Easy Vegan Jam Tarts – a Childhood Favourite
l love Jam Tarts – crisp pastry, sticky, sweet red jam and lots of crumbs. The first thing I learnt to bake, spooning the jam into the pastry cases, impatiently waiting for them to cool just enough to eat!
PIN my Vegan Jam Tarts to make later
I love homemade jam tarts at any time of the year, and they are so simple and quick to rustle up. Shop bought jam tarts do not compare to homemade!
This was inspired by my mince pie recipe on this site, and if you’re feeling confident with baking with pastry, try my delicious vegan apple pie too!
Jam tarts were almost certainly the first thing I learned to bake, spooning cheap strawberry jam into pastry circles that filled the blackened Yorkshire pudding tin. It wasn’t called a muffin tin, or bun tin, but always the Yorkshire pudding tin, that’s what got cooked in it the most.
Jam tarts are so simple to make, a shortcrust pastry, rolled out, cut into rounds and pressed into a muffin tin, then filled with luscious jam. You could use a jar of supermarket own brand jam, reduced sugar jam or a homemade brand, or even a luxury conserve. It doesn’t matter because the end result will be delicious either way.
The taste of crisp shortcrust pastry with sticky, fruity jam will always be a pleasure to eat!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- shortcrust pastry, one portion, as per my recipe here. You can use shop bought pastry if you prefer, although I find it does shrink up a bit during baking.
- Jar of jam of your choice.
Instructions
Make the pastry and leave to chill for at least an hour.
Roll out the dough to 1/4″ thick and cut into 3″ rounds. You want to use a cutter that is larger than the holes in your tin by about 50%.
Press the circles into the muffin holes.
Place a teaspoon of jam into each tart and bake for 20-30 minutes or until pale golden.
Hint: you don’t need to use liners for a muffin tin when using pastry.
Substitutions
- Pastry – if you are gluten-intolerant, feel free to make a gluten-free pastry instead
- Jam – you could use lemon curd instead (if you can find a vegan version) or apricot jam
Equipment
Use a 12 hole muffin tin, not too deep. You won’t need to grease it because the pastry has enough oil in it to do this for you!
Storage
Cooked and cooled jam tarts will last for ages in an airtight tin, at least a week.
To freeze jam tarts, once baked cooled, pop the jam tarts in a ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Just remove as many as you want from the freezer and leave to defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours.
Top tip
Depending on how thick or thin you have rolled your pastry, these may take a little longer to cook, up to 30 minutes in fact. A good tip is when you take them out the oven, carefully ease one out of the tin (using an oven glove if you can!) and see if the bottom is crisp. If it is, it’s done. If the bottom feels soft, put it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
I like a thicker crust because I think it bolsters the sweetness of the jam rather nicely.
FAQ
I always use shortcrust pastry and that is what is traditionally used. You could use puff pastry but they would taste and look quite different! If you do use puff pastry, make sure to prick the pastry all over with a fork to avoid it rising up too much during baking.
I always get one that bubbles over, see my pics! It just means that I put a little too much jam in the case before baking. Jam turns very liquid when it’s hot and will bubble up. Aside from looking a little unsightly, it won’t affect the taste of the jam tart (although it might make cleaning the pan a bit of a chore!). Simply put less jam in your jam tarts!
You can! I do recommend making your own pastry as it’s much nicer, but if you want to make quick jam tarts, feel free to use shop-bought. Do make sure it’s shortcrust and also ensure that you use a large cutter as shop-bought pastry has a tendency to shrink up during baking.
Easy Vegan Jam Tarts
Equipment
- 1 12" muffin tin
Ingredients
- 1 portion shortcrust dough - here's my recipe
- 210 g Jam - your favourite flavour
Pastry glaze (optional)
- 1 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 170c.
- Roll out your chilled dough to ¼" thick and cut into 3" rounds. You might need to re-roll the pastry a couple of times to get 12 circles.
- Press circles gently into the muffin holes.
- Using a teaspoon, drop a spoonful of jam into each tart. Do not overfill.
- Bake for 18-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before gently easing out onto a cooling rack.
Please note that where the recipe asks for milk, butter or yogurt, this refers to any plant-based version that you prefer.
