Ecclefechan Butter Tart

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •23cm fluted tart tin with removable base
• •Rolling pin
• •Baking parchment and baking beans
• •Mixing bowls
• •Whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pastry

   Tip the flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the cold cubed butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse sand with a few pea-sized lumps still in it. Don't fuss it into a fine powder. The lumps are what give you a tender crust. Add the yolk and a tablespoon of cold water, then bring it together with a knife, adding more water a teaspoon at a time only if it needs it. The dough should just hold when you press it. Flatten it into a disc, wrap it, and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour.

   Cold hands help. If yours run warm, rinse them under the cold tap before you start. Warm butter melts into the flour and the pastry loses its flakiness.
2. 2

   Line the tin

   Roll the chilled pastry out on a lightly floured surface to about the thickness of a pound coin. Lift it into a 23cm fluted tart tin with a removable base, easing it into the corners without stretching. Trim the edges, leaving a small overhang to allow for shrinkage. Prick the base lightly with a fork and put the tin back in the fridge for fifteen minutes while the oven heats.

3. 3

   Blind bake

   Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan. Line the chilled pastry with baking parchment and fill it with baking beans or dried pulses. Bake for fifteen minutes, then lift out the parchment and beans and give the base another five minutes until it looks dry and pale gold. This bit matters. A soggy base under a wet filling is one of life's small disappointments.

4. 4

   Make the filling

   Turn the oven down to 170C/150C fan. In a roomy bowl, whisk the melted butter and brown sugar together until they look like wet sand. Add the beaten eggs and the vinegar and whisk again. The vinegar smells sharp and unlikely at this stage. Trust it. It cuts the sweetness of the sugar and brings the whole thing into balance. Stir in the dried fruit, the walnuts and the lemon zest until everything is coated in the dark, glossy mixture.

   If your dried fruit looks tired or has been in the cupboard since last Christmas, soak it for ten minutes in boiling water and drain it well. It plumps up and tastes of itself again.
5. 5

   Fill and bake

   Pour the filling into the warm pastry case and spread it level. Slide the tin onto the middle shelf and bake for twenty-five to thirty minutes. You're looking for a top that has set and gone a deep, treacly brown, with the centre still holding a faint wobble when you nudge the tin. It firms as it cools. Take it out before the surface cracks.

6. 6

   Cool and serve

   Let the tart cool in the tin for at least half an hour. It needs this time to settle. Trim the pastry overhang with a small sharp knife while it's still warm, then ease the tart out of its tin. Serve in modest slices, warm or at room temperature, with a generous pour of cold double cream. A small slice goes a long way. This is a rich, dark, grown-up sort of pudding.

Chef Tips

• •Soft dark brown sugar, not light. The molasses in the dark sugar is doing half the work here, giving the filling its treacly depth and that almost burnt-toffee note. Light brown sugar will make a perfectly nice tart, but it won't be this one.
• •Don't skip the vinegar. Malt is traditional and gives it a properly Borders character, but cider vinegar will do at a push. It's the small, strange ingredient that makes the recipe what it is. A tart without it is just sweet. A tart with it has a backbone.
• •Walnuts go rancid faster than people think. Buy them in small quantities, smell them before you use them, and keep the bag in the fridge or freezer. Stale walnuts will ruin a good tart faster than anything else in the cupboard.
• •This is rich. Cut smaller slices than feels generous. A dollop of cold double cream alongside is non-negotiable, and a small glass of something fortified, a tawny port or a decent oloroso, turns it into pudding for a Sunday evening worth remembering.

Advance Preparation

• •The pastry can be made up to two days ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge, or frozen for up to a month. Let it soften slightly before rolling.
• •The blind-baked pastry case can be made the day before and kept loosely covered at room temperature.
• •The finished tart keeps beautifully in an airtight tin for up to four days. It is, if anything, better on the second and third day, when the filling has settled and the flavours have deepened.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 140g)