I’ve had to break my 3 month baking embargo. It’s the Great British Bake Off, I’m afraid – I get 20 minutes into each programme before having to gnaw the sofa arm out of hunger. It is insane not to prepare a pudding before watching this show, so (overachiever as per usual) I’ve done two.
This is a recipe from His Holiness that I was bitching about all the way through making – the pastry’s impossible, there’s too much juice, the topping’s too lumpy. Ye of little faith. They came out right gorgeous – unmolded like a dream, even without greasing the tins, no soggy bottoms (phnar phnar) and a great combination of crunchy crumble, tender crisp pastry and melting fruit. Add vanilla icecream for your own personal nirvana.
I’ve added ground roasted hazelnuts to Nige’s pastry and honey in the place of maple syrup. For the rhubarb version, I took a tip from GBBO contestant Janet Basu’s rhubarb meringue pie, and cooked 2cm lengths of rhubarb until just tender in the oven, before standing them up vertically in the tart tin and covering with the topping.
Oh, and follow along the #ggbo hashtag if you’re watching tonight, it’s half the fun.
Quince or rhubarb streusel tart with hazelnut pastry
Adapted from Nigel Slater. Makes two 16cm tarts.
Ingredients
- 100g butter at room temperature
- 80g caster sugar
- 1 medium egg 1
- 150g plain white flour
- 50g ground roasted hazelnuts
- 1 lemon
- For the quinces (this quantity makes two 16cm tarts):
- 1 lemon
- 3 big quinces, about 800g in total before preparing
- 2 tbsps caster sugar
- 3 tbsps honey
- 2 dessert apples (i.e. not Bramleys)
- For the rhubarb (this quantity makes two 16cm tarts):
- 800g rhubarb
- 2 oranges
- 4 tbsps caster sugar
- For the topping:
- 150g plain white flour
- 75g room temperature butter
- 75g demerara sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200˚C and put in a metal baking sheet big enough for the two 16cm metal tart tins to sit on.
- Make the pastry. This will (probably) seem like a nightmare and require scraping off the worksurface but don’t worry, mine turned out all tender and crisp in the end and no-one else need know exactly how much ended up stuck to bits of you or the kitchen.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the egg and mix this in well too. Dump in the flour and ground hazelnuts too and bring together into a soft ball. Knead briefly on a very floury surface to amalgamate then (attempt to) roll out and line the tins (patch, stuff, squeeze and press as needs be). Chill in fridge while you prepare the fruit.
- For the quinces: juice the lemon into a saucepan. Peel, core and chop the quinces into small pieces (1cm or less cubes). Turn in the lemon as you go. Add the sugar and honey and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes until tender. Meanwhile core and chop the dessert apples (leave the peel on) and add to the quinces when they’re starting to soften. Make sure the fruit is nice and soft before you stop.
- For the rhubarb: wash the stalks and cut into lengths about 2cm long depending on how tall your tart tins are – I wanted mine to stand vertically so you need to leave a bit of room at the top for the streusel to go on too. Put in an ovenproof dish, juice the orange in too and sprinkle over the sugar. Bake until tender to the point of a knife.
- Make the topping: rub the butter into the flour (or use a food processor) until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the demerara. Beat the egg lightly and fork this through – you’ll get big lumps, but that’s ok.
- Now fill the tart tins. For the quinces, lift out the fruit with a slotted spoon avoiding as much juice as possible (no soggy bottoms allowed). For the rhubarb, stand the segments up vertically. Sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and crisp on top. Cool on rack for 10 minutes to let everything sit before de-tinning.
Preparation time: 45 minute(s)
Cooking time: 30 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 8
Meal type: dessert
Culinary tradition: English
