Treacle Tart for a Mizzlin' Day!!

Yes friends, it's already the time of the year when Mainah's thoughts turn to wood....and wood piles....and wood stoves....and flues.... and MOVING wood!! I did my first wood haul this week into the front porch area where we spend our summer days...safe from the mosquitoes, shielded from the sun by a grape vine and smelling the delicious smells of a Maine summer. But no more...the evenings are drawing in, the wind is chill and today it's raining and drizzling and mizzlin' and misty...just the sort of day one needs to eat ones unfair share of Treacle Tart!!

And LO I hear you ask...why is there a can of Golden Syrup for this tart named "TREACLE" (Brit word for molasses)...well believe it or not I just thought of that question myself for the very first time...there seems to be no treacle in this tart...but YES there is - golden syrup is also known as, and no I did not know this, light treacle or light molasses...and thus the mystery is solved and we can get on with baking this tooth achingly sweet cold day treat!!

Piecrust...Pate Brisee by Martha
Pre-heat oven to 400F

1 1/4 cups/5ozs of white flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 stick (4ozs) butter I always use salted, VERY cold
1/8 to 1/4 cup ice cold water
METHOD:
1. Sift the flour
2. Grate the butter into the flour.
3. Gently work butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal.
4. Add some of the water and test to see if it comes together, if not keep adding water until the dough will squush into a non-sticky ball.
5. Put into the fridge to rest for at least one hour.
6. Take the pastry out of the fridge, allow to warm a very little, roll out nice and thin, then line an 8" tart pie...preferably with a removable base. Put back in the fridge for about another 20 minutes til nice and cold...the colder the better...I have found the colder it is before baking the less the pie shell will shrink in cooking.
7. Line the pie shell with parchment paper and fill with beans and blind bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for about another 15 minutes so shell is somewhat cooked before you put the liquid filling in. Helps the shell stay crisper once the golden syrup mixture goes in.

THE Filling:...oh so simple....just like me!!
Reduce your oven to 190C/375F

1 can (454g) of Tate and Lyle's Golden Syrup....
a real treat if you haven't tried it before, sort of a buttery tasting sugar syrup you can use on and in all manner of delicious desserts
110g/ 4oz/ 1 cup white breadcrumbs preferably from day old bread
The finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon (preferably organic)
OR: 1 large apple grated...the apples you see above are windfalls from the back of our house...best we've had in years!!
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.

1. Mix all the above ingredients together with either the lemon or the apple...I tried both separately...of course the lemon was tangier and the apple one was more complex but both were very good, depends on whether you like a bit of tart with your sweet.
2. Pour the mix into the pre-baked tart shell and pop into your nice and cozy oven.
3. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the pastry is nicely browned and the surface of the 'treacle' is ever so slightly browned...if you over cook this pie it will turn chewy and tough and I suspect you don't want that!!

Here is great link to a US/UK conversion blog page by Graham Ettridge...very useful for those of us with very old English cookbooks!!
and here's your lovely Treacle Tart...should be served warm with lashings of clotted cream, heavy(double) cream, vanilla ice cream or even pouring custard...or ALL OF THEM!!!! YEA!!!

I couldn't resist another picture of the fabulous leaves against a clear Fall/Autumn sky...this was a couple of days ago before the rain set in.
Happy Baking!!!