Bakewell Tart

My husband’s family is British, so we have quite a few British cookbooks in our collection. I’ve enjoyed some traditional treats when we’ve visited the family, so I thought I would try and make some of the recipes from the cookbooks. The measurements from this particular cookbook are given by weight, so I’m very thankful that I have a digital scale!

This is a traditional Bakewell Tart, which is typically made with raspberry jam and almonds. I used cherry preserves and hazelnuts, since I had those in the house. I love hazelnuts, so I figured that would be a good change. I did find that the hazelnuts cooked just a bit quicker and the tart browned more than it would have with almonds. Still very good!

Flan Pastry (Below)

Raspberry Jam (I used Cherry)

4 oz. ground almonds (I used hazelnuts)

4 oz. sugar

2 oz. butter , softened

3 eggs, beaten

½ teaspoon hazelnut extract

Roll out pastry to fit a 9-inch tart pan. Place in tart pan, trim edges to fit. Spread the jam over the base. (It took about 4 tablespoons of jam to cover.) Chill while making the filling.

Beat the ground hazelnuts, sugar, butter, eggs and extract together. Pour the filling over the jam and spread evenly.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until filling is set. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Flan pastry:

6 oz. flour

4.5 oz. butter, chilled and diced

1-1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten

Add the flour and butter to a bowl. Rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Add the egg and egg yolk until the ingredients begin to stick together in large lumps. Collect the mixture together and knead lightly for a few seconds. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Adapted from The Good Housekeeping New Step-by-Step Cookbook (British Edition!)

I didn't want to waste the extra pastry, so I made cinnamon sugar pastry cutouts. We gave out butterfly cookie cutters as our wedding favors.