Jam Tarts

First up, sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the caster sugar. Pop in the cubed butter and rub into the flour until well blended and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. 

Pop in the egg yolk and Vanilla Extract and mix in. Bring the pastry together with your hands, pressing the ingredients together to make a ball, add a 1-2 tbsp of cold water if your mixture is too crumbly this will help it come together. Pop your pastry onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead to bring together, try not to handle the pastry too much!

Wrap your pastry in cling film and pop into the fridge and allow your pastry to chill and rest for 30 minutes. 10 minutes before your pastry have finished chilling preheat your oven to 200°C/180°C/Gas Mark 6 and lightly grease a 12 hole tart or bun tin.

Roll your pastry out onto a lightly floured surface until approx. ½cm thickness and cut out 12 circles big enough to line the holes on your tray; re-roll your pastry as necessary. 

Line your tin with the pastry circles and add 1-2tsp of jam into each pastry case, you want them to be about ½ full so your jam doesn’t bubble over. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes until your pastry is golden. Leave to cool in the tins until they are cool enough to handle and then pop onto a wire rack to cool completely.