This vegan version of a traditional British treacle tart is deliciously gooey, sticky, and sweet, with notes of butterscotch, candy-floss, caramel, and lemon. The sweet shortcrust pastry is buttery and soft with tasty crisp edges. There's no need to blind-bake the pastry case as it bakes beautifully along with the filling.
100gramfresh breadcrumbs[wholemeal/whole-wheat or white]
2teaspoonlemon zest[plus a little extra for garnish, optional]
2teaspoonlemon juice
Instructions
Prepare the pastry: [this stage can be done 1-2 days in advance]
Add the flour and baking powder to a mixing bowl, and stir.
225 gram plain flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder
Drop the margarine into the flour in small clumps.
100 gram vegan margarine
Using your fingertips rub the margarine into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir through the sugar and salt.
30 gram granulated sugar, ⅛ teaspoon salt
Pour in the oat milk and using a metal cutlery knife stir the milk into the flour mixture, for a minute or two until the mixture begins to clump together.
5 tablespoon oat milk
Dust your hands and the bowl with some flour and bring the pastry into a dough ball. [if the dough is too dry work in some extra drops of milk]
Knead for a few seconds, and pat the dough down a little. Wrap in food wrap and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or if possible 60 minutes.
Prepare baking tin:
Grease the pie or flan tin with vegan margarine.
Dust flour over your work surface and rub some flour over the rolling pin.
Roll out the pastry into a shape that will fit your pie tin whilst also leaving about an ½-1 inch of pastry overlapping the sides.
Use the rolling pin to drape the pasty over and push the pie tin under the pastry. Drop the pastry into the tin and gently press the pastry into the bottom edges and sides of the tin.Using the rolling pin firmly roll the pin over the pie case rim so that it removes the overlapping pastry.
Place the pastry case back into the refrigerator until ready to fill.
Preheat the oven to 160 Fan / 180C / 356 Fahrenheit / Gas 4.
Prepare the filling:
Add the golden syrup to a saucepan and gently heat until hot. Don't boil the syrup, just heat it up a little as this will loosen the syrup and make it more easy to pour.
450 gram golden syrup
Take the syrup of the heat and stir through the breadcrumbs. Also stir through the lemon zest and lemon juice.
Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is browned and crisp, and the filling is bubbling. The filling will still look a little loose and be slightly wobbly when removed from the oven, but as it cools it will firm up.
If going to eat warm then do leave until the filling sets more as hot golden syrup is very hot! and the filling will be more looser compared to when it cools off a little.
Notes
Nutritional information is for guidance only and is not intended as an exact analysis as ingredients can vary.
Leftover treacle tart can be stored someone cool and dry for up to 3 days, if keeping on the serving plate wrap some kitchen foil over the top. My kitchen is quite cool so the treacle tart was fine left out on the work top for a few days.
If your home is quite warm then store the treacle tart within the refrigerator, covered.
Wholemeal/whole-wheat fresh breadcrumbs was used for this recipe but any fresh breadcrumbs can be used.
Stork baking spread was used for the pastry.
Light molasses can replace the golden syrup.
If lemon is not liked simply omit.
For a quicker treacle tart a ready made shortcrust pastry can be used.
If possible use a loose bottom pie/flan case as it makes it so much easier to remove the cooked tart.
Treacle tart is extra delicious served with hot custard, a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of pouring cream or whipped cream, vegan versions of course!
Fresh berries are a tasty accompaniment, I used raspberries for my family's treacle tart as I picked up a packet reduced in the local supermarket.
Got some leftover pastry? This can be wrapped and frozen for 3-4 months. If you end up with several pieces of leftover shortcrust pastry from several different recipes then they can be defrosted and used together. Perhaps to make another treacle tart.
Or use the leftover pastry to prepare a few tasty British jam tarts which are always a tasty easy treat, and can be frozen too.