Treacle Tart Will Make Your Life Better.

Why Hii. It's time for some Treacle Tart. UuuH Trusty Treacle Tart, what can I say about him. Really all that needs to be said is 'make Treacle Tart and your life will be better'. It won't matter that it's dark at 8 o clock, when it used to be 11.30pm and it will soon be 4pm. It won't matter that you only got halfway through your 'to-do' list and you've got a whole new one for tomorrow.

And it won't matter that you've spent your summer in New York, pursued dreams, met a boy and had the absolute time of your life and now it's time to pack up and head back across the Atlantic to Cornwall, where there isn't somewhere on each block that you can go for enormous pancakes for brunch. There aren't even any blocks. But it'll work out little sis, don't worry.

And while it does, you've got this. This ooey-gooey, too hot, too sweet, too sticky and utterly satisfying circle of love to get you through.

He'll mop your brow in times of stress, he'll dry your tears when you're sad and he'll rub your feet when they're sore (symbolically that is, don't actually put your feet near him). Rest your head in a bowl of this divine syrupy goodness, swimming in cream; both pouring AND clotted if it's extra-specially bad, and for a glorious moment or two, nothing else will matter. All is well and your tummy will smile. With Love and Cake. 

Treacle Tart

An amalgamation of a couple of recipes and some treacle tart experience

A few notes:

• You might consider doubling the pastry amounts and popping half in the freezer before the resting stage. It's so handy to have some ready and waiting and maybe, possibly, perhaps it might be required for other things you'll find on here soon.
• When ever I have a bit of bread that's too stale for eating, I whizz it to crumbs in my processor and keep them in a bag in the freezer. You can just keep adding to them and whenever you need a few handfuls for something just use them from frozen, no need to defrost. This means I actually used a mixture of wholemeal and white crumbs for the tart, you can use one or the other too though, whatever you have to hand really.
• If you don't have a food processor you can use a grater to make the crumbs. It'll be a bit more messy and time consuming and the crumbs probably won't be as fine but if it means treacle tart is a possibility when it wouldn't be otherwise- totally worth it.
• Also...as usual, I used a food processor for the pastry. You can use you fingers for rubbing in the butter and bringing it all together.

Makes an 18cm tart

You will need

a shallow 18cm cake or pie tin tin, greased

For the pastry

110g plain flour

50g butter

1-2 tbsp cold water

For the filling

400g golden syrup

125g breadcrumbs

1 tsp ground ginger

50g butter

• First lets get on with the pastry. Pop the flour in the processor and give it a pulse.
• Next whizz in the butter until it has a texture of fine breadcrumbs then, a tbsp at a time, whizz in the water until everything comes together and makes you a nice dough.
• Pat into a flat disc and let rest in the fridge in a bag or some clingfilm for 1/2 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 180°.
• When the pastry's ready, roll it out so it's big enough to cover the base and sides of the tin. 
• Press it into the prepared tin and trim off any excess that folds over the top of the sides.
• Let it wait in the fridge while you get on with the easy-peasy part- the filling.
• Just pop everything in a saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted.
• Pour into the the pastry case, smooth the top down and bake 25-ish minutes- until the pastry is a teeny bit golden.
• Eat when it's just a bit too hot, the cream will cool it down. Any left over can be reheated for a few minutes in the oven when it's required.