What is a treacle tart? Honestly, I'm not sure I know even know, and I just made one. I do know this treacle tart Harry Potter's "favorite snack." It's also a traditional British dessert dating back as early as the 19th century. Treacle is uncrystallized syrup created during the refining of sugar. The British commonly consider this "golden syrup." In the US, it's molasses or black treacle.
I was perusing through my Mary Berry Baking Bible trying to determine what to bake. Do I go with a tried and true chocolate chip cookie, a meringue, or a new even to me recipe? You know my rules: read the recipe first, make sure you have all the ingredients and the time, no excessive refrigeration, freezing or waiting. As I looked, I stumbled on the treacle tart. Of course I have heard of this dessert multiple times: Harry Potter, The Great British Baking Show, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, so I could not pass up the opportunity to bake this classic dessert.
Looking at the recipe (page 272), I noticed that it called for breadcrumbs. Bread is a common staple in most homes; it's not in ours, so I referred to the trusty inter web and found this to be a not so uncommon issue. The remedy is to use oats. Pulse them a food processor to break them down. I read great reviews on this substitute, and I always have oats. Problem one solved. Yes, there was more than one problem. Problem two: the recipe calls for "golden syrup"....ummmmm do we have that here? If anyone knows, please reach out and tell me where you buy it! Anyways,I turned to the inter web again and found honey is considered an excellent alternative to golden syrup. Yay! Before I looked it up, I actually just assumed golden syrup was honey, forgive my ignorance.
The recipe itself is incredibly simple. First make your shortcrust. It was so simple: butter, flour, a bit of water and mix. Mix the butter and flour till it's breadcrumb-like (the recipe says to use your hands, which I was happy to do), then add water and mix till it forms a firm dough, then cover and put in the fridge for 20 minutes. During this time, I measured out everything for the filling and started that process.
The filling consists of breadcrumbs (enter oats), golden syrup (honey), lemon juice and rind. Nothing too crazy. First heat the honey, then add the rest of the ingredients. The mixture should be pourable but not too runny. If it is, add more breadcrumbs. I heated the honey over low heat because my 20 minutes was up, and I needed to roll the dough. The recipe calls for a 7 inch, loose bottom flan tin. Problem 3: I do not have a 7 inch, loose bottom flan tin. What I did have was 4 mini, loose bottomed tart tins, whew! Those would have to do.
I rolled the dough quite thin and used the tins to cut out the bottoms. I then used the extra dough to line the sides. I have never used a loose bottom tin before. I've never had to manipulate dough so much. I got through it though and was happy with the result. Once I had my tins lined with the dough, the filling was ready, and I poured it right into the tins.
I should say that while all this rolling and shaping of dough was ocurring, I had placed a rimmed baking sheet in the oven and pre-heated the oven, like a good baker should :). Anyways, once the tarts were filled, I threw them (not literally) in the oven. I baked them at 200 degrees for 10 minutes and then lowered the temperature 20 degrees and baked them for 25-30 more minutes. Once I lowered the oven temperature, I put my timer on for 25 minutes. I have never made these before, so I honestly don't know how they should turn out if I have all the correct ingredients. But I have notes for next time!
1: I can make golden syrup. Right before I started this post, I looked up how to make golden syrup, and honestly, it is so simple. It was a face slap moment. I could have done that the whole time. But now I know. Not that the honey didn't work. It definitely did, but the recipe did call for golden syrup not honey.
2: If I don't have breadcrumbs, which is often because we never have bread in the house unless I make beer bread, I should pulse the oats a little bit longer.
3: It was a little over baked. I could have set the timer for 20 minutes and then started checking it.
The texture of this tart was pretty chewy. I'd like to say it was all due to the oats, but I do not know what the texture SHOULD be. I read that you can also use digestive crumbs instead of oats or breadcrumbs and that people had wonderful results with those. I didn't have digestives at the time either, but I know I can get those at my local World Market. The lemon is a nice touch for this tart keeping it light despite the chewy denseness of the tart.
I didn't love it. It has nothing to do with Mary Berry. It's just not my kind of tart. Andy thought it was ok but not his favorite. Our consistent tast-tester, Andy's business partner, absolutely loved it! But he loves everything he eats. I have yet to see him dislike something I have baked, even my macaron failures during my macaron obsession. I'd like to make this again though, partly to use the correct ingredients, and partly to use my loose bottom tart tins again! I really did enjoy those things, and glad I had them on hand.
Enjoy the photos. Feedback welcome since this was a 100% new recipe for me, something I had never seen or eaten ever before. (The pavlova was new, but I had a very good idea of what that should look and taste like).
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