Pies/Tarts

Salted Caramel Brownie Tart

http://bakingwithelliott.com/wp-admin/edit.phpIt’s officially Bakemas 2019! 🎉

If it’s your first bakemas here, welcome. It is my annual mini-series in which I show you how to make a various Christmas themed baked goods – perfect if you want to impress your family and friends or if you’re hosting a Christmas party!

Let’s be honest, chocolate and salted caramel is always going to be a winning combination and it’s no exception in this tart.

Starting with a chocolate shortcrust pastry crust, with a generous layer of salted caramel sauce which is topped with a brownie layer and finished with a drizzle of salted caramel – tell me this tart isn’t good!

If salted caramel isn’t you sort of thing, feel free to use plain caramel (but the salted caramel works so darn well!) and if you don’t like caramel at all, this recipe isn’t for you at all. If you’re looking for more traditional brownies I have recipes for Terry’s chocolate orange brownies – perfect for Christmas.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 egg.

90g Sugar

225g Butter.

325g Plain flour.

50g Cocoa powder

Filling:

Salted caramel sauce.

Brownie Layer

140g Butter, melted.

225g Granulated white sugar.

2 Eggs.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

45g Cocoa powder.

75g Milk chocolate chips.

100g Plain flour

100g Milk chocolate chips

Methods:

Before you get into making the tart, I recommend doing some prep work i advance. Start by weighing up all of your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and prepare any equipment you may need.

Pastry:

To start on the pastry, place your egg and granulated sugar into a bowl and beat them together until they are well combined, you should notice that the mixture will lighten in colour when fully combined. Set it aside until it’s needed a little later on.

Take a food processor and in the bowl, place the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Pulse on a low-medium speed just to combine the ingredients.

Then you can add the butter in little chunks and pulse on a low-medium speed until a sandy consistency forms, then add in the egg/sugar mixture and pulse until a dough has formed. Try your best not over mix the dough at this stage.

Flour a surface with some plain flour and place the pastry onto it, kneading until the smooth. You can then take it and wrap it in some clingfilm/plastic wrap and set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (you can make it in advance at this stage and use within 5 days).

I generous flour my worktop again, then take my dough from the fridge and unwrap it and place onto the floured surface. I then start to roll out my dough using a rolling pin until its 5mm thick.

I roll the pastry up back onto the rolling pin and then place it on-top of the pie dish and press the dough into place. Once it’s all in place, you can then trim away the excess (ball the dough back up and use it on another tart or wrap in clingfilm and freeze it).

Place the pastry case in the fridge to chill while you make the brownie layer.

Brownie:

Into a medium mixing bowl, place the melted butter and cocoa powder and whisk the two together until they are well combined. The mixture will be thick and glossy when combined.

Add in all of the granulated sugar and whisk until it’s been fully worked into the mixture. You’ll notice a change in the consistency of the batter and that it’s more granular. This is normal and will become smoother as the other ingredients are incorporated.

Then you can go ahead and add your eggs, one at a time, beating well in-between each addition. As you add the eggs, you’ll notice that the consistency will become less granular and more liquid.

Chuck the plain flour and milk chocolate chips into the mix and fold them in until they are incorporated. The less you can mix them together the better it is for the brownies, they will be dense rather than cakey.

Assembly & Finishing:

Take the pastry cake you prepared earlier on out of the fridge and into the bottom pour the salted caramel sauce and spread it out using the back of a spoon – on-top of the caramel, pour the brownie batter over and level if needed.

Place in the oven and bake for around 35 minutes (or until a tester inserted into the centres comes out with only a few smudges on) but this time will vary depending on each oven.

Once it’s out of the oven, allow it to cool (this is soooo nice when slightly warm but you can always place it in the microwave if you’re eating it once its completely cooled down), then slice it up and drizzle over some more salted caramel and enjoy.

That’s all for today guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back soon with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below.

Pumpkin Spice Meringue Pie

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

It’s now officially Autumn, so it’s officially time to have all things pumpkin spice. Starting with this pumpkin spice meringue pie, let’s get started, shall we?

Now that Autumn is in full swing, it’s acceptable to enjoy all things seasonal. Starting with autumnal food and drinks (including pumpkin spice latte), if you like pumpkin spice latte, this recipe is perfect for you.

Starting with a shortcrust pastry case, filled with a pumpkin spice pastry cream and topped with a meringue which is toasted. A perfectly seasonal recipe, believe me. The flavour combinations may not sound like they’ll work, but they do.

Let’s get start on the recipe, shall we?

Ingredients:

Pastry:

Here is how to make the pastry.

Pastry cream:

500ml Whole milk.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

2 tsp Coffee granules.

2 tsp Pumpkin spice.

100g Pumpkin puree (homemade pumpkin puree recipe also available)

120g Egg yolks.

100g Granulated sugar.

60g Plain flour.

Meringue:

160g Egg whites.

320g Granulated sugar

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

Methods:

Before you get into making any element of the pumpkin meringue pie, you’ll want to do some prep work. Start by weighing up all your ingredients, preheating the oven (before its needed) and getting any equipment you may need ready, so it’s at hand.

Pastry:

Start by following my recipe on how to make the pastry.

You can then bake the 8-inch pie case off at 180˚c/350˚f for around 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans and egg wash, then bake for a further 10-15 minute until golden brown.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool fully, before you intend on using it.

Pastry Cream:

To start on the pastry cream, get yourself a medium or large saucepan and place in the whole milk and vanilla then whisk to combine. Then you can add the coffee granules, pumpkin spice and pumpkin puree, whisking well in-between each addition.

Place the saucepan onto the hob, over a medium-high heat, allow it to come to a boil. Then into a separate medium sized bowl, place the egg yolks and sugar and whisk together until they are well combined (the mixture should be smooth, not granular and paler in colour), then you can add in the plain flour and whisk to combine.

Once a boil has reached, remove from the heat and pour around a third of the hot milk mixture over the egg mixture and whisk the two together until they are fully combined. You can then steadily pour the remaining milk over egg mixture until the two separate mixtures are fully combined.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place back on the hob over a medium-high heat, stirring continuously until the mixture has thickened (you’ll know when it’s ready when the whisk trails remain there after you’ve moved the whisk). You can take the mixture off the heat and pour onto a shallow sided baking tray and cover with cling film/plastic wrap making sure it touches the surface, preventing a skin from forming. You can then place this somewhere to cool down fully, before you either use it or place it in the fridge (never place anything hot/warm in the fridge).

Meringue:

To make the meringue topping, you’ll want to place the egg whites into your bowl and whisk them together until they are foamy/frothy.

At this stage, you can start adding your granulated sugar, roughly 1 tablespoon at a time. Whisking well in-between each addition, ensuring the previous amount of sugar has been fully incorporated. Repeat until all the sugar has been incorporated, it should be a smooth and glossy mixture.

Add in the vanilla extract and whisk until it’s been fully incorporated. Use immediately, only make the meringue before you intend on serving.

Assembly:

Take your pastry cream and scrape it from the shallow sided tray and place into a small-medium bowl and whisk it just until it’s a spreadable consistency. Add into the baked pastry case and smooth it out as best you can, using an offset/cranked palette knife, set in the fridge until it’s needed, later.

Make the meringue topping. Then you can place it on top of your chilled pie or feel free to do it the way I did mine, by placing the meringue mixture into piping bags and pipe different shapes on top.

Torch the meringue topping using a culinary blowtorch or place under the grill for a few minutes until toasted.

Serve and enjoy – best eaten on the day it’s made.

That’s all for this week guys, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this recipe with your family and friends and enjoy it. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and YouTube video, so join me then. In the meanwhile, don’t forget to check out my Instagram and Twitter. The YouTube video will be linked down below!

Blueberry Pie Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Summer may be coming to end, don’t fret, I have recipe which is perfect for the end of the season. Today I’ll be sharing with you how to make a blueberry pie!

This recipe can be made all year around, seeing as most supermarkets stock frozen blueberries in the frozen foods section but if blueberries are in season, use fresh or frozen either works well (the ones I used were bought fresh then frozen).

Earlier in the week I uploaded a video to YouTube and a blog post showing you how to make my pastry recipe, honestly, it’s the best one, it doesn’t require any strange ingredients or special equipment if you don’t have it. I’ll link it here. I recommend that you use my recipe but you can use your own if you want, I don’t control you.

When it comes to pies, personally, I like to have more pastry on top, I know that some people like it whereas others don’t. Instead of putting a pastry lid on this pie I decided to place some cut out stars on top of pie, so you have the element of pastry there but not fully, if that makes sense.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Pastry:

Here is how to make the pastry.

Blueberry Filling:

750g Blueberries (fresh or frozen, dust with plain flour).

100ml Water.

30g Plain flour.

A pinch of salt.

¼ tsp Ground cinnamon.

100g Granulated white sugar.

Method:

Before you get into the baking/pie making, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by making your pastry, weighing up the ingredients, preheating the oven to 180˚c/350˚f and preparing any equipment you may need to use.

To start on the blueberry pie filing, get yourself a medium sized saucepan and into it, place the water, flour, salt, ground cinnamon and sugar, then give it all a good mix until its well incorporated.

You can then add in the blueberries and mix them in the mixture until they are well coated, then transfer the saucepan onto the hob over a medium heat and cook the mixture until it’s a clear filling, you don’t want to see a trace of any ingredient, the mixture will have thickened (this is normal and what you’re looking for).

Allow that to cool while you sort the pastry out.

Take your pastry and roll it out until it’s just slightly bigger than the pie dish you are using (mine was 8 inch). Drape it over your tin, pressing the dough into the tin, just to fit the shape, trim away any excess from the edge.

Don’t forget to dock the bottom of your pastry, this is just to prevent the base rising while baking.

You can then fill the pastry case with the blueberry filling you made and allow to cool for a little while. It should be thicker as it cools, so you may or may not need to level it out with your wooden spoon or spatula. Set aside in the fridge for a bit while you make the topping.

For the cut outs of dough, take the remaining dough and roll it out to the same thickness as your pie crust and cut out as many as possible. Once you have them cut out, you can then start to place them on top of the pie filling. I started on the outside and worked my way in but feel free to start in the centre and work your way out, whichever way works best for you.

Egg wash the edge of the pastry and the cut outs in the middle of the pie, sprinkle some light brown sugar over the cut outs, just to add colour and texture.

Place in your preheated oven and bake for around 40 minutes but I recommended checking it at 35 minutes and checking every 5 minutes as it may need extra time. One thing to remember is that all ovens are different, so use the time as a rough guide.

Once it’s out of the oven, allow it to cool down fully before you try cutting it, otherwise it could get messy. Enjoy with a scoop of ice cream or with some whipped cream.

How To Make Shortcrust Pastry

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Today, I’ll be showing you how to make a recipe staple – shortcrust pastry. If you want to make a sweet pie or tart, this is the recipe for you.

This is my recipe for shortcrust pastry, its’s quick and easy, what’s not to like?

If you have ever made a pie and followed a recipe, just for it to go wrong and it can really put you off making pastry again – believe me, I’ve been there. This is the must use recipe for all bakers to have in their recipe collection.

The key with pastry is to keep it cool, you really don’t it to warm up too much, this is where issues can start to occur. If like me you have warm hands, I recommend that you use a food processor, this will ensure that you don’t warm up the butter too much. Oh and one final tip is to ensure that once the pastry is made, wrap in cling film/plastic wrap.

Anyway, let’s get started, shall we?

Ingredients:

1 Egg (large is possible, medium will work)

90g Granulated white sugar.

225g Butter, cold.

375g Plain flour.

A pinch of salt.

Method:

Before you get into making the pastry, you’ll want to do some prep. Start by weighing up all your ingredients and getting any equipment you may intend on using.

To start on the pastry, get yourself a small bowl and place in the egg and sugar. Give them a very good mix, mostly until they are fully incorporated. You will know once you’ve achieved this as the mixture won’t be granular in any way, this may take a few minutes to achieve. Set aside once done.

Into your food processor place the plain flour, salt and butter, then pulse until all the ingredients have combined. You will know once the butter has been incorporated as the mixture will have a slightly yellow-ish tint to it.

Next, you can add the sugar/egg mixture that you made earlier. Once it’s all been added, you can then pulse it again until the sugar/egg micture is fully incorporated and a dough has started to form, you can them stop and continue kneading the dough on a floured surface.

The pastry should be smooth once done, you can then wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge to chill for about an hour or overnight.

There’s not much else to say about this recipe, it’s really that simple. You only need a handful of ingredients and a little time then you have a pastry recipe that has never failed me before.

Quiche Lorraine

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Quiche is the perfect addition to any spring/summer evening, its light but enough with salad to enjoy.

I know, you’re seeing a savoury recipe. These aren’t too common from me as you’ll often find me making sweet baked goods. I have been trying more savoury baking recently, so you may see more of them from me in the future.

If you haven’t ever had a quiche, I’ll explain what it is. It starts with a pastry case, filled with an egg and cheese based. You can get creative with the fillings but the most popular is bacon and onion

As I mentioned above, quiche is perfect for the warmer weather, with a side of salad (if that’s your thing). It’s pretty quick and easy to make, which is even better.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 Egg.

225g Butter.

375g Plain flour.

Pinch of salt

Quiche Filling:

4 Eggs.

1/2 tsp Salt.

1/2 tsp Black pepper, ground.

300ml Whole milk.

100ml Double cream.

200g Cheddar cheese (or your personal favourite).

6 rashers of bacon, cooked and roughly chopped.

1 Onion, medium-large, chopped,

There’s some prep to do now that will save you faffing about later on. Start by remembering to preheat your oven to 200˚/390˚f, weigh up all of your ingredients, cook off the bacon and prepare your equipment.

The pastry I have used is my normal recipe for shortcrust pastry minus the sugar, then it becomes unsweetened and perfect for savoury use – just what we need it for.

The pastry isn’t exactly hard to make, all you need to do is place the flour, salt and butter then combine them together by either rubbing the butter into the flour or pulsing them together in a food processor (I went with the food processor method on this occasion).

Once they are combined, add in the egg and work it into the flour/butter mixture. This will bind the dough together, work them together until almost fully combined then tip out onto a floured surface to knead the pastry together. You’re looking for a clear dough, with no traces of a single ingredient. Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap then chill in the fridge for around an hour, this is to allow the butter to firm up and the gluten to relax.

After about an hour in the fridge, the dough should be firm. Take it from the fridge and cut it in half (keep the other half chilled in the fridge), flour your surface well with some plain flour. At this point, preheat your oven to 200˚/390˚f. Place the dough onto the floured surface and roll it out until its slightly bigger than your 8 inch pie dish. Place the pastry over the tart tine and work it into the tin, fix any cracks with the remaining pastry and trim the excess from the edges. You can then dock the pastry with a fork, this is just to stop it from rising while it’s baking, place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, you can then add the greaseproof/parchment paper along with the baking beans and blind bake for around 20-25 minute, it should start to look baked.

While your pastry case is in the oven baking, you can make the filling for your quiche. Start by adding your eggs, salt, pepper, milk and double cream into a large mixing bowl and whisk it all together until fully combined. You can then add in the cheese, bacon and onion and using a spatula, mix them until they are fully combined. By this point your pastry case should be ready, so once its done blind being, remove from the oven and remove the baking beans and parchment/greaseproof, then add in the filling (I had a tiny amount left over but added it once it was in the oven). Bake the quiche off at 200˚/390˚f for a further 30 minutes, it should be golden brown and firm to the touch.

Allow the quiche to cool fully before enjoy a slice, surely you shouldn’t eat quiche warm… YUCK!

Bake the pastry at 200˚/390˚f for 20-25 minutes, make and add the filling, then bake for a further 30 minutes at the same temperature.

That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, don’t forget to share this with your friends and family and check out the other recipes I have up on my blog. Currently working on uploading older recipes from my YouTube channel, so keep your eyes out. Until next week guys, take care.

Strawberry Tart

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

This tart is the perfect addition for any warm day, its sweet and perfectly balanced for the warmer weather. Get your strawberries and we can get started.

To start on the tart you’ll want to start on the crème pâtissière, this will need time to cool before you use it but feel free to make either the crème pâtissière or pastry first, they both need time before you use them. Like with all my recipes, I recommend you do some prep work first by winging up your ingredients, preheating your oven to 180˚/350˚f and getting any equipment you need ready before you start.

For the crème pâtissière, get your medium saucepan and place your milk and vanilla extract into it and place on the hob over a medium-high heat. Bring the milk to a boil. While you wait for your milk to come to a boil, you can make the other part of the crème pâtissière.

Into a separate bowl add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk them together until well combined, then you can add in your plain flour and whisk that in until fully combined. You will notice that the mixture thickens, don’t worry this is normal. You want this to happen, the flour is the thickening agent in the custard.

So, once your milk has reached a boil, you can then add around 1/4 of the milk mix into your egg mixture and whisk that through, then continue pouring the boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking continuously until they are well combined. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place back on the hob over a medium-high heat, whisking continuously until the mixture has become thicker – make sure you don’t burn the mixture, keep whisking the custard.

Get yourself a shallow sided cake tin and pour the hot custard onto it, spreading it out as thin as possible. This is just to help with the cooling process, cover the mixture with clingfilm/plastic wrap, making sure its touching the top of the custard (this stops a skin from forming on top, which nobody likes). Allow it too cool fully before you intend on using.

The pastry isn’t exactly hard to make, all you need to do is beat the sugar and egg together, then set it aside until later on. Into a bowl or food processor place the flour, salt and butter then combine them together by either rubbing the butter into the flour or pulsing them together in a food processor (I went with the food processor method on this occasion).

Once they are combined, add in the egg/sugar mix and work it into the flour/butter mixture. This will bind the dough together, work them together until almost fully combined then tip out onto a floured surface to knead the pastry together. You’re looking for a clear dough, with no traces of a single ingredient. Wrap in clingfilm/plastic wrap then chill in the fridge for around an hour, this is to allow the butter to firm up and the gluten to relax.

After about an hour in the fridge, the dough should be firm. Take it from the fridge and cut it in half (keep the other half chilled in the fridge), flour your surface well with some plain flour. Place the dough onto the floured surface and roll it out until its slightly bigger than your 8 inch pie dish. Place the pastry over the tart tine and work it into the tin, fix any cracks with the remaining pastry and trim the excess from the edges. You can then dock the pastry with a fork, this is just to stop it from rising while it’s baking, place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes, then give it a good coat with some egg wash then place in the preheated oven and bake for 23-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Once your pastry case and crème pâtissière are fully cooled down, you can start to assemble your tart. Place the custard into a bowl and whisk it until its smooth and more pliable, once you’ve got it spreadable, add it into the pastry case and level it off as best you can using an offset palette knife or the back of a spoon. Set aside (or in the fridge) while you slice your strawberries.

Next, you’ll want to slice your strawberries, I slice most of mine into 3 or 4’s so there is the right thickness but you do it however you like, you could even place the strawberries on whole, just slice the green bit off the top.

Now you can place the strawberry slices on top of the tart, starting on the outside working your way into the middle of the tart, this is the way that works best for me personally but feel free to change it, I’m just providing the basic information. Once all your strawberries are on, you can then warm up the apricot jam and then brush it over the fruit. This acts as a preservative and adds flavour.

Ingredients:

Crème pâtissière:

500ml Milk.

1-2 tsp Vanilla extract.

120g Egg yolks.

100g Granulated white sugar.

60g Plain flour.

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated white sugar.

225g Butter.

375g Plain flour.

Pinch of salt

Finish:

Strawberries, sliced.

Apricot jam, for the glaze.

So that’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed this recipe. It’s a pretty quick and easy recipe and perfect for this time of year (especially if the weather is decent), so make this and enjoy the weather with your friends and family. I’ll see you again next week guys!

As always, I’ll leave the YouTube video down below if you’re interested in watching it!

Strawberry Cheesecake Tart

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Do you need a quick recipe for Valentine’s Day? Look no further, I’m share with you how to make this no-bake cheesecake tart.

This recipe is a twist on my more traditional no-bake cheesecake, after thinking about how I could improve or change the recipe. After being on Instagram and Pinterest for a short while, I saw there was the odd cheesecake tart, I didn’t follow any of the recipes that I found as I had the basics covered and that’s all you need.

So I take my simple no-bake recipe and make some changes, mostly lowering the amounts of each ingredients as I don’t need as much for this tart. If you have seen any of my other cheesecakes before, you will know that they have a thick consistency but this one was slightly less so, but it still set nicely.

Before you start working on the tart, you’ll want to do some prep work. Get the pie/tart tin ready and weigh up all your ingredients. To start the tart, you’ll want to make the base (and sides) which is super simple and only requires 2 ingredients – digestive biscuits and melted butter. You’ll want to make the digestive biscuits into crumbs (it will look like sand once ready) and you can do this 2 ways – method one is the easiest and it’s to use a food processor, blitz the biscuits for a few seconds until they have reached a crumb consistency. Method two is too place the biscuits into a ziplock bag and crush them using a rolling pin, this takes longer but works equally as well.

Once you’ve got your biscuit crumbs, you can then add the melted butter and either blitz or mix in the butter until it’s turned to wet sand colour. Place the biscuit mixture into the base of your 9 inch pie/tart tin and get yourself a cup measurement or something similar and start to compress it down, while you do that you’ll also want to press it out towards the edge and build up the sides, it may take some time to get the edges just right but it’s all worth it in the end. So take the time needed to get the base and sides as level all around as possible.

Once you’ve got the biscuit base sorted, you can then go ahead and place that in the fridge to firm up while you make the filling.

To make the cheesecake filling, you’ll want to get yourself a medium-large mixing bowl and place in the soft cheese, icing sugar and vanilla then give it all a good mix with either a hand whisk or a electric mixer (whichever you have or prefer to use). Once all the ingredients are fully incorporated, add in the jam (I used strawberry as I knew it would turn the mixture pink but feel free to use whatever flavour you’d like) and give it all a give whisk together until the jam has been worked in fully, if possible, try and use jam without bits, it will help the mixture to stay smooth. Add in the double cream and whisk until the mixture thickens up – mine was looser in consistency as it was warm in my kitchen but it set up alright.

Now you’ll want to take your tart case out of the fridge and add in the filling into and level it off as best you can, then place back in the fridge for 8 hours or overnight (which is preferred by me personally). The longer you allow it to chill, the more it will firm up.

The following morning, I take the tart out the frIdge and remove it from the tin. I set it onto my decorative plate but feel free to use whatever you have, a cake stand or normal plate will work well. One last thing before we finish the tart off, which is optional but seeing as Valentine’s Day is today, why not put something romantic on top, so I did. I piped the word ‘love’ with seedless strawberry jam.

You can then cut and slice it as your wish, this tart is like a cheesecake but in a different form – if you like cheesecake recommend trying this recipe out!

Ingredients:

Base:

375g Digestive biscuits.

150g Butter, melted.

Filling:

400g Soft cheese.

100g Icing sugar.

1 tsp Vanilla extract.

200-250g Strawberry jam, seedless.

200ml Double cream.

Decoration:

Strawberry jam, seedless and in a piping bag (with no tip).

No baking times as this is a chilled dessert, so up to 8 hours chilling in the fridge.

Homemade Mince Pies

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

Whether you like them or not, its mince pie season, regardless.

These tasty little treats are sweet, spicy and fruity all in one bite. Which can be overwhelming or downright confusing, especially if you haven’t them before.

If you’re from somewhere in the world that doesn’t have these easily accessible, don’t worry. Despite the name, the mincemeat is sweet (made most of dried fruit, sugar, spices and alcohol) and doesn’t contain a single gram of meat. Many years ago they would have been meat based but they have evolved to become what we know and love today.

I thought that mincemeat was available around the world, but it isn’t. Don’t worry I have already uploaded a recipe on how to make mincemeat here (which is actually super easy, it just needs some time to mature).

Some prep work won’t go amiss here. Preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weigh up your ingredients and get any equipment you may need ready.

After the hour in the fridge, take your dough out of the fridge and chop it roughly in half, keeping half out and rewrapping the other half and placing back in the fridge until you need it later on. Roll out your dough until you’ve achieved 5mm in thickness, once achieved, cut out your circles of pastry for each pie. Use a 3 inch cookie cutter, this gets your the perfect shape/amount for each cup on the cupcake pan. I only made 6 but you could easily make around 8-10.

Once you’ve got your pastry cases in the cupcake tin, you’ll then want to fill them with a generous amount of the homemade mincemeat, you can go as far as just a few millimetres below the top of the case (the more the better I say, but go with your preference). You can then work on the ‘lids’ which is a smaller circle cut out (around 1.5 – 2 inches), then place on top of each mince pie and secure in place by crimping the side of the pastry case and the pastry lid together with a fork, repeat for all your mince pies. You’ll want to egg wash your pastry (this helps to make your pastry bake a better golden brown colour), to make the egg wash, crack an egg into a small bowl and beat until its all combined. Use your pastry brush and give the tops of the mince pies a generous coating with the egg wash.

Just before you use the last of the pastry, stab a hole into the centre of each mince pie, this is to release any steam that may build up while they bake. You can then partially cover the hole with small cut out pastry decoration, I used a small plunger cutter do this but its completely optional. Egg wash the little cut out, then place into your preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 Egg.

90g Granulated sugar.

225g Butter.

375g Plain Flour.

A pinch of salt.w

Mince meat recipe here

Method:

Start by doing some prep work by preheating your oven to 180˚c/350˚f, weighing up your ingredients into small bowls and prepare any equipment you’ll need to use.
Start the recipe by making your pastry. Crack an egg into a small bowl then add the sugar and mix the two together until the sugar has dissolved in the egg, set aside until later on.
Into a large bowl or food processor, place the flour, salt and butter then combine them by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients or pulsing them together.
Once they are fully combined, add in the egg/sugar mix from earlier on. Mix in or pulse together until they are almost fully combined, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead until a clear dough forms. Once you’ve got a clear dough, wrap the flattened ball of dough in clingfilm/plastic wrap and place in the fridge for an hour to chill. This give the gluten in the dough time to relax and for the butter to firm up.
After about an hour, take your pastry out of the fridge and cut in half. Keep one half out and wrap the other back up and place in the fridge until you need it later on.
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until its about 5mm in thickness (this is the ideal thickness). Take a 3 inch cookie cutter and cut out your circles. I made 6 mince pies but with this amount of pastry you could easily make 8-10.
Take your pastry circles and place them into the cupcake tin. Work and manipulate the dough to fit into the shape of the cupcake tray, repeat until you’ve got all your pastry cases done.
Fill each mince pie almost to the top with the homemade mincemeat. Repeat this for each mince pie.
With the remaining pastry, roll it out until slightly thinner than 5mm then cut out some more circles but this time they are smaller, around 1.5-2 inches (whichever fits just right on top of the mince pies).
Crimp the pastry case and the lid together using fork. This secures the lid on top and stops it from popping off while baking. Once the lids are on, egg wash the top of each mince pie (the egg wash is just a beaten egg in a small bowl).
Stab a hole in the centre of the mince pie, this is to allow the steam to escape. Then partially cover the hole with a small pastry cut out that has been made with a small plunger cutter. This is optional but adds a homemade touch to the mince pies. Egg wash the cut outs if you use them.
Bake the mince pies in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown colour.
Once baked and cooled, just before serving you can give them a dusting with icing sugar and enjoy on there own OR serve with some cream or ice cream.

Cream Tart Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’ve come looking for a recipe on how to make these interesting biscuit tarts, look no further, I certainly have you covered.

After seeing these all over Instagram, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and make one. When I was researching what exactly these were and to be honest I didn’t get very far. I could’t find the exact name or a basic recipe for them, normally when something like this trends you can find the name and a recipe pretty easily, but I had my work cut out for me on this one. After about 3/4 day’s on Instagram I found the most common name/tag was ‘cream tart/s’ and I was amazed at how artistic some of the people had got with these.

The best thing about making these is that they don’t require a lot of time or ingredients and can be fully customisable to suit you and your occasion. You can decorate them using just one thing like chocolate or mix it up by using

After seeing all the creative and over the top varieties online, so I opted to keep mine simple. I decided that a linzer biscuit would be ideal for this recipe, it’s a simple biscuit but it has a great taste and a softer crumb than most other biscuits. For the filling, I went with what was most common but with a little twist. In place of the standard whipped cream I opted for a sweetened version instead, I know for sure that this would compliment the biscuit and fruit very well. For the decoration I kept it simple, just fruit, I chose with strawberries, blueberries, kiwi and lime.

Before you get into making the biscuits, make sure you have all your ingredients weighed up in advance and preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f. To make the biscuit part of the tart, you’ll want to place the butter and icing sugar into your mixing bowl and beat the two together over a medium-high speed until they are well combined. Once combined, scrape down the bowl and add in the egg and vanilla and mix them in on a medium-high speed until well incorporated, then scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl again to incorporate any bits that may not have been fully worked in. Sift your flour into the mixing bowl and mix on a low-medium speed until a clear dough has formed. *Be careful not to over mix at this stage, otherwise your biscuits will be tougher in texture.

Seeing as the dough doesn’t require chilling before use, split the dough in half and roll it out until it’s about 1cm thick and cut out the shape, I opted for a 6 inch/15cm round. To get the shape, I used the base of a cake tin and used a small, sharp knife to cut around it. I repeat that stage one more time and then transfer the cut outs onto a line baking tray and bake in your preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before finishing. Talking of finishing these tarts, you’ll want to prepare your filling, which is a sweetened whipped cream. Place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla into a bowl and whip it up until you achieve stiff peaks, then place into a piping bag with a 1cm plain tip nozzle and keep it in the fridge if you don’t intend on using it straight away.

Finally, depending on what you’ve chose to decorate with, you’ll want to get it prepped and ready to use once you’ve piped your cream on. This is best eaten on the same day as it’s made or the following day.

Biscuit Layers:
• 300g Plain flour.
• 200g Butter.
• 100g Icing sugar.
• 1 Egg yolk.
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla bean paste/extract.

Filling:
• 300ml Double cream.
• 100g Icing sugar.
• 1 tsp Vanilla bean paste/extract.

Decoration:
Feel free to use whatever you’d like whether it be fresh fruit, flowers, chocolate or macarons. Feel free to mix it up and use a variety of different bits and pieces

Method:

Biscuit:

Before you get into making, you’ll want to do some prep. Weigh up all of your ingredients, preheat your oven to 180˚c/350˚f and line your baking tray.
To start the biscuit dough, place the butter and icing sugar into your mixing bowl of choice and beat them together for around 2-3 minutes over a medium-high speed until it comes together and is well combined.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, to incorporate any bits that wasn’t fully worked in.
You will then like to add the egg and vanilla, incorporate them over a medium-high speed just until they are incorporated.
Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl again, just to incorporate any bits that wasn’t fully worked in.
Next you’ll want to add in the flour, making sure that you’ve sifted it first. Add all the flour in and mix over a low-medium speed until a clear dough has formed. *Don’t over mix your dough at this stage*.
Seeing as there is no need to chill the dough, cut the dough in half and roll it out on a floured surface until the dough is roughly 1cm thick.
Once your dough is rolled out, you’ll want to cut out the shapes. To make your cut outs, place a 6 inch/15cm circle shape on top and cut around it, I used the base of a cake tin and cut around it with a small sharp knife.
Move the cutouts onto your lined baking tray and use a smaller cutter to removed a hole in the middle of each cutout.
Then place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (or until they start to colour around the edges).
Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before using.

Filling:

To make the sweetened whipped cream, place the double cream, icing sugar and vanilla into a bowl of your choice and whip it until stiff peaks form.
Transfer the whipped cream into a piping bag which has a 1cm plain tip nozzle. Place in the fridge if you aren’t using it straight away.

Decoration:

Depending on what you have chosen for your topping, you may need to prepare it. If you have decided to use fruit, feel free to cut/shape it however you like. These can be fully customised to suit your occasion or the person who’ll be receiving this.

Then place whatever you’re using on top, either following a pattern or making it look decorative, whichever you choose. Whatever you do use on top can add a lot of colour to these.

If you do use flowers, please make sure you’re using flowers that are safe for human consumption, double check that they won’t have any harm to yours to others health.

Don’t forget, if you make anything using my recipes, feel free to share your creations with me over on Twitter and Instagram!

Cornflake Tart Recipe

by bakingwithelliott Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for the perfect recipe for a cornflake tart, look no further, I’ve got your back.

Now I’m not sure if this is a local thing or national but if you went to school in the UK, you might recognise this. This recipe has been around for quite some time, a lot of people who went to school in the 70s, 80s, 90s or 00s should remember this! It’s super simple to make and doesn’t take that long either – what’s not to like?

This recipe is my take on the traditional version of a cornflake tart, it’s a really quick, easy and cheap recipe to make and will go down well with many who get to try it. If you’re not sure what a cornflake tart is, I’ll give you a quick run down of what exactly it is. It’s a pastry case which is topped with jam (I opted for strawberry, which is what i remember but feel free to use any berry jam) and then topped with cornflakes that have a sugary sweet syrup stirred throughout them. So, it’s 3 simple layers of shortcrust pastry, jam and sweetened cornflakes, you might even have the stuff in to make it!

If you haven’t made your own pastry before, don’t worry. I have a great recipe for my own shortcrust pastry that I use for all of my pie and tart crusts, it’s yet to fail me! Don’t be intimidated by the thought of making pastry, it’s simpler than you’d think. Here is a link to my recipe, it’s got all the information you need to know, along with tips and tricks on how to make this turn out perfect for you each and every time!

Once you’ve made your pastry and allowed it to chill in the fridge, you’ll want to take roughly about half of it and roll it out until it’s about an inch bigger than the tin you’re using, I opted for a disposable 6 inch/15cm tray but feel free to use whatever you have. Once the pastry is rolled out, I then place it in the tray and press it down so it’s in place and then trim away the excess from around the edge, then dock the bottom of the pastry using a fork, this is just to stop the pastry from having air pockets while baking. The final stage before we bake this is to place it in the fridge for around 1 hour, then bake it off at the required temperature. *I only chilled mine for a short period, so the longer you chill it for, the less it will shrink*.

While your pastry case is baking in the oven, it’s best to make the filling. Place the all the ingredients (except for the cornflakes and jam) into a small saucepan and melt them together over a medium heat, stirring well. Once it’s all melted and well combined, the mixture will be a deep orange colour. Pour this mixture over your cornflakes and stir the two together until they are well coat, it doesn’t take very long at all.

Once the pastry case is out the oven, spread a good amount of your jam on top of it, then spoon on your cornflake mixture. I like to add mine gradually so I don’t make a mess, but feel free to do it your own way. once you’ve added all the cornflakes on top of the jam, I like to gently push them down a little, so its more compact. Pop this back in the oven for a few more minutes, just so the cornflakes become more golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before enjoying.

Ingredients:

Cornflake Filling :
115g Golden syrup.
55g Butter.
20g Granulated sugar.
20g Demerara sugar.
A pinch of salt.
85g Cornflakes.
100-150g Jam (I used strawberry but feel free to use any red berry jam).

Method:

Make your pastry (using my recipe, if you’d like) and allow that to chill in the fridge for 1 hour before use.
After 1 hour, roll out half of the pastry, just until its about 1 inch/2.5cm bigger than the 6 inch tin/tray you’re using.
Press down the pastry into the tin and trim away the excess from the sides. (If your pastry has ripped or torn, fix it at this stage).
Dock the bottom of the pastry, using a fork. This prevents pockets of air forming while the pastry is baking.
Chill in the fridge for around an hour, then bake in your preheated oven at 200˚c/400˚f for 15-20 minutes.
While the pastry is baking, make your cornflake filling. Place the golden syrup, butter, granulated sugar, demerara sugar and a pinch of salt into a small saucepan and place that over a medium heat until everything has melted and come together, stirring well.
Remove the liquid mix from the heat and pour over the cornflakes, stirring well until the cornflakes are all well coated in the syrup mixture.
Once the pastry case has been removed from the oven, spread over a generous amount of jam (I opted for strawberry but feel free to use your preferred flavour) and then spoon on your cornflake mix, pressing it down slightly once all the mix is in the case. Place back in the oven for a following 5-7 minutes (or until the cornflakes are starting to turn a golden brown colour).
Allow to cool completely before you enjoy it, to serve enjoy it on its own or with custard, cream or ice cream.

Don’t forget, if you make anything using my recipes, feel free to share your creations with me over on Twitter and Instagram!

Pies/Tarts

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