This tart was first cooked for me by Canan, whom I met in the summer of ’92 in Bodrum. Canan comes from one of those families who was totally inspired by great Turkish food and a deep love of cooking as well as sourcing the perfect ingredients. Her mother and father were both inspirational in the kitchen and Canan was just incredible to watch. Never one for recipes, everything was in her head and she could create a meal at the speed of light. And it all tasted simply wonderful.
Jam Slices cut into bite sizes
Ready to be baked.
The first time that she told me that she would whip up a Jam Tart for me, I was not overly excited. It sounded rather boring and nothing close to an inspiring Turkish dish. Perhaps what you expect the Country Women’s Association to display such a cake on a stand at the local fête or a backwater village Bake-Off.
Dough ready to be spread across the tin.
But actually there is a reason for such tarts to still be around, decades after they were first thought up. Once you have tasted this one, you will really be questioning why you haven’t come across it before. It never fails to get people coming back for seconds. And asking for the recipe.
It is a truly quick recipe to whip together and never fails to impress.
Jam Tart slices
I do hope you will enjoy it. It is very simple to make and deserves a more interesting name.
Perhaps you can come up with one?
Afiyet olsun !
- 250 g soft butter or margarine
- 2 eggs
- 2 ¼ cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar or essence
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups flour but might need a little more
- 4 Tbsp raspberry or strawberry jam, slightly warmed
- 1 yolk for glazing, mixed with 2 tsp of milk
- Grease a 8" x 12" baking tray well. ( If you can't find that size, go smaller rather than larger)
- Cream the butter and sugar together.
- Beat in the eggs and then add the dry ingredients.
- Spread ⅘ of the mixture onto the well greased tray.
- Slightly warm the jam if cold, so that the jam can be spread thinly enough to cover
- Spread the jam over the dough
- Heat the oven. 170 C fan forced.
- Roll the remaining pastry into thin sausage lengths, adding more flour if necessary. I found that I needed an extra ½ cup.
- Place the pastry cords along the edges of the tray, and across, to create a lattice.
- Brush the latticework with yolk and milk
- Place in oven, turn down to 160C fan forced
- Wait for the tart to go quite brown. Minimum 30 minutes so that the bottom is properly cooked. You need to keep a good eye on it as it can burn quickly once hot enough.
- Let it cool in the pan and later go around the tart with a spatula or similar.
- Place a large breadboard on top of the tart tray and flip them both over together.
- Cut into small slices.
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