Cherry Bakewell Tarts

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

I've been a big fan of Km-Joy since she appeared on The Great British Bake Off, she was my favourite from the get go, so when she released her very own baking books, I had to make sure I had them in my possession to try and recreate her unique bakes.

Today's recipe is originally a Christmas bake as they are originally reindeers, but I baked these in the new year and it's a recipe you can still create all year round.

Let's get baking!

Ingredients:

Pastry

150g salted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

40g caster or granulated sugar

1 medium egg

Frangipane

100g caster or granulated sugar

100g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 medium egg

3/4 tsp almond extract

100g ground almonds

Icing

200g icing sugar, plus extra to thicken

2 tbsp water

Plus

4 tbsp jam of your choice

12 glace cherries

Start off by making your pastry. 

Grease a 12-hole muffin tray with butter.

Add the flour to a large bowl, chop the butter and add it to the bowl, then rub it into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Don't overwork.

Stir in the caster sugar.

Beat the egg into a separate small bowl, then add 2 tbsp to the main mixing bowl and stir, gradually combining it with the rest of the mixture.

When the egg is stirred through, use your hands to form the pastry into a ball.

Next roll out the pastry on a generously floured surface as thinly as you can and use a round cutter to cut out 12 circles of pastry.

Next using your fingers, gently guide each circle of pastry into each muffin hole.

Prick the bases with a for 2-3 times, then place in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.

Now is also the time to pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Line the chilled pastry shells with muffin or cupcake paper cases, then fill with baking beads, you can also use lentils or rice, I used the latter.

Blind bake for about 15 minutes.

Remove the baking beads and paper, then bake for a further 5-7 minutes until golden and crisp.

Meanwhile, make the frangipane.

Cream together the sugar and butter in either a stand mixer or a handheld electric whisk on a high speed until light and fluffy, I used a wooden spoon as I had neither at the time of baking.

Add the egg and almond extract and mix until just combined.

Fold in the ground almonds and then set aside.

When the pastry has finished blind baking, remove the pastry cases from the muffin try and place on a baking sheet, they should stand up on their own.

Spoon 1 tsp of jam into each of the bases. Then fill with frangipane, about 3 quarters of the way up.

Return to the oven to bake for a further 15-20 minutes until the frangipane is set.

When baked, transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the icing. Just whisk the icing sugar and water together in a bowl until smooth.

When the tarts are cool, spoon the icing over the top and carefully spread to the edges.

Place a glace cherry in the centre and let the icing set.

Once set they're ready to enjoy.

This is something I've always been interested in attempting to bake these, but I've always thought they would be difficult to make, and pastry isn't one of the things I enjoy baking, for someone who enjoys baking, I don't like getting my hands dirty and with pastry you have to get your hands stuck in to rub the butter and flour together. Thankfully this recipe was perfect and didn't leave me wanting to constantly wash my hands to make them clean again.

The recipe itself was really easy to follow and everything was really easy to make, I'll definitely be baking them again, and definitely making them at Christmas time to make them into little Reindeers.

These Cherry Bakewell Tarts also tasted really nice, I would even say I'd rather bake a batch then go out and buy a box of them, I enjoyed the flavour that much.

I can't wait to give more recipe's a try from Kim-Joy's books, if you would to follow Kim-Joy's original recipe as well as the recipe's to make this bake Gluten-free and/or vegan, then you can purchase Christmas With Kim-Joy as well as her 1st baking book Baking With Kim-Joy, with the online retailer's Amazon and Waterstones.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye