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Easy Jam Tart Recipe

Do you remember making jam tarts? They were one of the first recipes that I ever cooked with my kids. This easy recipe to make them makes pastry from scratch and even then is so simple to do your older kids will be able to make them on their own! So here you go our easy jam tart recipe to cook with kids from toddlers up.

Jam Tarts

Jam tarts are a classic British sweet pastry tart. Filled with jam or lemon curd they are easy to make and delicious. Made famous in the classic nursery rhyme for kids the Queen of Hearts (we’ve put a copy at the bottom for you to read and watch a little video of) where the Knave of Heart stole the tarts.

When my kids were young we made these with store bought jam but now we have our own garden we make our own strawberry jam and then use that to fill the pastry cases.

Looking for more recipes to cook with kids? Check out our selection of easy recipes to cook with toddlers and our A to Z of recipes to cook with older kids.

a plate of homemade jam tarts ready for snack time with the kids

Ingredients for an Easy Jam Tart Recipe to Cook with Kids

  • Plain Flour – all purpose flour in the USA
  • Lard – Shortening in the USA
  • Butter or margarine for cooking
  • Salt
  • Cold Water
  • Jam – strawberry or a flavour of your choice

How to make the Jam Tarts with Toddlers

close up of a jam tart cooked by a mom with her toddler in the home kitchen

To get the best pastry – you need to have cold utensils and cold hands – so we washed our hands with cold water to make sure that we didn’t melt the fats. J loves the washing the hands part – and we have to sing the hand washing song from I can cook on Cbeebies every time we do. I pre-measure all of the ingredients first at the moment with most dishes so with everything prepared we set to work making the tarts. First task is to cut up the fat in with the sieved flour and pinch of salt.

Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.

Once the butter was cut up into small cubes then it’s making breadcrumb type consistency out of the mixture. Using finger types rub the butter into the flour. J loved this and kept telling us that it was snowing!

Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.

Once the mixture is crumbled – we then added the water the recipe is very precise that it has to be exactly 2 and a half tablespoons of cold water – whether all that went in or not I’m not sure as J helped a lot – but I’m guessing most did as they taste very good.

Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.

At this point you can leave the pastry covered in a cool place until you need it – we used it straight away. To make it easier for J I divided it up into smaller balls and using his rolling pin he rolled it out onto a lightly floured surface and then cut using a pastry cutter that fits nicely into our tin.

Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.
Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.

We used a 12 bun tin and had greased the tin first. J helped me put the tarts into the tin and then he had lots of fun filling them with a heaped teaspoon of jam.

Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.

You need to preheat the oven to 220 degrees Centigrade (425 F gas mark 7) and the tarts cooked for 12 mins (but around 10 is normal until the pastry is just brown) – we left them to cool and then have enjoyed the tarts.

Step-by-step recipe for making some delicious Jam Tarts to go with the classic nursery rhyme Queen of Hearts. Perfect for cooking with kids as young as toddlers.
jam tarts made by kids on a yellow plate filled with strawberry jam a quick and easy bake

Easy Jam Tart Recipe for Kids

Cerys Parker
Easy to make Jam Tarts ideal for cooking with kids
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Recipe Video

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Cake
Cuisine British
Servings 12 Jam Tarts
Calories 132 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

  • 200 g plain (all purpose) flour
  • 50 g lard
  • 50 g butter unsalted
  • 1 Pinch Salt
  • 2 ½ tsp cold water
  • Jam

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the Oven to 220C.
  • Pre-measure all of the ingredients.
  • Cut up the lard and margarine and add to the sieved flour and pinch of salt.
  • Use your fingers to rub the flour and fats together to a breadcrumb consistency.
  • Add the water to the mixture and knead to a dough.
  • Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1/2 an hour to get the best pastry. But it can be used straight away if needed.
  • Grease a 12 hole pie tin.
  • Roll out the dough about 1/2 cm thick and cut with a circular pastry cutter to fit your tin.
  • Fill each tart with Jam.
  • Place the tarts in the oven for between 10 and 12 minutes.
  • Cool and enjoy.

Nutrition

Serving: -1gCalories: 132kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 2gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 9mgSodium: 34mgPotassium: 20mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 104IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 4mgIron: 1mg
Keyword easy jam tart recipe, jam tart recipe
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Queen of Hearts Nursery Rhyme

If you don’t know the Queen of Heart’s Nursery Rhyme it is a classic British Nursery Rhyme based on the royal cards from a pack of playing cards and first appeared in the mid 18th Century. The words that we sing together are:

The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts,
All on a summer's Day.
The Knave of Hearts he stole the tarts,
And took them clean away.
The King of Hearts,
Called for the Tarts,
And beat the Knave full score.
The Knave of Hearts brought back the tarts,
And swore he'd steal no more!

The poem is the inspiration for the Queen of Hearts in the classic Story Alice in Wonderland  by Lewis Carroll and although we made them initally for eating whilst we sang the rhyme they would make a great snack when reading aloud together the classic story too.

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Author
Cerys Parker

Cerys is a marine biologist, environmental educator, teacher, mum, and home educator from the UK. She loves getting creative, whether it is with simple and easy crafts and ideas, activities to make learning fun, or delicious recipes that you and your kids can cook together you'll find them all shared here on Rainy Day Mum.

9 Comments

  1. Chrissy @ The Outlaw Mom Blog says:

    Dont’cha just love those old-fashioned rhymes and fairytales? No waltzing around it, but getting straight to the point with all the gruesome details! Looks like J had a great time and I can’t wait to try it out with my kids 🙂

  2. Lauren @ Around the World Food says:

    Very cool! I am doing something similar but on a larger scale. Right now I’m cooking my way through China. I recommend the scallion pancakes or the beef and green onion stir fry if you need a Chinese recipe. 🙂

  3. Looks like you two had lots of fun! I love that J has a pink rolling pin. It looks yummy too 🙂 Love the photo of you with him, now that’s memories 🙂

  4. Oooh those tarts look yummy scrummy! Love the photos of your little guy helping out. How adorable.

    Maggy

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