Hi there. Say, it’s been a while since I’ve had a recipe up here. While I was slaving away over books and not a hot stove, I missed out on this whole cooking and blogging shebang. Now as some of you know, with my brain working overtime during study season, I have serious issues with trying to get to sleep at night- so what I will tend to do is read for at least an hour before I even try to lull myself into the land of nod. And as less of you know- I have a few ‘go to’ books that I tend to read over and over again. To a ridiculous degree. One series being Harry Potter. I am a Harry Potter nerd. My cousin Jennifer introduced me to them many a year ago and I was hooked. Not so much a fan of the movies I’m afraid (sorry Carol), but the books are being read in this house at least 6-12 times a year. I tend to read a book a night if I can for first three, and then each of the last over 2-3 nights. I can’t help it, they’re just excellent.

Now, moving on from my undying love for the Harry Potter books- well, in the middle of one book, I had a thought. The food in there sounds absolutely delicious. I can tell you that reading these books late at night when slightly on the ravenous side I’ve developed an automatic craving for Pumpkin Pasties, Treacle Tart, and even the odd curiosity for Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. So I put a plan in place- When I had time- I was going to make a number of items from my favourite books! And what better thing to start with than the favourite ‘pudding’ of Harry Potter himself- the mouthwatering ‘Treacle Tart’.

Ta da:

Harry Potter Treacle Tart. Or pie as it were

Aside- I think that everything about the word treacle is just lovely. I can’t even describe it- I just spent five minutes attempting to and failed, but isn’t it just lovely! Treacle…treacle….

Moving on- I have never actually had treacle tart until today, but have marked it in a number of cookbooks. The name is somewhat misleading- given that there is no treacle in it (but a rather shocking amount of golden syrup instead). I used the recipe from the lovely Lorraine Pascale’s ‘Baking made easy’, a book I absolutely love and recommend getting! This is lovely

Without further ado, here is what you need

For the pastry- a sweet shortcrust
250g cream flour
125g unsalted butter
2 tbsp sugar
2 egg yolks
1 pinch sea salt

For the filling
250g breadcrumbs (I know, strange!)
450g golden syrup (handy tip- one of the squeezy bottles of lyles golden syrup is 454g)
1 tsp ground ginger
80g butter
Grated zest and juice from 1 unwaxed lemon (Confession- forgot the zest. Still tasted lovely!)

What to do:
1. Ok. First up- make your pastry. Blitz the cold flour and the butter in a food processor until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. If you do it by hand, rub the butter in until it resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add in your sugar, salt, and 2 egg yolks, and give it a quick pulse in the processor until it starts to clump together. If by hand, mix it in and bring it together with your hands.
3. Empty the whole lot out onto a floured surface and bring it together. Wrap in clingfilm and refridgerate for about 30 mins.
4. Preheat your oven to 180. Take out your pastry for a few minutes before you roll it to let it warm up. (I skipped the fridge part for the sake of time). Roll out gently until about 3mm thick and place it in your tart dish (I am missing mine so i used a pie dish and some mini tart tins- did I lend it to anyone that’s reading this or has the cooking equipment anti fairy stolen it? Along with my lemon juicing thingy?). Press it around the sides and make sure it’s even, and then trim the excess with the back of a knife and pop it in the fridge for about 20 mins.
5. Time to blind bake your pastry. I cannot remember where I saw this- it was on tv somewhere- Heston? Nigella? Not sure BUT they recommended using coins instead of beans for blind baking- they keep the heat and cook it from both sides. Now I use them too! (I washed the coins before use but they shouldn’t be touching the pastry anyway). Now take a fork and score your pastry in the tin, then take some greaseproof paper and scrunch it up in a ball, then descrunch it and give it a quick spritz of oil or non stick spray. Place it on your pastry and then fill it with the coins/beans. Bake in your preheated oven for about 15-20 mins.

As it is baking you can make your filling, which couldn’t be easier.
A. Add all your ingredients to a saucepan.
B. Melt over a low heat until all combined.
C. You are a baking god/goddess clearly. Set aside.

When your blind baking is done, take your beans/coins out and set aside. Note- don’t put back in plastic bag when hot. Ahem. Moving swiftly on-

Fill your semicooked pastry with your filling and smooth out. Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 mins or until golden brown and set on top. Let cool just a tad and serve with cream, clotted cream, ice cream etc. Enjoy!

A mini Treacle Tart a la Harry Potter!

3 minutes later…

Ahem, no idea what happened here