I was utterly smitten by Tim Burtons dark adaption of Alice in Wonderland with the fabulous Helen Bonham-Carter as the Queen of Hearts. I saw it last night in 3D, and decided as I left the cinema that tea and tarts would be my Sunday treat. Armed with heart tart molds, a heart cookie cutter and pots of home-made strawberry and blueberry jam that I got for christmas, it was super easy. See the film and then create your own confection.
The Queen of hearts herself
As well as the tarts, I made heart cookies, cutting a mini heart in one of the pair, I baked them and then glued them together with jam, baking them briefly again to really glue them together. I baked the mini cutouts too! Hearts galore!
Heart mania – the combinations are endless!
And I stacked the leftovers and drizzled jam over them and baked the stack. Madness!
JAM TARTS RECIPE
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutesIngredients:
150g plain flour
Pinch of salt
75g unsalted butter
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 egg yolk
Cold water
Jam (strawberry, raspberry or apricot work well)
- Sift the flour and salt into the bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and drop them in.
- With your fingers, rub the butter into the flour. You will end up with a breadcrumb-like consistency.
- Add the caster sugar and egg yolk and mix to a stiff consistency, using the wooden spoon. You will need to add a little cold water (try a tablespoon at a time) to make it stick together in a lump. Too much water will make it too sticky so add it gradually and work it through, thoroughly. Three tablespoons should be more than enough.
- Knead the pastry gently for a few minutes then leave in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest. Turn on the oven (190C / gas mark 5 / 375F) to pre-heat.
- Sprinkle a little flour onto the pastry board or worktop. Put your lump of dough on it and roll out the dough to about 3mm thick. Make sure the thickness is even all the way across.
- Drape the dough over the buttered tart tins or any other tins you have. Gently squeeze to the sides and take a knife around the edge, trimming off the excess. I dry baked these little forms for 10 minutes with tiny pebbles in them to keep their shape. Apparently you can use dry beans too. After they have semi baked, pick out the pebbles obviously! a
- Fill the forms with jam. Use any you like but the lower the sugar in it the better. It will hold its shape and not go as runny. Up to 40% sugar max. I like my jam to have big lumps in it too, but some people prefer jelly like jam.
- If you have any dough left over, gather the bits up and roll them out flat again. Cut the playing card shapes of clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades out of this dough, either freehand with the table knife or make a template out of cardboard. Make sure they are small enough to fit on top of the tarts.
- Place the dough shapes on top of the jam and put them in the top half of the oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Leave to cool before eating – the jam gets VERY hot.
And watch out for anyone trying to steal them!
