Her repetoire included Victoria sandwich cakes, jam tarts, ground rice cakes, squashed fly pie, almond slices, egg custards - sadly with very soggy bottoms, Mary Berry would not have approved - and, as an occasional treat, she would make toffee tarts. I have no idea where the original recipe came from but they were a confection of pastry case, sugar and dried fruit made even sweeter with a splodge of icing.
My teeth ache at the mere thought of them.
But the memory of the sheer pleasure these brought made me think it would be worth re-visiting her original recipe and adapting it to a more grownup palate.
And this is the result - sweet, sticky, but a little more sophisticated than those teatime treats
Short crust pastry
4oz plain flour
2 oz butter
Cold water
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl, cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour.
Rub together until you have a mixture resembling fine breadcrumbs.
Alternatively, chuck the flour and butter into a food processor and do this the quick way!!
Add just enough cold water to bring it all together into a stiff dough. Place in a plastic bag or greaseproof paper and leave in the fridge for ½ hour.
Grease a 10" pie dish. Roll out the pastry and line the pie dish.
Filling
1oz butter
4oz brown sugar - dark is best
3oz chopped dates
3oz chopped walnuts
1 egg
1 orange
Place the butter and sugar into a saucepan and place over a low heat until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved.
Remove from the heat.
Finely grate the orange and add the zest and the juice to the butter mix.
Stir in the dates, walnuts and egg.
Pour over the flan case and bake at 170ºC for approximately 30 minutes.
Serve in thin slices - it is very rich - with custard, ice cream, creme fraiche or clotted cream
A custard flavoured with lemon rind and bayleaf goes beautifully with this.
© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015
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