I’d never eaten Yorkshire curd tarts before I’d moved to Yorkshire. I’ve never eaten a home made one until this week – just supermarket-bought… which were nice, but just nice. If you’ve never had one, I’d say they’re a cross between a cross between an Eccles cake, cheesecake and an egg custard tart.
They’ve been made since the 17th century, usually around Whitsuntide, using leftover curds from cheesemaking. Rather than being cooked in cake or tart tins, they’re traditionally done in saucers. Don’t try this if you think your lovely vintage china saucers may shatter in the oven!
I’ve wanted to make them before but I’ve never seen curd for sale anywhere. Now that I know how easy it is to make my own curds, I’ve given Yorkshire curd tarts a go!
You’ll need 2 pints of full-fat milk to make the right amount of curd for this recipe. Don’t be disappointed by the curd to whey ratio. All that resultant liquid shouldn’t be wasted. It can be used in bread making, cooking pasta, soaking & cooking pulses, lassi… some people even recommend using it as a natural shampoo!
I used a recipe from Joan Poulson’s Old Yorkshire Recipes teamed with Delia Smith’s version of shortcrust pastry.
Yorkshire curd tarts
Ingredients
- For the filling
- 225 g/8oz curds use 2pts of milk & 2tbs white or white wine vinegar
- 2 eggs
- 115 g/4oz sugar
- 55 g/2oz currants
- small knob of butter melted
- a little grated lemon rind I left this out
- pinch of grated nutmeg
- For the shortcrust pastry
- 115 g/4oz plain flour
- 55 g/2oz butter at room temperature
- pinch of salt
- dash of cold water
Instructions
- To make the pastry: Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl
- Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour
- Using your fingertips, gently rub the fat into the flour
- When the mixture looks uniformly crumbly, sprinkle over about 2tbs of cold water
- Bring the mixture together using a round-bladed dinner knife; mixing and cutting
- Bring the mixture together with your hands to form a smooth ball of dough that will leave the bowl clean
- Rest the pastry, wrapped in cling film or tin foil, in the fridge for 20-30 minutes while you make the filling
- To make the filling: Heat the milk until almost boiling and add the vinegar
- Remove from the heat and stir until it curdles
- Allow to cool slightly before straining through a fine muslin you can save the whey to use in bread baking or soaking/cooking pulses
- Mix the curds with the dried fruit and flavourings
- Beat the eggs well and stir into the curd mixture with the sugar and melted butter
- Roll out the pastry and line 4 oven-proof saucers/sideplates before adding the curd mixture
- Bake in a moderate oven (180ºC/350F) for 20 minutes or until set