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Treacle Tart – “How to Feed Your Family for £5 a Day” by Bernadine Lawrence

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This Treacle Tart with a wholemeal pastry base is both thrifty and delicious.

I made this Treacle Tart as part of my review of “How to Feed your Family for £5 a Day” by Bernadine Lawrence. For book review click here. This Treacle Tart is encased in a beautifully short sweet shortcrust pastry and was enjoyed by all who ate it!

I took the opportunity to use the pie plate I’d been sent from Great British Bakeware by George Wilkinson and have to say that like the loaf tin, it’s heavy gauge made for superior heat conduction and is exactly what you need when cooking pastry.

Now will it be ice cream or custard?

I still can’t get used to how long the tin stays hot after coming out of the oven – superb! Plus the fact that this pie plate (+ whole range) is metal tool safe is really useful when you need to cut a slice of tart/pie out!

I’m entering this Treacle Tart into the London “Best of British” challenge hosted by Fiona Macclean of London Unattached and The Face of New World Appliances.  I figured that as ‘Treacle Tart’ is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘heart’ there has to be a very strong link to London!

NB: All views expressed are my own with no financial gain to me!

Bowl of flour, butter and sugar.
First rub the butter into flours & sugar.
Flour, butter & sugar rubbed together in a bowl.
Breadcrumb consistency.
Wholemeal pastry dough in a bowl
Form dough into a ball.
Golden syrup, lemon juice and zest in a pan.
Heat the syrup, lemon zest and juice.
Golden syrup, lemon juice, zest & breadcrumbs in a pan.
Add the breadcrumbs.
Treacle tart wholemeal pastry with rolling pin on a board.
Roll out the pastry.
Wholemeal pastry in a pie plate.
Line pie plate.
Treacle Tart finished off with pastry lattice and egg wash.
Make the lattice and egg wash.
Slice of Treacle Tart.
Now will it be ice cream or custard?
Slice of Treacle Tart.
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4.84 from 6 votes
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Treacle Tart

A healthier variant of Treacle Tart using sweet wholemeal shortcrust pastry.
Course Dessert, Pudding
Cuisine British
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 4 -6
Author Bernadine Lawrence

Ingredients

  • 240 g Sweet Wholemeal Shortcrust Pastry base lining a 20cm round flan tin 2cm deep, not blind baked (use the quantities below to make 240g of dough. Remember to save the excess pastry for the lattice decoration)
  • 55 g self-raising wholemeal flour
  • 85 g plain white flour
  • 20 g soft light brown sugar
  • 50 g cold unsalted butter or margarine
  • 1 tbsp sunflower oil
  • 1 tbsp cold water
  • Filling
  • 225 g golden syrup
  • 1 lemon, finely grated zest and juice of
  • 75 g breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg beaten, for glazing

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F), Gas 5.
  • Mix together the flours and the sugar and quickly rub in the butter or margarine (try not to take too long as this pastry should stay as cool as possible).
  • Add the oil and 1 tablespoon of cold water and mix to a dough.
  • Roll into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  • Roll the pastry out evenly on a floured surface.
  • To line the tin or dish, roll the pastry up onto the rolling pin and unroll it over the flan tin.
  • Gently lower the pastry onto the tin, then press it firmly into the corners or edges.
  • Roll a rolling pin over the rim of the tin to get rid of any excess pastry.
  • To make the filling, warm the golden syrup in a saucepan with the lemon zest and juice. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs into the syrup, stir and slowly pour into the pastry case.
  • Make strips from the pastry trimmings and make a lattice pattern over the tart. Brush the ends with water to stick them to the pastry case. Glaze the pastry strips with the beaten egg.
  • Place the tart on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the filling is just set.

Notes

Although the recipe called to 1 tablespoon of both water and sunflower oil, on the day I baked it was quite warm and I found I needed an extra drizzle of both to bring the pastry together.
Having made this tart twice now I can say that if you have a large lemon you need to reduce the amount of juice to about 1/2 to 3/4 otherwise you end up with ‘Lemon Tart’ drowning out the treacle flavour!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Camilla

      Oh I’d forgotten about this recipe – now I want Treacle Tart but as I’m on a mission to loose some weight this won’t happen any time soon!

      Reply

  20. Maya Russell

    I have never made treacle tart but it is a favourite of mine so thanks for the clear recipe.

    Reply

  22. Lisa Williams

    I love treacle tart but I have never thought of making my own think I might give it a try now thank you

    Reply

  28. Jacqueline @How to be a Gourmand

    Camilla, great idea for Best of British – London entry. The lattice on the top reminds me of last week’s GBBO episode. I can imagine this would go down well as a family dessert.

    Reply

    • Camilla

      I was so pleased when I researched Treacle Tart and found that it was cockney rhyming slang as I was getting brain ache trying to think of something Londony to enter!
      Yes, I watched GBBO and thought to myself I’ll use their greaseproof paper tip to get the lattice right as my previous attempt with more lattices when awry. It was a total disaster and my lattices broke and landed haphazardly. I then just mended and re-arranged in situ best I could. Hence they are not perfectly spaced out, but hey in the words of Nigel Slater I’m a home cook!

      Reply

  29. Mich - Piece of Cake

    Sure looks delicious! I have never baked with Treacle before but have heard quite a bit about it from reading blogs, so I really do wonder how it tastes like.

    Reply

    • Camilla

      Hi Michelle, well if you know what golden syrup tastes like then you’re there, there is not treacle in a Treacle Tart! The lemon is used to counter the over sweetness of the syrup.

      Reply

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