Open Tart of Strawberry

Mrs. Beeton's Open Tart of Strawberry or any other kind of Preserve


Super simple and requires only 2 ingredients - pastry and jam


The recipe even has an illustration showing the type of tart pan which was recommended.   Totally not the one I used, but the modern tart pan was the only item close enough in my cupboard. 

The recipe calls for puff pastry scraps.  My puff pastry was in my freezer instead of with me at the Westfield bake oven, so I quickly mixed up a short crust to use instead.   The recipe also tells us to cut out some stars or leaves from scraps and bake them separately, to put on the finished pie.  These are easy to do.  After you've rolled and covered your pan, gather the scraps into a ball and re-roll them.  Use a cookie cutter or a knife to cut shapes.  Bake them for just 4 or 5 minutes, until cooked through and just starting to brown.   Any extras can be coated in cinnamon and sugar before baking, for a super yummy treat.

With the short crust pastry, I rolled out enough to cover the tart pan.  I used a fork to prick a lot of tiny holes in it about 1/2 inch apart. This is to keep the pastry flat.  The bake oven was fairly hot, about 400° F.  It took about 10 minutes to bake to a lovely shade of brown.  When it was cool, I spread on some Raspberry Jelly.    I used the little leaves to decorate the tart. 

Not only is this a pretty tart, but it was really delicious.

Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management - 1856

Open Tart of Strawberry or any other kind of preserve.

Ingredients – Trimmings of puff-paste, any kind of jam

Mode – butter a tart-pan of the shape shown in the engraving; roll out the paste to the thickness of 1/2 an inch, and line the pan with it; prick a few holes at the bottom with a fork, and bake the tart in a brisk over from 10 – 15 minutes. Let the paste cool a little; then fill it with preserve, place a few stars or leaves on it, which have bee previously cut out of the paste and baked, and the tart is ready for table. By making it in this manner, both the flavour and the colour of the jam are preserved, which would otherwise be lost, were it baked in the oven on the paste; and besides, so much jam is not required.

10 to 15 minutes

Seasonable at any time