Traditional Congress Tarts Recipe
Flaky, all-butter golden pastry filled with a delicately spiced sweet filling, baked until crisp and aromatic.
Ingredients
- • 275g plain flour (2 cups)
- • 125g unsalted butter (cold, cubed) (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp)
- • 3 tbsp sugar
- • 1 large egg
- • 1-2 tbsp cold water
- • 12-14 tsp seedless raspberry jam
- • 60g caster sugar (1/3 cup)
- • 60g unsalted butter (softened) (1/4 cup)
- • 1 large egg (beaten)
- • ½ tsp almond extract
- • 60g ground almonds (2/3 cup)
- • 30g plain flour (3 ½ tbsp)
- • ½ tsp baking powder
- • ¼ tsp salt
- • Flaked almonds
Preparation Steps
To make the pastry, first add the flour and butter to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. You can also rub together the flour and butter with your hands if preferred (just make sure they’re cold).
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add the sugar and whisk briefly by hand to combine.
Make a well in the centre of the mixture and add the egg and 1 tbsp of the water. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on a slow speed until it just starts to come together into a dough. If the dough is still looking too dry and crumbly, add the second tablespoon of water. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can also use a fork to bring everything together.
Use your hands to shape the dough into a ball. Don’t handle it more than you need to here or you may overwork the dough.
Wrap the dough ball in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Whilst the dough chills, prep the filling. Add the caster sugar and softened butter to a mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth and fluffy. You can also do this by hand with a wooden spoon if preferred.
Slowly and gradually pour in the beaten egg, whisking as you go until it has been completely combined. Then briefly mix through the almond extract.
Sift in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and add the salt. Fold gently with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Preheat the oven to 180C. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to approximately 0.5cm in thickness. Use a 7.5-8cm cookie cutter to cut circles from the dough and push them carefully into the holes of a cupcake tin. If you would like to decorate the tarts with crosses, reserve a little pastry for this.
Once you have lined all of the cupcake holes with pastry, prick the bases with a fork a couple of times, then add 1 teaspoon of raspberry jam to the bottom of each tart.
Spoon approx. 1 heaped teaspoon of the filling on top, making sure the jam is covered.
Decorate by scattering over a few flaked almonds, or by slicing strips from your leftover pastry and creating crosses on top of the tarts.
Bake for 20 minutes until risen and golden.
Leave in the cupcake tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.