I decided to bake some little Valentine Treats for my sweetie pie today in the way of these cute little Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts. Todd loves jam tarts. I think they are about his most favourite thing of all that I bake, next to a Victoria sponge, fruit cake, or apple pie . . .
The Queen of Hearts. So sweet here with her little tray of baked goodies and her cute crown, dress, etc. It was really difficult to find a nice picture of the Queen of Hearts . . . most are associated with that grouchy old Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland . . . and someone who looks that grouchy doesn't belong on my page!
These however are not that grouchy, and they really put a smile on our Todd's face when he came in from being in town.
They are a really simple make. If you can make pastry, then you can make these. I used my basic butter and lard pastry with a bit of sugar added. The recipe makes enough for 24 double heart tarts.
I only did one half of the pastry as tarts however, I baked the other half blind as a pie shell for a Lemon Meringue Pie. (Which I will tell you about another time!)
You want a well flavoured nice strawberry jam for the filling. I favour Bon Maman, but you use whatever strawberry jam you like best. If you have homemade, use that. Its the best!
Just be sure not to overfill them. This is definitely a case where less is more!
And even being judicious with your filling, blow outs will occur, no matter how well you try to seal them! So really . . . less is more! Trust me on this.
Mind you, if you are like me (And I like to think that we are more alike than we are different!) a little bit of blow out only makes them tastier, with their chewy sweet crunchy almost candy-like bits . . .
*Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts*
Makes 24 little heart piesPastry:
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
You will also need:
strawberry jam
(I like Bon Maman)
milk for brushing
demerara sugar for sprinkling
icing sugar to dust
First make the pastry. Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
At the end of that time, preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Line a large baking tray with aluminium foil and spritz the foil with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Working with one disc at a time, roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface using a lightly floured rolling pin to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out heart shapes with a 2- inch heart cookie cutter. (Set the trimmings aside for the end.) Place spaced apart on the baking tray. Place 1/2 tsp of jam or to taste in the centre of each heart. Roll out the other disc of pastry the same as the first and cut out an equal amount of herat shapes with the same cutter. Brush the edges of the hearts on the baking tray with some milk and press the other hearts on top to enclose the jam. Press around the edges with a fork to seal completely. Brush the tops with some more milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife, cut a little x shaped vent in the centre of each.
Gather up all of the scraps and shape into another dish and roll out as for the other pastry, and cut and fill tarts as before, bearing in mind that they will not be as tender as the first ones because of the extra handling. Repeat brushing with milk, sprinkling with sugar, etc.
Like I said I used the other half of the pastry to do a single baked crust for a Lemon Meringue Pie, and I am using an unsual amount of restraint keeping it in the refrigerator until it gets really cold before cutting! Lemon Meringue is my favourite kind of pie, next to raisin pie . . . so its hard to not want to cut into it right now!
In any case if you are looking for a delicious little Valentines treat to bake for your loved ones that's not that hard or fiddly and one that they will really enjoy, look no further than Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts!! Bon Appetit and off with their heads!
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