I’m on a diet. I admit it. I don’t want to be, it’s just that the last 6 months I’ve pretty much eaten whatever I wanted in whatever volume I wanted and the outcome of my little experiment is… that I am not one of those people who can do that and still wear skinny jeans. So I am being very careful and my goodness it’s dull. When I was a teenager I could lose half a stone in a week from eating nothing save apples and black coffee, now I need proper food or I find myself shouting at the children, wincing through the hunger pangs.
As I am being very boring the most I can manage at the moment is maybe one of these little morsels. Very easy to make, much appreciated by husbands, small children and close relatives. You could buy the pastry if you wanted too. If I hosted canapé type parties I’d serve these. Alas, I host pirate parties instead.
This makes 24 little morsels, made in my Wilton tin which I have to say is very good indeed and left not one tart stuck in the tin. (Not paid to say that etc etc.)
Ingredients:
– 360g pastry (I used leftover pastry using this recipe but you could make a half fat to flour mixture using 120g cold butter and 240g plain flour, rub in and pull together with a splash of cold water, rest in the fridge for half an hour and off we go)
– 120g jam of your choice, I chose raspberry
– 360g marzipan, any colour will do
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Take a blob of pastry, about a tablespoons worth, which for more precise folks is 15g, and form it into a disc. Press into your tin and then use your thumb to push into the sides. Repeat for all 24 holes and then put the tin in your fridge to relax the pastry.
In the meantime make 24 discs of marzipan to eventually seal your little morsels. Again, use about 15g of marzipan. Remove the tin complete with pastry from the fridge, spoon a teaspoon of jam into each pastry lined hole.
Then top off with a disc of marzipan and use your thumb to squash down and seal each morsel. Repeat until the tin is full and then bake for about 20 minutes until the marzipan is starting to brown.
Remove. Leave to cool in the tin a little and then after about 10 minutes use a very sharp knife to eek them out by slipping it between the pastry and the tin. Just a slight poke should do. Cool completely on a wire rack and enjoy as many as you like if you’re not on a bloody diet like me.
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Holly Bell 
Oooh yummy! I mentioned going on a diet and my husband immediately informed me that he prefers my “extra curves” (read: bigger boobs) that I’ve developed since having 2 children. Also I don’t deal well with being hungry, which I think was his main concern.
Extra curves rock in my opinion! And I am not a good hungry person either. Hate it! x
I hear ya. Now I’m in my thirties I’m finding it way harder to enjoy the foods I love the most (the three C’s – cake, chocolate and cookies) without having to sacrifice my skinny jeans. It’s not fair! One of these little morsels now and again wouldn’t do too much damage though!
Oh it is soooooo unfair. I wish I could have a word with my 22 year old self and explain that my body really wasn’t worth moaning about! x
God yeah, sensible dieting is so tedious. But I think you can only do crash diets as a teenager when violent mood swings are pretty much taken as normal behavior. As a thirty-something, my nearest and dearest tend to get a bit stroppy themselves if I miss a meal… My husband has taken to checking my handbag before we leave the house to make sure I have an emergency granola bar. So dainty things are definitely the way to go but my fingers just don’t want to cooperate and all my nibbles turn out enormous and mansize. Yes, my fingers are making me fat.
You are right! Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice the mood swings. I just can’t do hungry. It doesn’t suit me at all. Love the idea of an emergency food stash. I need to do that to stop raiding my sons little containers of raisins and rice cakes! x
I already cook something like that. It’s so good. But apricot jam is better ^^
Yup dieting here too, it is painful and boring but we can do it! Then we can have a big cake party :-) I have a tin with a wooden dobber thingy too so I too shall eat small things x Anna
It is so so tedious isn’t it. Why hasn’t someone invented a pill to make us all thin and still eat whatever we want?? x
Yup dieting here too, it is painful and boring but we can do it! Then we can have a big cake party :-) I have a tin with a wooden dobber thingy too so I too shall eat small things x
Hi Holly,
Thanks for this lovely recipe….I ecently bought a similar pan – which comes with a wooden “dibber” so you can push the pastry in. Its the same size as the pan, so there’s no faffing about.
I think they do a similar one in a bigger size too.
I’d love some more ideas of what to bake – and I’ll gladly try anything you recommend x
I think I know the pan you have – a friend has it and makes mini mince pies in it with pecans on the top. They are delish! Would be perfect for making mini cheesecakes too I’d have thought. xx
I love your writing Holly – always gives me a smile of recognition x
Thank you Aileen. Your comment has just made me smile. x
These look really good:)
Thanks lovely. x
I used to make some similar cakes. pastry, a little jam and topped with sponge mixture. By the time the sponge was cooked, so was the pastry. I used a Lakeland mini muffin tin, which is relatively deep, an ordinary bin tin works too but I liked the Mini version best
Mini always tastes best doesn’t it Carole? xx
Holly I am so happy you posted this recipe!!
It was my sisters hen do a month ago. I organised an “I’m a bride to be get my out of here” themed hen, which included some of the bush tucker trials from I’m a celeb, the idea being my sis would take the challenge to win a star, and she could only marry her fiance if she got all the stars. I included a version of that bush tucker trial where they have to eat bugs and kangaroo willies etc. I couldn’t make her eat real bugs so I fashioned creatures out of food she hates. She hates marzipan, so I made some marzipan bugs, but the remainder of the large block is still sat in my fridge (I like marzipan but could not think of a use for it other than Christmas cake). Now I can finally use it up! I love bakewell tarts!!
Sorry for such a long story but just wanted to let you know how chuffed I am!
Filipa x
I love your bushtucker trial idea! So great. I had a load of marzipan left over from a class I taught (battenbergs) so had the similar issue. It’s also very nice dropped into fruit cake in little balls. Bakes nicely and tastes wonderful. Best in a light fruit cake. xxx