Hungarian / Jam Tarts

 Ingredients

250g butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 tsp baking powder

4 cups flour

2 eggs

Strawberry or apricot jam

1/4 cup oil

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a baking tray with a bit of oil or butter to prevent sticking.
• In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and oil until light and fluffy. You can use an electric mixer or do it by hand with a wooden spoon.
• Add the vanilla essence and mix it into the butter-sugar mixture.
• In a separate bowl, combine the baking powder and flour.
• Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, stirring well after each addition. The mixture will become crumbly.
• Spread the dough evenly onto the greased baking tray, pressing it down to form a smooth, even layer.
• Spread a layer of strawberry or apricot jam over the dough, leaving a small border around the edges.
• Grate remaining dough over the jam 
• Place the baking tray in the preheated oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
• Once baked, remove the tray from the oven and allow the jam tart to cool on a wire rack.
• Once cooled, cut the tart into squares or rectangles and serve.

Note: You can adjust the baking time according to your oven's temperature and the desired level of browning. Enjoy your delicious jam tart!

Stuffed Gem Squash with Beef Mince

INGREDIENTS

4 large gem squash

20 ml oil

1 onion diced

400g beef mince ( can be substituted with mutton mince)

1 tsp salt

4 cloves

2 tsp ginger & garlic

1 green chilli chopped

1 can baked beans

METHOD

• Heat oil in pan, add onion & braise until golden brown
• Wash & drain mince in colander, then add to saucepan with salt, cloves , garlic and chilli
• Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Add beans and cook a further 10 minutes until well blended
• Halve squash and remove seeds
• Stuff squash with mince and bean mixture , leaving some gravy in saucepan
• Place squash in saucepan and steam, covered for 15 minutes
• Sprinkle cheese over gem squash and bake in oven for 10 minutes
• Serve with white rice

Milk Tart

INGREDIENTS

Base:
1 pkt Tennis biscuits
150g butter

Filling :
4 cups milk
1 tblsp butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
3 tblsp flour
3 tblsp cornflour

*Cinnamon for sprinkling


METHOD

Base:

• Melt the butter. 
• Combine with crushed biscuits and press into 2 large tart pans. Refrigerate for 2 hours

Filling:

• Boil milk with butter. 
• In a bowl, mix remaining ingredients into a paste. 
• Add to boiling milk and stir until thick.
• Pour into your biscuit bases. 
• Turn a spoon over the bowl and pour liquid onto spoon, so that the hot tart mixture doesn’t disturb the base. 
• Sprinkle with cinnamon and leave to cool sufficiently to refrigerate.

Melting Moments

INGREDIENTS

250g butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup self raising flour
1 cup corn flour
Melted chocolate
Icing sugar for topping

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180°c
• Cream butter and icing sugar
• Add the self raising flour and corn flour to make a dough
• put dough through a stat nozzle and pipe rosettes
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until biscuits are light brown in colour
• Allow to cool , the dip biscuits in chocolate or drizzle with icing sugar
• The biscuits can also be piped into 5cm long patterns and then sandwiched together with chocolate