Masterchef toddler edition (Jam Tarts)

My first official baking session with my two year old son. Masterchef toddler edition it was not. What it was, was rather messy, noisy, squishy, powdery and most importantly funny. 

The toddler in question is just 2 years old. Like most non-super mums I cheated and made the pastry in advance, chilled it, then, when short and noisy woke up from his nap, had been fed and watered and the scene set for an adventure, we set to work making as much mess as possible.

He took to the pastry with gusto. Squish, prod, roll, tear, put in mouth, rapidly spit out of mouth followed by attack with pastry cutter. He seemed a litle confused  as to why it wasn't blue - 'no darling that's the Play Dough and we cant eat that', of course 'we' could say exactly the same thing about the pastry once he had finished mauling it.

In the meantime, sensible Mummy took the other half of the pastry, knocked out six jam and six lemon curd tarts. 20 minutes later these were baked to perfection and presented to Daddy as 'look what we made'. 

Jam Tarts

A recipe where approximate measurements do the job.

Makes 12 depending on the size of the pastry cutter. I frequently double everything.

4 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp milk
Jam, marmalade or lemon curd
Milk for glazing

Method

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles medium-fine breadcrumbs

Stir in the sugar, then add the milk and mix together to make a firm dough

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out to about 5mm thick

Cut out rounds with a pastry cutter – or any cup that looks about the right size for the job – and place them in a greased bun tin

Glaze each pastry circle with a little milk, then prick twice with a fork and put a teaspoon of jam in each one. (Don’t overfill as the jam likes to escape all over your oven)

Bake at 180°C for about 10 minutes, or until the pasty is a light, golden brown

Avoid burning tongue on hot jam