Treacle tart

Comforting and nostalgic, a well-made treacle tart is guaranteed to win anyone over. Served just warm with lashings of ice cream or custard, it’s the ideal way to round off Sunday lunch. It’s also a great opportunity to perfect your pastry technique.

Treacle tart

SERVES 10 PREP 30 mins plus 1 hr chilling and cooling COOK 1 hr 5 mins EASY V 250g plain flour

140g cold unsalted butter, cubed 3 tbsp icing sugar

2 egg yolks

2-3 tbsp cold water

For the filling

400g golden syrup

1 ball of stem ginger in syrup, finely

chopped, plus 50g of the syrup 1 lemon, zested

2 eggs, lightly beaten

100g fine fresh white breadcrumbs

1 Sieve the flour and 1/2 tsp salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub together with your fingers to a fine breadcrumb-like texture (or do this in a food processor). Stir though the icing sugar, then quickly add the egg yolks and 2 tbsp water, mixing swiftly with a cutlery knife to combine. Form into a ball (add another tbsp water if you need to), then wrap and chill for 30 mins. Roll out to the thickness of a pound coin, and line a 22cm fluted tart tin with the pastry, leaving a 1-2cm overhang. Chill for 30 mins.

2 Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Put a baking sheet in the oven to heat up. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and baking beans, then put in the oven on the baking sheet and bake for 15 mins. Remove the parchment and bake for a further 10 mins or until the pastry is golden brown. Leave to cool before trimming off the overhanging edges with a small serrated knife.

3 Lower the oven temperature to 160C/140C fan/gas 4. Combine the golden syrup, ginger, ginger syrup, lemon zest, eggs and breadcrumbs in a bowl, whisking everything together until combined. Carefully pour the filling into the pastry case, then put in the lower part of the oven to bake for 35-40 mins or until the filling is just set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 20 mins before serving with ice cream or thick clotted cream.

PER SERVING 402 kcals • fat 14g • saturates 8g • carbs 62g • sugars 39g • fibre 1g • protein 6g • salt 0.7g