Quince and Vanilla Bakewell Tarts

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.

Writing doesn’t come as naturally to me as cooking, or more visual pursuits (and my backlog of posts is proof of this). I am a little bit of a perfectionist and if I tweaked and tinkered as much as I would like this blog wouldn’t exist. This is an exercise in letting go more than anything else. 

Sometimes I sit down here to write and can barely string two sentences together. On a day like today, the posting day for the latest Daring Bakers challenge, this is a very bad thing. No words = no post, so what do I do? Get distracted. By my latest new cookbook, other peoples blogs, pretty internet nibbles or, as happened today, facebook scramble. 

My pMum is wonderful with words in an artisticly bizarre way. She famously noticed that my netball club’s proposed new name had the aconym WANC. We would have forever been called the WANCers were it not for her, though AWNC certainly doesn’t have the same ring to it. So you better believe that she is a scramble master. Thats right, I’ve nothing to write about so I tried all morning to beat her. And failed. So I am back again trying to think of something to say about Bakewell Tarts.

There are many words to describe them: Historic, boring, easy, unenticing, plain. That is what I thought before I made them, at least. I don’t like jam, and I find frangipane boring which leaves little to love in this little tart. So I only made a half mixture, not wanting to be haunted by some sad little lifeless treats hanging around for days. 

Fresh from the oven, these tarts are just the opposite, what a happy surprise. Crisp pastry slathered with homemade tart quince and vanilla jam topped by light and fragrant frangipane, these tarts turned into more than the sum of its parts. Happily, bakewell tarts are now tasty, comforting, interesting and pleasant to me. Now, to beat that scramble high score.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding
This recipe was provided by the Daring Bakers. I used a half recipe and made 4 individual tarts.

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

225g plain flour
30g sugar
½ tsp salt
110g  unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 egg yolks
15-30ml cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. 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 yolks with the almond 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. I made mine the day before and left it on the bench for a while to come up to temperature before rolling it out.

Frangipane

125g unsalted butter, softened
125g icing sugar
3  eggs
½ tsp almond extract
125g  ground almonds
30g all purpose flour

Cream butter 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 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond 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.

Assembling the tart:

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry 
Bench flour
250ml jam or curd, warmed for spreadability (I used quince and vanilla jam, recipe follows)
One quantity frangipane

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 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 desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart 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, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Quince and Vanilla Jam
Unfortunately I don’t really have a recipe for this as I made it up (cook this at your own risk!). But here is what I did.

You will need poaching liquid from poached quinces (see this recipe), 1 litre’s worth or more. Taste it, you may need to add a little more sugar along the way. Place in a saucepan, add one split vanilla bean pod and simmer until reduced and syrupy. It needs to set, so be sure that you include the skins and cores of the quinces when you poach them. To test place a few drops of the liquid on a plate that has been in the freezer. If it sets then it is ready, if not continue reducing. If it doesn’t work, sorry.

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