A New Twist On Treacle Tarts (From Our Potter Party!)

Here's the recipe I'm most excited to share with you guys from our Harry Potter Christmas party: our very own twist on Treacle Tarts! Of course I realize it's tantamount to blasphemy to mess with such a traditional favorite, but hear me out, purists!

First, some pretty pictures:
 

Oooh. Ahhh. YUMMM.

For my fellow Americans and others who've never tried a Treacle Tart, they're typically made with a shortcrust filled with a mixture of treacle syrup (imagine a very light molasses), bread crumbs, and lemon.

John and I made the traditional recipe, but found the lemon too sharp with the treacle - and we love lemon desserts. The texture was also more crumbly where I expected gooey, and the crust was just... there.  I mean, overall it was fine. But I wanted something amazing.

So after 4 or 5 rounds of tweaking, taste-testing, and foisting our creation on family and friends, we finally got it: a caramelized, gooey, chewy, citrusy sweet that is buttery heaven in your mouth.

John loves it with a dollop of clotted cream, which adds a cool buttery texture, but no real flavor.

The secret? We swapped out the shortcrust for a graham cracker one, and replaced the lemon zest with orange zest instead. (Though it still has lemon juice in it.) The result is a warmer, milder citrus flavor, mixed with the sweetness of buttery graham crackers, which complements the orange and treacle perfectly.

Ready to make some?

Here's what you need:

- 1 bottle (11 oz) Lyles Golden Syrup  (check your specialty grocers)

- 1 sleeve of graham crackers

- 1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

- the zest of 1/2 an orange 

- 6 Tbsp salted butter
- 1/3 cup of sugar

- (optional) powdered sugar, for garnish

To make the crust:

Pulverize a full sleeve of graham crackers in either a food processor or by rolling them in a large Ziploc bag:

Mix with 6 Tbsp melted butter and 1/3 cup sugar until clumpy.

Now place a heaping tablespoon of crust into each cup of an ungreased muffin pan:

Then use a handy measuring cup (or spoon) to firmly tamp the crust down:

Bake the crusts for 7 minutes at 325 degrees.

They'll turn a nice golden brown - and your house will smell FABULOUS.

While that cools, make the filling:

Combine the bottle of treacle with your breadcrumbs, lemon juice, and orange zest:

This is a LOT of zest, but we like orange. Feel free to use a little less for a milder orange flavor, or mix in a little lemon zest, too, for more zing.

Spoon the filling into the cups without overflowing the crust edge:

Like so:

Bake for 14 minutes, or until the edges are a bright golden brown - but not burnt.

This recipe yields about 18 tarts. A little goes a long way with these, though; they're heavy little sugar bombs - albeit in the best, gooiest way - so you shouldn't have to make more than one or two per guest.

Thanks to the butter in the crust, the tarts will pop right out if you press firmly on one side with a spoon. (Be careful how hard you press, though, or they'll shoot across the counter! Ha!)

To finish, sift on a little powdered sugar:

This is just to look nice, though; it's completely optional.

The tarts are fantastic at any temperature, but the flavor is a little stronger once they've cooled, so room temperature is great - and extra easy for parties.

Store leftovers in a sealed plastic bag, where they'll last at least a week - or probably more, if you can resist the temptation of eating them all! If they seem too hard/chewy, just pop them in the microwave for a few seconds, and they'll soften right up.

As I said, John looooves them with Devonshire clotted cream:

So definitely give that a shot. Other folks eat treacle tarts with crème fraîche, which is a kind of mild sour cream. We didn't like that as well, but it's worth a try to see if you do!

Hope that was worth the wait, everyone! Now, who's baking this weekend? :D

(Stay tuned for recipes for our Cauldron Cakes, Meat Pasties, and Savory Pumpkin Pasties, which took almost as many revisions as these tarts!)

*****
 
UPDATE: As requested, here's a printer-friendly version of the recipe!