Many a reputation has been made on the ability to make pastry but with the advent of frozen sweet short pastry and the arrival of pre-rolled pieces, sadly this precious skill has become a lost art. The frozen stuff, while great in a hurry, is not as delicate in flavour or texture as the homemade variety. Do try this sweet short pastry and then give this tart a whirl - it's a family classic.

Ingredients

• Sweet Short Pastry
• 125 grams butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup icing or caster sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1½ cups flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Easy Jam Tart
• 1 measure sweet short pastry
• favourite jam to suit
• milk to glaze

Method

1. With a wooden spoon, gently mix (without beating) the butter, sugar and egg yolks together preferably in a wide, shallow bowl.
2. Using a knife or spatular, gradually work in the flour.
3. Once all the flour has been incorporated, turn out onto a floured bench, bring together and press it out to a 3cm-thick round disc. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. This will ensure the pastry will roll easily without being too soft.
4. To roll out the pastry and evenly, place the disc on a floured bench and roll once; give the disc a quarter turn and repeat. Do this until the pastry is the thickness you require. You would end up with a near-perfect circle that's easy to place in a round pie or flan tin and use.
5. Preheat oven to 190ºC and place the oven rack in the centre.
6. Line a 23cm pie plate with almost all of the sweet short pastry and trim the edges. Re-roll these trimmings with the remaining pastry and set aside.
7. Spread pastry with your favourite jam - not too thickly, about 0.5cm thick. Leave a 2-3cm rin of pastry free of jam. Brush the pastry rim lightly with milk to glaze.
8. Cut the rolled out pastry into long thin strips and brush with a little milk to glaze. Twist the strips if wished and place over the jam layer, pressing the pastry strips just at the pastry tim.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool before serving in wedges with a scoop of ice cream, if wished.

Cooks Tips

- Use as little flour as possible when rolling out pastry. Excess flour makes for a tough baked pastry. - For a richer sweeter pastry, use 4 egg yolks and only 100 grams butter.