Peanut Butter Bakewell Tart

Now, I know that the majority of The Yum Yum Club’s readers are actually from outside of the UK. That being the case, you are unlikely to know how the UK is split into Counties (our version of the US’s States), and that Derbyshire is one of these Counties. More than that, I’m pretty damn sure that 99% of you will have never heard of a small town in Derbyshire called Bakewell. Well, let me tell you, the town of Bakewell has a wonderful claim to fame. The Bakewell tart.

A quick bit of history for the curious. According to Wikipedia, the Bakewell tart evolved from the older Bakewell pudding, which is believed to have been created by accident in a Derbyshire inn in the 19th century.

The Bakewell Tart is, traditionally, made from a sweet shortcrust pastry with a frangipane filling. For those of you who don’t know, frangipane is basically an almond-based sweet filling. I love it and when also covered with marzipan I think it is one of the best puddings out there. Especially with loads of custard poured all over it.

However, almonds are not everyone’s nut, so to speak, and with the marzipan, this can be a very sweet dessert. With this in mind, I’ve modified the traditional Bakewell Tart recipe to create peanut butter Bakewell Tart. For all of you who like your puddings but also have a bit of a savoury pallet.

And it wasn’t bad at all. Yum!

1. Get the ingredients together

Although there are quite a number of ingredients in this peanut butter Bakewell Tart recipe you really only have to make 2 things. The pastry and the filling. And if you want you can cheat and buy in the pastry. Of course, I made the pastry but I use a tin for the custard. Well, sometimes it’s just easier, right?

The recipe card is below and has all of the ingredient measurements but, as always, I highly recommend you getting everything together before you start any preparation or cooking.

2. Make the pastry base

For the pastry base, first sieve the flour and icing sugar together into a bowl to ensure they are properly mixed together. Do this twice if needed. Then add the cubed butter and mix all together by rubbing the flour, icing sugar and butter through your hands until you have a crumbly texture.

Once you have a crumbly texture make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the egg yolk.

Now, mix the egg into the ingredients until you have a pastry. Knead this together for a couple of minutes and then place in the fridge for 30 minutes while you make the filling.

3. Make the peanut butter filling

Making the filling is actually really easy. Just one word before you start. The peanuts should be unsalted and roasted. You can buy them like this but I like to dry roast my own. To do this, just get raw plain peanuts and toss them in a dry frying pan over medium heat until they start to color. Just be careful not to burn them.

With the peanuts ready, put them, along with the peanut butter, flour, baking powder, butter, caster sugar, and eggs into a blender. Remember to leave the jam out. Now blitz all ingredients until you have a smooth paste.

And that’s it. The filling is ready. It’s now time to finish off the base.

4. Finish off the base

To finish off the base, remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to around 0.5 cm thick. Lay the pastry in a 22 cm fluted flan tin and trim the overhang so it still covers the tin plus around 2 cms.

Now dock the pastry base with a fork and blind bake the base at 200C / 180C Fan by covering the base with kitchen foil and filling with baking beans. Bake for 15 minutes and then remove the foil and beans and bake for a further 10 minutes until the base is cooked.

Once cooked, break any remaining overhanging pastry so it fills just the tin itself.

5. Make the Peanut Butter Bakewell Tart

Once the base is baked, and to prepare the tart for baking, start by spreading the jam over the pastry base. Make sure the jam covers all of it.

Now, add the filling so that it fills the whole pastry right top and edges.

All you have to do now is bake this Bakewell beauty. Simply place it back in the oven at the same temperature for around 45 minutes. You’ll know when it’s done when you can put a knife in the middle and it comes out dry.

Look at this beauty.

6. Cool, finish and eat the peanut butter Bakewell tart

Let the baked tart cool for 15 minutes and then remove from the tin and cool fully on cooling wire.

Once cool you can serve it as it is. However, our friends who were joining us for dinner love icing so I mixed some icing sugar and water and spread it over the top and then left it in the fridge to set.

It was really good but, maybe, you don’t need to use quite as much icing as I did.

And that’s it. Serve with custard if you like or just as it is. A wonderfully sweet dessert with a savoury surprise in the middle. Yum!!

Leftovers keep well. Once the icing has set, cover the tart and keep it in the fridge. The Food Standards Agency advises cooling cooked food and putting it in the fridge within one to two hours, and eating leftovers within two days (or freezing them), so cut and serve it soon after it has chilled.

Well, that’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed this almost traditional English dessert. It really is a very tasty pudding and I highly recommend you give it a go. Remember, you can make it a little easier if you cheat and buy in the pastry and custard. Either way, it’s very yummy!

Recipe card

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As always, many thanks for reading. It’s greatly appreciated… Steve.

Steve Deacon

Founder & Writer

Hi, I'm Steve, founder of The Yum Yum Club. After years in the corporate rat race traveling the world, my wife Jen and I settled back in the UK to follow our true passion: great food and wine. Having worked in restaurant kitchens in my youth, I share honest home-cooked recipes, kitchen timing tips, and culinary discoveries.

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