Potato Bakewell Tart

As with the use of mashed potato in other baked goods ^[1], the addition of potato here brings some additional moistness to the tart’s filling.

The idea for this originated with an old English recipe for potato “cheesecake” ^[2], which consists of pastry shells filled with a mixture of mashed potato, butter, sugar and nary a bit of cheese. To be honest, the original recipe really left quite a lot to be desired, so I added some egg and flour for structure and ground almonds for texture and flavour, resulting in a filling that was quite frangipane ^[3]-like. From there, it seemed only natural to add a layer of jam, to make a kind of potato bakewell tart ^[4].

Do use a floury potato for the mash and have the cooked potatoes as dry as possible before mashing, as soggy mash will translate to a wetter filling. As the filling is quite moist and dense as it is, I find it works best spread in a fairly thin layer, so shallow baking tins are recommended.

For the filling:

100g butter
75g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs
100g ground almonds
2 tblsp plain flour
pinch of salt
0.25 tsp vanilla extract
grated rind of half a lemon
150g plain boiled or steamed potato, mashed, preferably using a ricer, and cooled

For the tart shells:

approx. 300g shortcrust pastry
3-4 tblsp raspberry or apricot jam, warmed

You’ll also need:

6 loose-bottomed tartlet tins (about 10cm diameter and 1.5cm deep) or a shallow swiss roll tin, around 27cm x 18cm.

The Steps:

Preheat the oven to 180C.
If you’re using pastry that has been frozen, make sure that it’s fully thawed out. If you’re making your own pastry, make it first and let it rest in the fridge while you make the filling.
Cream together the butter and sugar, using a stand mixer or food processor if you have such a thing, or a wooden spoon and elbow grease if not.
Beat in one of the eggs, followed by half of the ground almonds, then the second egg and, finally, add in the rest of the almonds.
Stir in the flour and salt, followed by the vanilla and lemon zest.
Stir in the mashed potato.
Roll out your pastry fairly thinly and line your tartlet tins (or swiss roll tin if using).
Taking each tin in turn, spread the base of the pastry with a thin layer of jam and pour over the potato/almond filling (you should have enough to roughly half fill the tins).
Bake for around 20 minutes or until lightly golden and firm to the touch.
Cool on a wire rack, after which you can remove the tartlets from their individual tins or (if using a swiss roll tin) cut into individual slices.

The Variations:

As with other frangipane-type mixtures, you could try making this with nuts other than almonds.

The Results:

6 x 10cm bakewell tartlets