Treacle Tart is a British classic dessert that I’ve given a twist by adding beautiful ground hazelnuts into the filling. The result is a Hazelnut Treacle Tart that you’ll want to make on repeat in Autumn and Winter. With its buttery, flaky pastry and sweet, nutty syrup filling, this tart will go down in one of those dessert you love.
Treacle Tart is one of those desserts that we all had as a kid growing up. It has all the cozy nostalgic vibes that you can have from a dessert. I very, very nearly included a version of treacle tart in my cookbook but then swapped it out for a steamed pudding instead. Equally British, and equally filled with Golden Syrup. It was a tough choice to make.
Speaking of cookbooks. I have two weeks until I’m finished. I plan on sending my manuscript and images by the end of November. If I manage that I’ll be two weeks ahead of my manuscript deadline and six weeks ahead of ,y photography deadline. I’ve been pushing so hard to get ahead of these timeframes. I’ve been focusing on taking December off. It’ll be a chance to re-calibrate, concentrate on myself and the family for a while before hitting the ground running in January. Wish me luck for these final two weeks!
What is Treacle Tart?
This tart is classically British. It's filled with store cupboard ingredients that you’ll most likely have on hand making this a dream tart to bake if you don’t get the chance to scoot to a shop. The shortcrust pasty can be any short pastry you like, all-butter, sour cream pastry or sweet shortcrust. In this recipe I’ve used my sweet shortcrust pastry. Luckily for you, I’ve compile a super informative post all about making shortcrust pastry from scratch. You can have a read of that guide here. If you don’t have it in you to make your shortcrust pastry then I won’t judge, go use a store-bought shell- the filling is everything here!
What Ingredients are in Hazelnut Treacle Tart
The filling is made with more pantry ingredients of cream, eggs, breadcrumbs and Lyle’s Golden Syrup being the main ones. I’ve substituted some of the breadcrumbs with ground hazelnuts. And it works brilliantly. It imparts such a gorgeous nutty taste to the filling that sits alongside the treacle wonderfully. I also added a hint of ground ginger to provide that warming feeling you get when eating baked goods with ginger. I swear, this tart makes me want to curl up in front of a fire place and be super cozy!
Instead of plain white breadcrumbs, I had leftover sourdough bread and whizzed that up in the food processor to form bread crumbs. The tang that sourdough bread imparts, cuts right through the sweetness of the filling. My food processor struggled to grind the sourdough into a fine breadcrumb- you can see in the images below that there are some big dark chunks of the sourdough rind. It’s a cheap food processor and I’d love to upgrade it one day but it and I did the best we could with it’s ability!! I didn’t mind these chunks at all but if you want finer breadcrumb, I’m sure your good quality, high powered blender with break it down finer...alternatively you can use store bought. Some treacle tart recipes don’t call for breadcrumbs and without them you’ll get a much gooier, oozing filling. I prefer using the bread crumbs as it provides body to the tart and cuts the sweetness of the syrup.
How do you make this Hazelnut Treacle Tart?
Make the tart base:
First things first, you have to make your sweet shortcrust pastry. Sift the dry ingredients, flour, icing sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the cold, cubed butter into the flour and rub the butter and flour together between your fingers until it resembles a bread crumb consistency with some larger pieces the size of walnut halves.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in your egg. Using a fork, mix in the egg into the flour. Add 2 tablespoons ice cold water and use your hands to bring the dough together. Add more water sparingly if needed.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press the dough just a couple of times to gather all the crumbs into a ball. Then shape the dough into a disc lightly with your hands. Wrap the dough a couple of times with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum to allow the butter to re harden.
Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F. Once chilled, let the dough sit at room temperature until it is soft enough to roll. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s the thickness of a coin.
Ensure the dough is rolled out large enough to cover the base, the sides and enough for over-hang of your tart tin. Place the dough into the tart tin and with your fingers gently push the dough onto the sides of the tin into all the grooves. Using a sharp knife, cut the excess dough from the tin. Wrap excess dough in plastic wrap and set aside. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork and then line with greaseproof paper and fill with pie weights all the way up the sides.
Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the greaseproof paper and pie weights and return the pastry back to the oven. Bake for a further 7 minutes until just golden. Set aside to cool whilst you make the filling.
Make the hazelnut treacle filling:
In a medium bowl beat the eggs and double cream together. Warm Lyle’s Golden Syrup gently on the stove top until it loosens and then pour into the egg mixture, whilst whisking continuously.
Add the breadcrumbs, ground hazelnut, vanilla extract, ground ginger and salt and mix together. It’s as simple as that!
To assemble, roll out the remaining pastry and cut out leaf shapes and place around tart to decorate.. Bake tart in a 180C/350F oven for 40 minutes or until just set. Serve your Hazelnut Treacle Tart warm with thickened cream and a drizzle of Lyle’s Golden Syrup.
Lyle’s Golden Syrup
It’s been a tough time for everyone this year and baking really has brought joy to so many. I can’t wait to drop some slices of this tart onto my neighbours doorsteps for them to enjoy and bring a much needed smile to their faces. Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Trussell Trust have teamed up and created this fabulous ‘Raise A Smile’ tin. For every tin sold, 20p gets donated to #trusselltrust who support foodbank centers throughout UK. Support this initiative by buying one of these tins, baking up this tart and sharing it for no other reason than to make someone else smile.
How to Store Treacle Tart
This Hazelnut Treacle Tart can be made two days in advance of serving if required.
Treacle tart can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Alternatively refrigerate for up to 5 days.
It can be eaten cold or warm and is best served with cream, custard or ice-cream.
For other Autumnal desserts for you to cozy up to, check out the following:
Cinnamon Rolls with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Icing
Gluten-free Pear, Hazelnut and Olive Oil Cake
Apple Cider Chocolate Pecan Toffee
📖 Recipe
Hazelnut Treacle Tart
Ingredients
Shortcrust pastry
- 375 g plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 80 g powdered icing sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 200 g unsalted butter, cold, chopped into small cubes
- 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
- 30-45 ml water, ice cold
Treacle tart filling
- 160 ml double cream (heavy cream)
- 2 large eggs
- 350 g Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 100 g breadcrumbs
- 120 g hazelnut meal (ground hazelnuts)
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Shortcrust pastry
- Sift the dry ingredients, flour, icing sugar and salt into a large bowl. Add the cold, cubed butter into the flour and rub the butter and flour together between your fingers until it resembles a bread crumb consistency.
- Make a well in the flour's centre and pour in your egg. Using a fork, mix in the egg into the flour. Add 2 tablespoons of ice-cold water and use your hands to bring the dough together. Add more water sparingly if needed.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press the dough just a couple of times to gather all the crumbs into a ball. Then shape the dough into a disc lightly with your hands. Wrap the dough a couple of times with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F. Once chilled, let the dough sit at room temperature for 15 minutes until it is soft enough to roll. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it’s the thickness of a coin.
- Ensure the dough is rolled out large enough to cover the base, the sides and enough for the over-hang of your tart tin. Place the dough into the tart tin, and with your fingers, gently push the dough onto the sides of the tin into all the grooves. Using a sharp knife, cut the excess dough from the tin. Wrap excess dough in plastic wrap and set aside. Prick the pastry base all over with a fork and then line with greaseproof paper and fill with pie weights all the way up the sides.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment paper and pie weights and return the pastry back to the oven. Bake for a further 7 minutes until just golden. Set aside to cool whilst you make the filling.
Treacle tart filling
- To make the filling. In a medium bowl beat the eggs and double cream together. Warm Lyle’s Golden Syrup gently on the stovetop until it loosens and then pour into the egg mixture, whilst whisking continuously.
- Add the breadcrumbs, ground hazelnut, vanilla extract, ground ginger and salt and mix together. Pour filling into your tart base.
To assemble
- Roll out remaining pastry and cut out leaf shapes and place around the tart. Bake tart for 40 minutes or until just set. Serve warm with cream and a drizzle of Lyle’s Golden Syrup.
All recipes are developed and tested in Metric grams. I strongly recommend that you bake using digital scales for a more accurate result. I have provided a conversion to US customary in the recipe but please note that I haven’t tested using this method.
Nutrition
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