Double Rye Treacle Tart

Born and raised in Germany, I moved to Brighton to attend boarding school when I was 16. I later moved to London for university, law school and, eventually, work. The UK is where I became an adult, and although I no longer live there, it still very much feels like home. Despite its rather questionable reputation abroad, having spent over a third of my life in the UK, I have grown rather fond of British food.

I miss Sunday roasts with Yorkshire puddings, eccles cakes from St John’s bakery, sausages and mash, homemade apple crumble with warm custard poured on top and stick-to-your-teeth treacle tart.

There is a fine line between adapting a recipe and re-inventing something else entirely and I freely admit to rolling my eyes when reading other people’s recipes with a twist on the sweet treats I grew up with in Germany. Yet at the same time I have no qualms about reinventing British classics. Maybe it helps that I never had an English auntie or granny who taught me their way (and quite possibly the only way) of making scones, chelsea buns or sticky toffee pudding. I am therefore well aware that treacle tart aficionados may well recoil in horror at what I have done to their childhood favourite. But bear with me – a few simple changes to the classic recipe is enough to produce a grown-up version that is still as tooth-achingly sweet and delicious as the original treacle tart.

In my version of this long-term favourite of British children and adults alike, a dark cardamom and sea salt-flecked rye pastry encases a sweet filling of coarsely ground rye bread stirred into gently warmed acacia honey and finished with a sprinkle of sea salt. Paired with something tart to cut through the sweetness, like mascarpone, creme fraiche or even cream cheese, loosened with a squeeze of lemon juice and flavoured with a generous grating of lemon zest, the humble treacle tart becomes a rustic but elegant dessert, fit even for a dinner party.

Note: these individual treacle tartlets are made with rye flour and are filled with rye breadcrumbs. Rye always makes me think of Scandinavia so the pastry includes a generous pinch of freshly ground cardamom as well. And while I am particularly fond of this rye bread version of the filling, there is nothing that says you could not use a slice or two of your favourite country loaf for the filling. The important thing is to pair the treacle tarts with something that will cut through the filling’s almost tooth-aching sweetness. A lemon scented cream works well, only lightly sweetened, if at all. A scoop of lemon curd or greek yoghurt ice cream would work too.