Neenish Tart Recipe
Makes 24
Ingredients:
Pastry
125g butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ tsp almond essence
1 egg
1⅔ cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
Filling
90g butter, softened
½ cup icing sugar, sifted
3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
Chocolate Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 drop vanilla essence
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp butter
Method:
To make pastry, using an electric mixer, cream butter with sugar and almond essence until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Stir in flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt.
Knead lightly, then form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease two 12-hole shallow patty tins. Roll out pastry and cut into 24 6cm-rounds. Fit into prepared patty tins, prick lightly with a fork and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until a pale biscuit colour. Cool on wire racks.
To make the filling, beat butter until fluffy. Then beat in icing sugar, condensed milk and lemon juice. Spoon into cooled tarts, smooth flat with a palette knife and leave to set.
To make the chocolate icing, sift icing sugar into a small heatproof bowl. Add 1 tablespoon hot water and heat over gently simmering water. Stir in vanilla. When icing will coat the back of a spoon, use it immediately to ice one half of each tart (see Smart Tip below).
Add cocoa and butter to remaining white icing in the bowl. Stand over simmering water and stir until butter melts and icing is smooth and glossy (you may have to beat in a little more hot water). Use at once to ice the other halves.
Smart Tip:
To help make a clean line between the two icings, place a square of baking paper on top of one half of a tart so the straight edge forms a guide for the white icing. Remove paper and repeat with remaining tarts. Leave to set completely. When adding the chocolate icing, tilt each tart so the icing comes cleanly against the white edge.
Recipes and images are extracted from Margaret Fulton’s Baking Classics by Margaret Fulton (Hardie Grant Books, $39.95).
