Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

This homemade sweet shortcrust pastry is ideal for all your fruit tarts or small pies. I love to use this recipe for jam tarts or to make Christmas mince pies.



Sweet shortcrust pastry doesn’t include leavening agents and when baked is crisp rather than puffed and layered.

This is an easy recipe and is best made by hand rather than in a food processor. We want to handle the dough as little as possible and keep it cold throughout the making of it. This way the dough won’t shrink so much or become tough after baking. Another important factor is resting the dough. It’s best to rest it after it’s made and then again once you have rolled it out and filled your baking form.

The French call this pastry pâte sucrée, as it is mostly used for fruit tarts, just like in my apricot streusel tart, sour cherry ricotta tart or my cherry Bakewell tart recipe. The dough is actually also great for making biscuits, similar to sable biscuits or shortbread.

If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and the other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram. I love seeing what you come up with! 🙂


RECIPE HIGHLIGHTS

  • EASE: quick to make and is best made ahead of time.
  • FREE FROM: this recipe is nut-free, check out my gluten-free option in the substitutions section.
  • GREAT FOR: sweet tarts, small pies (Christmas mince pies) or sable biscuits.
  • TASTE & TEXTURE: light, buttery, crispy sweet crust.
  • QUANTITY: this recipe is enough to line a 25cm (10 inch) maximum, flan tin or eight 10cm (4 inch) tartlet tins. (approx. 500g dough)


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    INGREDIENTS

    For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:

    • Plain or all-purpose flour – is ideal for the pastry as it does not contain high levels of gluten.
    • Butter – gives the pastry a nice rich buttery taste and should be chilled to ensure the pastry dough remains cold to avoid overheating while mixing.
    • Fine sea salt – enhances the ingredient flavours.  
    • Icing sugar (powdered sugar) – gives this pastry a refined sweet taste.
    • Eggs – are used to bring all the ingredients together in a nice smooth paste.

    SUBSTITUTIONS

    While I am making recommendations for alternative ingredients, I haven’t necessarily tried them. If you try making any adaptions, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.

    SUGAR-FREE AND LOW-CALORIE OPTIONS

    GLUTEN-FREE OPTION

    VEGAN OPTIONS




    WHAT VARIATIONS CAN I MAKE?

    • Citrus flavouring – for a bit of zing, add the zest of a lemon, lime, or orange to the flour before mixing.

    If you experiment, I would love to know how you get on and share it with the other readers.


    NUTRITION

    Serving: per 100g

    Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.

    I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.

    I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

    Sweet pastry

    STORAGE AND FREEZING

    This dough will keep well for up to 5 days, wrapped well in the fridge.

    Freezing: Once prepared this dough can be wrapped in clingfilm and frozen for up to 1 month.


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    TOOLS YOU’LL NEED

    Here is some kitchen equipment that I use and recommend for this recipe.

    I like the sturdiness of this bowl and its 4 litre capacity means I can use it for mixing just about everything in the kitchen. It is also microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.

    These different size mixing bowls are really useful depending on the amount of food you are preparing. They also have airtight lids that fit snugly to seal and keep food fresh, great for using as dry storage bowls with lids. The plastic lid of the largest bowl has a removable centre, where one of 3 graters can be used for grating cheese or vegetables.

    I do own a plastic mixing bowl but I am personally not a big fan of them. These 3 bowls are on the smaller size but good for the odd cake making.

    These strainers are durable and sturdy, built to last, for a wide range of needs in the kitchen.

    I love this rolling pin, its variable guide rings make rolling out biscuit doughs, pizzas, or flat breads so much easier!

    Not everyone is lucky enough to have one of these but they are useful if you do a lot of baking or making bread.

    The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
    If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.


    RECIPE TIPS

    The golden rule of making shortcrust pastry is to keep the ingredients, equipment, and your hands as cool as possible. With this in mind, gather together all your equipment and weigh all the ingredients before you begin. 

    Don’t overwork the dough – Constant kneading of the dough activates the gluten in the flour, causing the dough to become tough and even shrink more when baked. Remember that the less you touch the dough, the shorter and flakier your pastry will be.

    Use the least amount of flour when rolling out your dough to keep it from sticking to your kitchen worksurface. The more flour there is, the heavier your dough will be.

    Don’t skip chilling the sweet shortcrust dough for as long as possible. If you’re in a rush, you can get away with freezing it for half an hour. Keep in mind that allowing it to rest for longer in the fridge gives time for the gluten in the dough to relax, making it easier to roll and decrease the amount of shrinking during baking. Make sure to let the dough come back to room temperature before you try rolling it out, or it is likely to break apart.

    Make sure to use flour that is low in gluten (proteins). Plain or cake flour are usually the best, alternatively 00 is good.

    To get a really crisp bottom on your tart shell, place a heavy baking tray in the oven while it is heating up, then place the tart or pie directly on it.


    Shortcrust pastry

    Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

    Preparation:15 minutes
    Chilling:1 hour
    Total:1 hour 15 minutes
    Servings: 500 g
    This quantity of pastry will line a 25cm (10 inch) flan tin or eight 10cm (4 inch) tartlet tins.

    INGREDIENTS LIST
     

    • 250 g plain flour (all-purpose)
    • 100 g butter (see notes)
    • 100 g icing sugar (US powdered sugar) (or caster sugar)
    • a pinch fine sea salt
    • 2 eggs (50g each and chilled)

    Preparation
     

    • I recommend freezing your butter for 20-30 minutes, prior to starting. * see notes.
    • Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the diced butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Try not to overwork the dough as it will start to warm and will become too elastic and shrink when baked. We don't want the dough overheating so if you are only making a small amount of pastry, it is always best to make it by hand. I only ever use a food processor if I am making large amounts.
      Shortcrust pastry
    • Add the icing sugar, salt and mix well.
      Sweet shortcrust pastry
    • Add the eggs and mix again. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times with the palm of your hand, until smooth. Shape the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk.
    • Wrap in greaseproof paper or cling film and place in the fridge for at least an hours to relax the gluten. If you are in a hurry, place it in the freezer for half an hour and then use as required.
      Sweet shortcrust pastry

    Notes & Tips

    Butter – It is important to use cold ingredients when making pastry. And because we use our warm fingers or in some cases a food processor to mix the butter into the flour it is especially important to get the butter as cold as possible. I recommend cutting your butter into small cubes and then freezing it for 20-30 minutes prior to starting.
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    KEYWORDS how to make sweet short pastry, pastry recipes, tart recipes

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    PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW IT TURNED OUT FOR YOU!

    If you tried this Sweet Shortcrust Pastry or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you. Also, please leave a star rating whilst you’re there!

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