Lil' Tarts

And I mean tarts completely in the edible sense...

Lil' Bakewell Tarts! I do apologise that sometimes my Titles may appear shocking and misleading, i.e 'Rabbit Cake' (where no rabbits were harmed in the making...*cough*) but I feel they are necessary to arouse intrigue and curiosity in the following post thus allowing relief and enjoyment to sweep over my dear readers as they realise they are not about to read about tarts and massacred rabbit cakes...See, everything I do I do for you reader.

Anyway! You know I ramble, but all ramblings lead to a logical post. So here are my little Bakewell tarts!

I went for the 'rustic' home made look (i.e I couldn't be bothered to make them look really neat and trim the edges to the nearest millimetre because let's face it, all little tarts look like that - and I like mine to look a lil' different!)

So I made me some shortcrust pastry courtesy of The Delia

- Greased up me muffin pan, and here's how to achieve the beautiful rustic effect; don't cut out nice little circles from your pastry to line the tin, cut out completely random shapes and squidge them into the pan! So you end up with funky pointy bits and unusual shapes; much more fun! (and a lot less effort)

- Pricked the bases of the pastry with my trusty fork; this is supposed to prevent the bases getting soggy or something...incontinent pastry.

- Then blind bake your pastry (by this I don't mean grab the nearest blind person you can find on the street; it would alarm said blind person and such acts are frowned upon) what it actually means is! (Oh and it also doesn't mean blind yourself...baking should be pleasureable, not masochistic) Ahem, it means! Line your uncooked pastry with baking parchment then use your weapon of choice to weigh it down (I use baking beans; like ceramic chick peas) but you can use anything oven proof and heavy. Bake them like that for aboooout 10 minutes...ish...until your pastry looks slightly cooked, but we don't want them completley cooked yet!

- Then we remove our part cooked pastry, remove the beanage and parchment and plop in a dollop of your chosen jam (Raspberry all the way...not that I'm trying to influence your decision) and theeeen a dollop of Bakewell mix!

-Then cook 'em up for about 10-15 minutes until your little tarts have risen and your pastry is lightly browned (see below)

- Then I got a bit cutesy and added some little almond slice hearts for added 'Aaw' factor!

And here's my winged tart...

Very moist, very delicious, and very gone within 20 minutes of making them!

(Notice no soggy bottoms!)

Pork Pi...wait, is that a Bakewell Tart?!

Why yes, yes it is! Observe, the Pork Pie Bakewell Tart! Has to be seen to be believed. Story follows...

After baking a Bakewell Tart normally last weekend (which for those of you who have never supped upon the delights of a home made; non Mr Kipling bakewell tart looks like so:

I realised that all it really is is a rather tasty cake baked in pastry. Which got me thinking, what else is baked in pastry? Pork Pies of course! So I thought to myself...I wonder...could you bake a tart in a Pork Pie tin, make it LOOK like a Pork Pie...but not actually be a Pork Pie?! Not one for day dreaming I set about living the dream.

I set about following the basic steps to any good Bakewell Tart. Shortcrust pastry lining tin? Check. Bake for 15 minutes with ceramic baking beans? Check. Remove beans, brush with egg and bake for a further 5 minutes? Check. Bakewell Tart recipe made, I lined the inside of the pastry with Raspberry jam then filled up the case 2/3 with the mixture. Now, in my brain, I thought I could bake the case and the lid to the pie separately, then simply pop the lid of the pie on after the cake had baked and no one would be any the wiser! So, I did this. And I was not pleased.

As you can see, the tart cooks wonderfully in the pastry as expected, but as the lid was baked separately it doesn't fit on my tart! Only a maniac wouldn't suppose this wasn't actually a Bakewell tart in disguise...

So, I called up my ye old Pork Pie recipe and lo and behold the filling is cooked with the lid on top, so i figured, why not cook my cake with a lid?!

SO, Pork Pie Bakewell Tart take 2 was everything that occurred with the first, but upon the mixture being in the case I then brushed the top with egg, covered it with some spare pastry, trimmed it to size, stabbed 2 holes in the middle and baked away!

I think the holes are important in the top as, like mine, the mixture burst through the holes and a mini tart started to cook on top. Without my little holes the pastry would have broken and I would have been most upset. However, you need not suffer my pain, as if you fill the case only HALF full with mixture, it shouldn't erupt through the top! Brilliant.

So there you have it folks! A Pork Pie with a Bakewell Tart lurking inside. They said it couldn't be done, but I said...well, it can actually. Perfect if you've got a Farmer Friend. Enjoy :D