Homemade Jam Tart

Among the traditional cakes, jam tars surely have a place of honour on the list of the favourite cakes. Easy, informal and everlasting, they’re not just good: they’re tasty, melting at first bite, thanks to their soft jam filling, and everyone loves them, both adults and children.

What do you need

300 g of flour

100 g of white or brown sugar

100 g of butter

2 eggs

Lemon zest

Half a bag of baking powder

A pinch of salt

Your favourite jam

How to proceed

First of all, prepare the dough for the shortcrust. Whisk sugar, butter and a pinch of salt until you obtain a clear and frothy mixture. Add eggs, one at the time and beat with an electric mixer.

When your mixture is smooth and without lumps, add flour previously mixed with sifted baking powder.

You should now have a soft dough and you can transfer it on a pastry board. Work the dough with your hands: be quick, otherwise you’ll warm it too much. Shape it into a ball and wrap it in cling film. Let it sit in the fridge at least 30-40 minutes.

After the resting time, divide the dough. You’ll use 2/3 of the dough as the base of the tart, and 1/3 as decoration: you can store this part back in the fridge.

Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, roll the shortcrust pastry out until it is about 4 mm thick. Lay it gently on a buttered tray dusted with flour and help the shortcrust to adhere to the mould. Finally, use a fork to make small holes on the pastry.

Pour your favourite jam. Whether it is fig, blueberry or apricot jam, just remember to spread it evenly.

There is a technique to make a tart by the book, with perfect stripes and squares: you must work your shortcrust while it is still solid and cold! Take it off the fridge and cut a rectangle to be cut into 1 cm wide stripes. Lay them the gently diagonally on the tart, first in one way and then in the opposite one. Cut the extra shortcrust away and… it’s baking time!

If you use a static oven, you can bake your tart at 170° for 45 minutes. If you’ll prefer to use a convection oven, you’ll need 30-35 minutes at 180°. Your jam tart will be ready when the whole surface is golden-brown.