Easy Jam Tarts

I've been meaning to give this recipe a go for a while now. It just seemed like the perfect last minute treat for when you're feeling a bit down or if you have surprise guests. I mean, most people will have that forgotten jar of jam in their fridge just waiting for a recipe like this. I used strawberry jam because I happened to have it on hand but next time I think I'd like to try mixing it up with a few jam ones and maybe a few lemon curd ones... delicious!

Ready for the oven

I used shop bought pastry because, again, this is more of an emergency recipe than something you'd plan for but of course, feel free to use your favorite pastry recipe if you have one. My local shop tends to put the puff pastry and shortcrust pastry on offer every now and then so I try to stock up and have them on hand for situations like this.

Finished product

Also, I managed to make nine tarts out of the pastry I had but that will probably depend on the size of your circular cutter and your muffin tin. I found the best tarts were the ones where the pastry hadn't been stretched too thin so make sure you've got a good amount there for a solid crust around the outsides and on the bottom. And of course, be careful to really butter your tin properly so that the tarts slide right out.

Jammy goodness!

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 20-25 min

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

1 package shortcrust pastry
9 tablespoons of strawberry jam
1 egg

Method: 

First, grease a muffin tin so that the bottoms and sides are lightly coated.

Next, roll out your pastry and use a circular cutter to cut nine circles and nine stars. Lightly stretch the circular cut outs in your hand so that as you press them into the pan, they come up the sides about half way. Use a fork to prick the bottoms of your pastry so that they don't puff up while baking.

Add a tablespoon of jam to each pastry shell. Top with one of the pastry stars and place into the fridge for fifteen minutes to set.

While the tarts are in the fridge, preheat the oven to 160C / 320F.

After removing the tarts from the fridge, make an egg wash by whisking the egg with a little bit of water and lightly brush over the pastry stars and the tops of the sides of each tart.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the tarts are lightly browned and the jam is bubbling. Leave in the tin for a few minutes to cool and then turn out onto a plate. Enjoy! 

Hummingbird Chocolate Cupcakes

You know, sometimes you just want a cupcake. And nothing makes my day more than realizing that I have all the ingredients for the item I'm craving already in my pantry. Brilliant! This recipe was super easy - the most time consuming bit of the prep is literally just measuring out your ingredients, which takes all of three minutes. If you're in the mood for a tasty cupcake that isn't oppressively sweet, then this is the recipe for you. 

I'd seen this recipe on the Good Food website as well but wanted to give the credit to Hummingbird via Tesco because Good Food sneakily neglected to give any credit to the Hummingbird Bakery! Naughty, naughty. The following recipe hasn't been altered at all because there wasn't anything I'd do differently. I've changed the serving size from twelve to nine because that's all I could get out of the amount. Strange since my cupcakes weren't massive or excessive...

Finally, this recipe has a bit of a weird method where, instead of creaming your butter and sugar first, they just pop everything in together and then add the liquid ingredients. Strange, no? But it worked really well and made the whole recipe really time efficient.

Recipe via http://realfood.tesco.com

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 20-25 min

Serves: 9

Ingredients:

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
40g butter, room temperature
120ml milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Beat the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and butter with an electric whisk until it has the consistency of sand and is well mixed. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract before slowly adding to the dry ingredients.

Line your muffin tin with paper holders and fill them two thirds of the way up.

Bake for 20-25 min, decorate and enjoy!