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Treacle Tart is a buttery, creamy dessert brightened up by fresh lemon. The brown sugar shortbread crust is flaky and full of flavor. This tart is perfect for your holiday party or served with a cup of tea or coffee after dinner. Add a little whipped cream on top, and enjoy this delicious English dessert!
Tarts are delicious and easy to make. And like everything else, they taste so much better homemade! This is your sign to go make a tart. You will love this classic Lemon Tart with a Buttery Shortbread Crust, and this delicious Pear Tart! You can’t go wrong with this Apple Tart, it’s stunning and always a crowd-pleaser!
Reasons You’ll Love This Recipe
- Harry Potter: If you’re throwing or attending a Harry Potter party, you simply have to bring this treacle tart—it’s Harry’s favorite dessert!
- Simplicity: Moreover, tarts are beautiful and rich in culture, and this treacle tart, in particular, uses simple ingredients and comes together easily!
- Flavor: Once you take one bite of this tart, you’ll completely understand why it’s Harry Potter’s favorite dessert! Its buttery, rich crust combined with the sweet syrup and zesty lemon is absolutely incredible!
What is a Treacle Tart?
A treacle tart is a gooey treacle (or golden syrup) filling with a buttery brown sugar shortbread crust. It’s a classic English pastry. If you are a Harry Potter fan, then you’ll know treacle tart is his favorite dessert! So if you aren’t a tea drinker, you should pair this dessert with a Butter Beer. Of course, you’ll also have to try it with some whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients in Treacle Tart
This dessert, made with just a few simple ingredients, is going to blow you away. It’s so delicious and irresistible that you’ll wonder how something so easy can taste this good! Just check the recipe card below for all the exact measurements.
Brown Sugar Shortbread Crust
- Flour: I used all-purpose flour in this recipe.
- Brown Sugar: Make sure to pack it down in the measuring cup.
- Salt: Salt helps to balance out the sweet flavors.
- Butter: I prefer using unsalted butter; however, if you use salted butter, be sure to leave out the added salt. Additionally, make sure to leave your butter out for a few hours to soften properly.
Treacle Tart Filling
- Golden Syrup: Golden syrup is made from sugar. You might not be able to find it at the grocery store. I found a great one on Amazon, or you can make it at home! There are lots of easy homemade recipes online.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: I would not recommend substituting this, it makes it so rich and creamy!
- Bread crumbs: Helps bind the filling and add a firm yet chewy texture.
- Vanilla Extract: Provides a comforting aromatic flavor.
- Lemon Zest: Brightens up the tart and balances out the sweetness!
- Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice is best and will help balance out the sweetness.
- Egg: I always use grade A large eggs in my recipes.
How to Make a Treacle Tart
This tart is surprisingly quick and easy to make—you’ll wonder why you haven’t tried it before! The process is straightforward and comes together in just two simple steps. First, you’ll prepare the crust. Then, you’ll whip up the rich, sweet filling that gives the tart its signature flavor.
Making Brown Sugar Shortbread Crust
- Mix Dry Ingredients: First, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle.
- Add Wet Ingredients: Next, add the vanilla and room-temperature butter, then mix well. The mixture should have a crumbly texture; add more flour if needed.
- Pack Crust: Dump your crust ingredients into a standard 9 ½” tart pan, and using your hands or the back of a spoon, pack the crust into the pan firmly and evenly.
- Set Aside: Set aside to be filled.
Making Treacle Tart Filling
- Combine Ingredients: Add golden syrup, heavy whipping cream, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg to a medium saucepan.
- Heat: Bring to a gentle boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly.
- Cook: Once a gentle boil has been reached, reduce heat and cook for an additional 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Fill Crust: Pour mixture into your shortbread crust, then place into your preheated oven, 375℉
- Bake: Bake for 25-30 minutes until your filling has nicely browned, the crust should be a golden color
- Enjoy: Treacle tarts are typically served warm with whipped cream.
Treacle Tart Tips and Tricks
This dessert may be one you have never tried before. I know how hard it can be to make things when you don’t know what they are supposed to look and feel like! Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about this treacle tart recipe.
- Can I Use Corn Syrup Instead of Golden Syrup? A lot of you may be wondering if corn syrup would be a good replacement. I really don’t think so because the flavor will not be nearly the same. Golden syrup is full of deep and rich flavors that corn syrup doesn’t have. Because making golden syrup is so easy, I really recommend you use it!
- Do I Need to Blind Bake the Crust? Because you are baking the tart filling, you won’t need to bake the crust beforehand. Every oven bakes differently, so pay attention to how dark the crust looks while baking. Make sure you evenly pack the crust so it will all bake at the same time.
- Can I Make this Tart Ahead of Time? Yes, but I wouldn’t make it more than 24 hours before eating it.
Storing Leftovers
I absolutely love this tart! It’s such a crowd-pleaser and a great talking point for Harry Potter fans. If you do happen to have any leftovers, here are my tips for storing them.
- On the Counter: You can cover your tart lightly with plastic wrap or in an airtight container for up to two days.
- In the Refrigerator: Cover your tart in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for up to two days. Make sure to let it warm to room temperature before serving.
- Can I Freeze Treacle Tart? Unfortunately, this tart does not freeze well. I don’t recommend freezing it.
Other Gooey Desserts to Try
One of my favorite things is biting into a cinnamon roll and having that gooey center. I love that this tart has a delicious gooey filling, and it always hits the spot! I can’t resist a gooey dessert. I’ve rounded up a few other desserts that you’ll love!
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Treacle Tart
Ingredients
Brown sugar Shortbread crust:
- 1 ½ cup all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp
Filling:
- 1 ¼ cup golden syrup
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zested
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice fresh or bottled is fine
- 1 egg
Instructions
Brown sugar hortbread crust:
- In a bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl if a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, whisk together your dry ingredients; flour, brown sugar, and salt.
- Add in your vanilla and room temp butter, mix well. Mixture should have a crumbly texture, add more flour if needed.
- In a standard 9 ½” tart pan, dump your crust and using your hands or the back of a spoon, pack the crust into the pan firmly and evenly.
- Set aside to be filled.
Filling:
- Add the golden syrup, heavy whipping cream, breadcrumbs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg to a medium saucepan.
- Bring to a gentle boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly.
- Once a gentle boil has been reached, reduce heat and cook for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
- Pour mixture into your shortbread crust and place into your oven, preheated to 375℉.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until your filling has nicely browned, the crust should be a golden color.
- Treacle tarts are typically served warm with whipped cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Seeing this recipe brought back so many memories! My mum used to make this. Sometimes she used coconut instead of breadcrumbs. I loved this desert so much. Thank you
very nice and very different for me, really great set of ingredients, thank you!