Rhubarb & orange blossom tarts

Ingredients    Filling: 5 stalks rhubarb, 1 tbsp orange blossom essence, 2 cups jam sugar. Pastry: 250g butter, 100g caster sugar, 500g plain flour, 1 tbsp double cream.

Preparation: 30 minutes

There is only one word to describe these tarts, and that word is "toothsome".
They are toothsome tarts with the most incredible flavour and buttery soft pastry and quite honestly I could eat them until I lapsed into some sort of diabetic coma and not regret it!

1) To make sweet shortcut pastry: sift the flour and sugar and add small cubes of the cold butter into your blender and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cream and pulse until a dough ball forms. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to cool for an hour.

2) To prepare the filling: see previous recipe.

3) Roll out the pastry and cut out circles of dough. I made some tarts with very thin crusts and some like the picture with the thicker casing and both work equally well.

4) Press into the tart cases and pour in the filling. Bake for 15 minutes at 200 degrees and serve cool.

Rhubarb & orange blossom jam

Ingredients    5 stalks rhubarb, 1 tbsp orange blossom essence, 2 cups jam sugar,

Preparation: 30 minutes (plus 2 hours for maceration)

I have a weakness for rhubarb. Like citrus it's at once sweet and sharp, but  so much more so than any other fruit. When combined with orange blossom it has such exotic notes and I'm sure this jam will be a favourite!

1) Slice the tops and tails from the rhubarb and divide the stalks into small, even chunks. Put into a bowl and cover with the jam sugar, then cover with cling film and shake to ensure the rhubarb is evenly coated. Leave to macerate for 2 hours, by which time juice will have been drawn from the rhubarb and formed a rough syrup.

2) Using a spatula, scrape all of the fruit and syrup from the bowl into a pan and bring to the boil, allowing it to simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring until the rhubarb has completely disintegrated. Add the orange blossom essence and stir through.

3) The jam is suitable at this stage to be used for tarts, however if you wish to set it into more of a jelly, add half a cup more jam sugar and bring to the boil for a further 4 minutes before transferring into sterilised jars.