Tea Time!

I wasn’t really super interested in The Royal Wedding and I had no plans to get up at the crack of dawn to watch it… until I kept seeing all sorts of fabulous ideas on the blogs I frequent for yummy British treats and high tea delicacies. Still, I resisted temptation, but then all my friends on Facebook started sharing their plans for Royal Wedding parties, and high tea menus. I have to admit I got sucked into the excitement and yes, I got up at 5:30 this morning to watch the royal nuptials.

I even made some British-inspired little jam tartlets last night. Yes, I did! And I made them allergen-free because I knew my Certain Little Someone would be waking up at his usual extremely early wake-time; and even if he wouldn’t want to watch the wedding, he’d certainly want to join me in enjoying the treats!

I don’t claim that these are authentic English tea-time treats… but I did find them at an authentically British website here. That recipe didn’t give ingredients or directions for the crust, which was just as well, because I had to make it allergen-free anyway. I found the recipe in Allergy Proof Recipes for Kids: More Than 150 Recipes That are All Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Egg-Free and Low in Sugar. It uses a combination of rice flour, tapioca starch, honey and shortening and is really very easy. I made some very minor adjustments, and following is how I did it:

Jam Tartlets with Allergen-Free Shortcrust

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup palm shortening

2 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup honey

dash of vinegar

1 cup jam

Place all ingredients in food processor and pulse until pea-sized crumbs form. Cut a gallon-size zippered plastic bag into two sheets of plastic. Dump half the dough onto one sheet, and form it into a firm ball with your hands. Place the other sheet of plastic on top, then use a rolling pan to roll it into a large circle. Use a medium-sized biscuit cutter to cut out uniform circles. Place the circles on top of the openings in a mini muffin tin, like this, using your fingers to push the outside of the circle of dough, so that it falls into the cup:

Gently press into any tears with your fingers:

Place a scant tablespoon of jam into each tart. If desired, use extra bits of dough to decorate the top of each tart. The only mini cookie cutter I had was a circle, so I made a half-hearted attempt to form little fluted flowers with it (or random lumps of dough, which was the actual result!). Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, or until crust is lightly golden. Allow to cool, then carefully use a table knife to remove each tart from the muffin tin.