Supporting local enterprises, appreciating British produce and encouraging others to get dirty in their kitchens is a passion of Tasty Titbits. So here is a little sneak peak into the Tasty Titbits kitchen.
A few Sundays back, in traditional Caribbean style, my parents invited my Uncle Johnny and his family to dinner. Sunday dinners are by far my favourite meal of the week and I am known to have seconds of both mains and dessert. Fortunately for me Sunday dinners are served in the late afternoon. This means I can turn into a sloth for a few hours and let the food slowly digest; whilst we play games and gossip. This particular Sunday my mum was in her element and together, we laid on a banquet of beef stew, roast leg of lamb and jerk belly pork – but dessert was where the magic truly happened.
My son was eager to help and he was given the responsibility of baking our take on the traditional English Bakewell Tart. My mum had already made the almond infused (dairy free) shortcrust pastry the night before, but that did not stop Cay leaving a few finger prints for added effect. See if you can spot them?
Cay’s pie case
Next came Cay’s favourite part of baking – mixing . So up on his stool he went and with my mum’s help, he dived in to creaming the butter and sugar and whisking in the eggs for the tart filling. Then came the tricky part of sieving flour. I tried to capture the snow city that the kitchen turned into as flour floated in every direction courtesy of my son. But alas I had to protect the camera from all things white and fluffy and was tasked with trying to protect the rest of Sunday dinner turning white.
On goes the jam
After my mum coated the pastry in a layer of strawberry jam (trying to cover the finger prints) it was Cay’s job to spoon in the mixture. I must say he did a wonderful job, whilst attacking the pastry with his fingers and spoon and trying to eat the jam. We did have a few run away spoons that landed on cupboards, the floor and me, but that’s all part of the fun.
Spooning in the mixture
The final part was topping the tart with flaked almonds. This seems like a very simple job, but for a toddler the art of picking up almonds and sprinkling them is a ‘learned task’. Once again my mum was on top form covering up Cay’s fingerprints and the holes he made.
Sprinkling the almonds
Once the tart was baked and out of the oven, Cay inspected his handywork with a glorious exclamation ‘amazing Cay did it!’. Despite not eating any himself – nothing beats custard and bananas – we were all very proud of his efforts and even happier that the kitchen lived to bake another day. The Tasty Titbits’ kitchen will be back soon with more of our personal kitchen adventures and maybe a recipe or two, as unfortunately the Tasty Titbit’s Bakewell Tart is a family secret.
Straight from the oven
