Recipe by Helen White – from her blog helskitchen.co.uk.

Makes: 1 tasty tart

Takes: c. 45 mins prep + at least 30 mins chilling time for the pastry (you can make this the night/2 nights before but make sure it’s at room temperature before you roll it).  There’s also a further 2 hours chilling time at the end of cooking.

Bakes: There’s a pre-bake of c. 20 mins followed by a low and slow for c. 40 mins.  Preheat the oven to 180C (GM4) and pop a baking tray in to heat-up.  Lightly grease and flour a 20cm diameter loose-bottomed, fluted tart tin.  You’ll also need baking parchment and baking beans.

 

Ingredients

For the pastry

200g plain flour

50g cocoa powder (good stuff)

75g caster sugar

50g ground almonds

a pinch of salt

190g butter (I use unsalted but salted is fine too – if you use salted, don’t put extra salt in the mix)

1 egg + 1 yolk

 

 For the filling

500g ricotta cheese

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground allspice

½ tsp ground cloves

zest of 1 lemon (grated)

zest of 1 orange (grated)

you’ll need another orange for the top

and a few sliced almonds (crumbled)

 

Method

For the pastry

Pop the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl then add the butter and rub it in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Obviously you can do this in a mixer – I don’t have one so I am old school when it comes to pastry. When you have rubbed the butter in, add the egg and egg yolk and bring it all together into a soft, pliant dough.  Form it into a ball, wrap it in cling film and pop it into the fridge to chill.  I normally leave mine in there overnight (it also lasts about 5 days so you have time which is useful if you are making these for a dinner party, say).

 

For the filling

Pop the ricotta and sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir well to combine.  Then beat in the eggs by hand (no need for an electric whisk here), then beat in the spices and zests until the mix is very smooth.

 

Assembly

When you are ready to roll, just make sure that you take the pastry out in good time so it is up to room temperature.

Dust a clean worktop with a little flour and roll the pastry out to c. 3-4mm thickness.  I find the easiest way to get the pastry into the tin is to pop it underneath the pastry.  Carefully lift the pastry into the tin, press it into the sides (so you get that nice ridge effect) then level off the edges with a sharp knife, and prick the base a few times.  Put the tin into the fridge to chill for 30 mins.

When chilled, line with a little baking parchment and pour in some baking beans.  Pop the tin onto the pre-heated tray and cook for 10 mins.  After ten mins, remove the beans and paper and return the tray to the oven for a further 5 mins.

After this pre-baking, carefully pour in the filling and level it off so it’s smooth.  Return the tart to the oven and bake for  c. 30-35 mins until there’s just a small wobble in the centre (that will firm-up).  Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack (but keep it in the tin).  When cool, transfer to the fridge to chill for 2 hours before decorating.

For the orange top – use a peeler to peel the pith then slice it very thinly.  Put 2 tblsp water and 2 tblsp caster sugar into a saucepan and when the sugar has dissolved, pop the peel in and cook over a medium heat until sticky.  Remove the peel from the pan and pop on a plate to cool.

Then the tart has chilled, decorate with the peel and almonds and a dusting of icing sugar and serve.  It will keep in the fridge for a few days.

How do you eat yours…?

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