June Daring Bakers Challenge: Bakewell Tart(lets)

From the very beginning, I had an inkling that this might have to be my first Daring Bakers challenge to sit out. It was shaping up to be a hectic month already. And a Bakewell Tart? Never heard of it. It seemed rather egg-reliant and I just wasn't sure I had the energy for it. The only real appeal was that it featured frangipane, made from ground almonds. Yum. 

I was convinced that I was not making this one. No how, no way. But then I found myself on a Sunday afternoon, with some unexpected free time on my hands after my earlier plans fell through. I thought to myself, "Well, I could try for that tart." So I decided that I would forge ahead as long as a trip to the grocery store was not required. I was a little concerned that there wouldn't be enough natural light left to get any decent photographs (as it was already after 6pm), but it was the longest day of sunlight of the whole year. The universe seemed to be sending me a message: Make the tart. Not having any real need for a whole tart to myself, I decided to go with the much more fun tart-let approach, making them easier to transport and pawn off on unsuspecting co-workers Monday morning. 

Now, on to the recipe! (Note: I halved the full recipe below, and got exactly 12 tartlets made in a mini muffin pan.)

Sweet Shortcut Pastry

• 225g (8oz) all purpose flour
• 30g (1oz) sugar
• 2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
• 110g (4oz) Earth Balance, briefly frozen
• Ener-G egg replacers, equivalent of 2 eggs
• 2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional) [Note: I used vanilla]
• 15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water 

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. [I skipped this step, naturally.] Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside. 

Lightly beat the egg replacer with the extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Frangipane

• 125g (4.5oz) Earth Balace
• 125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
• Ener-G egg replacer, equivalent of 3 eggs
• 2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract [Note: I subbed vanilla here too]
• 125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
• 30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream Earth Balance and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the egg replacer, beating well. Pour in the extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour. 

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the thickness, use a biscuit cutter to cut circles a little larger than each muffin cup. Transfer each circle to the muffin pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. [Note: Homemade jam or preserves, of course, were encouraged. I used jarred peach jam in half, and strawberry jam in half.] Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tartlet. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. 

The finished tartlets will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm.

Keeping with the tart's medieval roots, I plated then on some pewterware on a wooden table (as I imagined William the Conqueror might have done.) 

 

I have to confess that considering this whole thing was a rushed job and involved many unresearched substitutions (both to veganize the recipe and account for the fact that I made no trip to the grocery store in preparation and had to go with what I happened to have on-hand), I was quite impressed with the result. I feel like the egg replacer did a fantastic job. I have not ever used it in recipes in which I felt like the eggs really played a crucial role, but I think that was the case here and the result was quite good. The fangipane in particular was delicious (I had a hard time not eating it by the spoonful waiting for the dough to chill.) Not sure the Bakewell Tart will ever be part of my regular rotation, but I'm glad that in the end I chose not to sit this one out. 

Our Daring Baker hostesses have asked that we include the following message:

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Comments

[kristen]

your little tartlets are so cute. mine turned out better than i thought it was going to be too. :-)