter in flour then cut out as many circles as you can - you may need to gather the bits of pastry up and roll them out again to make 12 to 18 circles.(Make sure you leave a little of the pastry scraps for the heart shaped pastry lids!) Once you have the desired amount of pastry cases, roll out the pastry scraps and cut out the required amount of hearts, using a mini heart shaped biscuit/cookie cutter.
• Lay the rounds of pastry in the tart tin, which has been buttered or greased and press them gently into place. Prick the base of each tart once with a fork.
• Put the tart tray into the oven and bake for 6 minutes until the pastry is very pale golden. Using oven gloves take the tray out of the oven.
• Carefully put 1 heaped teaspoon of jam into each tart, and then top them off with a pastry heart. Using oven gloves put the tray back into the oven for 6 minutes.
• Using your oven gloves take the tray out of the oven.
• Leave them to cool for a few minutes then use a palette knife to gently lift the tarts out of the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Arrange them on an attractive serving plate and sprinkle with caster 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.