Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Raspberries and Bakewell Tarts

Haven't had much time for poetry lately, but a poet still needs to eat, and I'm still trying to empty my cupboards and freezer of perishables.

I had a little lost jar of ground almonds begging to be used, and ditto a bag of frozen raspberries, so I conferred with Nigella who suggested a Bakewell Tart with Fresh Raspberries (from How to Eat). Bakewell tarts are usually a kind of jam tart with ground almond batter (frangipane) on top; they are equally nice as pies or individual tarts or plumped into cakes, and often to be found in English bakeries. Haven't seen them in Canada, but maybe it's because I don't frequent bakeries so much.

Being surrounded by boxes and chaos I dispensed with Nigella's home made pastry and pulled out a frozen pie shell which worked perfectly well, although because the shells are smaller than what the recipe called for, there was about a cup of batter left over. And since I was using frozen raspberries, they were quite juicy, so I drained off some of the juice (to save for my morning yogurt of course!) and mixed them with a dollop of jam rather than putting, as the instructions said, a layer of jam on the base. I managed to scorch the topping by adding the flaked almonds from the start of baking as instructed, but other recipes suggest adding the flaked almonds later on and I hope that will work better. So here's my easy version with North American measurements.
Raspberry Bakewell Tart

1 frozen pie shell
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed
2 tbsp (or to taste) raspberry or blackberry jam
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup sugar
3-4 tbsp flaked almonds
  • Heat the oven to 400f.
  • Mix the raspberries and jam together and partially drain, so it's a jam-like consistency. Prick the pie shell.
  • Melt the butter and set aside. Beat the eggs and almonds together and add the melted butter.
  • Spread the raspberry mixture in the pie shell. Pour almond mixture over the berries.
  • Bake 20 minutes, and then sprinkle the flaked almonds on top and bake for 15-20 minutes longer, until puffed and golden.
  • Cool and serve either warm or at room temperature.

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