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Feel young again with this deliciously nostalgic Treacle Tart recipe! Just like butterscotch tart and cornflake tart, this is guaranteed to transport you straight back to your childhood. It’s definitely an old school treat that’s sure to delight taste buds both old and young. With a wonderfully crisp and flaky pastry case filled to the brim with gooey golden syrup goodness – you can’t really go far wrong can you?!
Want to bag my Top 5 Tips to Guarantee Baking Success? Check out baking for beginners!
Classic Treacle Tart – Step by Step Picture Recipe
(For a printer friendly version, please see the recipe card at the end of the post)
Ingredients
Here is what you will need to serve 8.
Pastry
- 200g Plain Flour
- 100g Unsalted Butter, cold
- Pinch of Salt
Filling
- 400g Golden Syrup
- 185g Fresh White Bread
- Zest and Juice of 1 x Large Lemon
Essential Equipment
- 18cm (7″) Round Loose Bottomed Fluted Tart Tin
- Food Processor
- Butterfly Plunge Cutters (Optional)
Pastry instructions
So you don’t need to wash it twice, (who likes washing unnecessary pots?!) roughly tear up the bread for the filling and pulse in the food processor until it becomes fine crumbs. Tip it all out into a bowl and set to one side until needed.
Then wipe out any leftover breadcrumbs and add in the flour, cold butter and salt. Blitz briefly until it becomes like fine crumbs.
Pour in 4 tbsp of cold water and blitz again briefly until it starts to clump together to form a dough.
Tip the dough out onto a large piece of cling film and bring together to form a ball. Flatten into a disc, wrap up in the cling film then pop into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 190°C and place a heavy baking sheet in to heat up.
When the pastry is chilled, unfold the cling film and place another large piece of cling film over the top. Roll it out as thinly as you canensuring that it’s bigger than the base and sides of your tin.
Then peel off one layer of cling film and carefully lay it, pastry side down/cling film side up, over the tin. Gently ease it down into the tin, pressing it lightly into the fluted edges as you go. Try not to let any air get trapped underneath.
Next, peel off that layer of cling film and roll a rolling pin over the top to ‘cut off’ any excess. (Peel that all away and put to one side for a minute.) Now prick the base all over with a fork.
Coming back to that spare pastry – if you want to, you can roll this out thinly again and cut out a few pretty butterflies or flowers to decorate the top. This is completely optional though.
Pop your tin (and butterflies) into the fridge to stay chilled whilst we make the filling.
Filling instructions
Pour the golden syrup into a medium saucepan and heat gently for 2-3 minutes over a low/medium heat. You want it warm and runny – DO NOT BOIL.
Then add in the breadcrumbs, lemon juice and lemon zest and give it a good stir.
Assembly instructions
Take your prepared tin out the fridge and pour the filling straight in. Smooth it out with the back of a spoon. If you’ve made some butterfly decorations, arrange them however you like on the top.
At this point, you could egg wash the butterflies and the edge of the pastry but it’s entirely optional. (An egg wash is simply beaten egg.)
Pop your Treacle Tart into the oven on the preheated baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 180°C/Fan 170°C and bake for a further 30-35 minutes until a deep golden brown all over.
Allow to cool completely in the tin before removing. You can eat this warm or cold and store in an airtight container at room temperature (I prefer metal) consuming within 3-4 days.
This Treacle Tart Recipe will reallymake your taste buds tingle. I enjoyed a warmed slice with some hot custard and was immediately transported back to my school days!
Everything in this treat just works together perfectly. From the flaky pastry to the gooey golden syrup filling and even that sharp lemon which cuts through the sweetness beautifully! Just yum. A THOUSAND TIMES yum. Hey, if it’s Harry Potter’s favourite dessert you know that Mum will love it too!
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Classic English Treacle Tart - Printable Recipe
Yield: 8 Servings
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Transport back to your school days with this EPIC treacle tart recipe!
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 200 g Plain Flour
- 100 g Unsalted Butter, cold
- Pinch of Salt
For the Filling
- 400 g Golden Syrup
- 185 g Fresh White Bread
- Zest and Juice of 1 x Large Lemon
Essential Equipment
- 18 cm (7") Round Loose Bottomed Fluted Tart Tin
- Food Processor
- Butterfly Plunge Cutters, (Optional)
Instructions
- Tear up the bread for the filling and pulse in the food processor until it becomes fine crumbs. Tip into a bowl and set to one side.
- Add in the flour, cold butter and salt to the processor and blitz until it becomes like fine crumbs.
- Add 4 tbsp of cold water and pulse again briefly until it clumps together into a dough.
- Place dough on a large piece of cling film, form a ball then flatten into a disc. Wrap and place into the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 190°C and place a heavy baking sheet in to heat up.
- Unfold the cling film and place another large piece of cling film over the top. Roll it out thinly so it's bigger than the base and sides of your tin.
- Peel off one piece of cling film and lay it, pastry side down/cling film side up, over the tin. Press into the tin.
- Peel off the remaining layer of cling film and roll a rolling pin over the top to 'cut off' any excess. Now prick the base all over with a fork.
- With the spare pastry - roll out thinly again and cut out a few pretty butterflies or flowers to decorate the top. (Optional)
- Chill while we make the filling.
- Pour the golden syrup into a medium saucepan and heat for 2-3 minutes over a low/medium heat. DO NOT BOIL.
- Add the breadcrumbs, lemon juice & lemon zest and stir.
- Pour the filling into the chilled pastry case. Smooth out with the back of a spoon and arrange any decorations on the top.
- Egg wash the butterflies and the edge of the pastry. (Optional)
- Bake in the oven on the preheated baking tray and bake for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 180°C/Fan 170°C and bake for a further 30-35 minutes until a deep golden brown all over.
Notes
Allow to cool completely in the tin before removing. You can eat this warm or cold and store in an airtight container at room temperature (I prefer metal) consuming within 3-4 days.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 445Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 33mgSodium: 198mgCarbohydrates: 78gFiber: 2gSugar: 31gProtein: 5g
Nutritional information on kitchenmason.com should only be used as a general guideline, I am not a certified nutritionist. Please always check labels for allergens where applicable.
