My mum is from the bush so like most bushies, went to boarding school. She tells us lots of great stories from her school days like why she now has a tablespoon of Vegemite on a centimeter of toast, but the best thing she has shared with me recently is her recipe for Hartree Tart. I so wish there was such a thing as Home Ec when I was at school. I think it would have been much better for me than learning about metalanguage (don't ask!) in English.
If I'd been able to take Home Ec I might have learned something like mum's recipe. As soon as I tasted my first bite of this I send mum a text:
'You are a neglectful mother! How can you have never made us Hartree Tart before?!? Now it's your fault if my dress has to be let out!' I can't believe she has kept it to herself for all these years but I was very happy to receive the recipe at my bridal shower.
My grandma wrote the recipe out originally with the footnote 'eat until you feel sick.' I can see how that would happen because it's very hard to stop at one slice. My grandma also said that mum was so proud of her recipe she used to make it for every occasion. She thinks mum must have made it literally 100 times. Because they weren't allowed to use the oven at school, the recipe is a no-bake so it's a great one for the kiddies. Because it's no-bake you need to make sure you use very fresh eggs.
Last month I skipped entering the Sweet Adventures Blog Hop because my brain was way too full of wedding stuff to be creative but when I saw that this month's theme was lemons I knew I had to make this. So this is my entry in the April Sweet Adventures Blog Hop-Lemons.
If you want to be a part of it, head over to Delicicieux to read the instructions. Happy hopping!
You can see why it was a good recipe to teach kids. There aren't too many ingredients. It also makes it very budget friendly.
The first step is to crush up the biscuits. Now of course you can do this in a food processor but seeing as it's a 40 year old recipe, I thought I'd do it the old-fashioned way and use some elbow grease. It didn't take too long to bash them all up.
Then pour in the butter and mix it all together.
Press the biscuit mixture into a greased fluted, loose bottom tin. If you don't have a loose-bottom tin it's no drama. You can just serve the finished tart in the tin or dish. It would look rather pretty like that too.
Now it's time to make the filling. Stir the condensed milk and egg yolks together until it's nice and smooth.
Then add the lemon juice. I switched to a whisk at this stage and mixed it all up well.
Pour the mixture into the shell and then put it in the fridge to chill.
While the filling is chilling, beat the egg whites until they're stiff. Add the sugar a little at a time and keep beating until it is smooth and glossy.
Spread the meringue over the top of the tart and fancy it up a bit with the back of a spoon.
You could finish it off at that stage but I wanted an excuse to use my new brulee torch. Let's just say I need to work on my skills a bit. I was going for the sun-kissed look but I think I ended up with something a little more like the I-missed-some-spots-with-the-sunscreen-and-got-patchy-burns look. Put it back in the fridge until it's nice and cold.
Very, very carefully remove the tart from the shell.
I decided it needed a little bit of something extra before I served it so I topped it off with a few little pieces of lemon zest. Perfect!
Slice it up and serve it with whipped cream and/or ice-cream and as per my Grandma's instruction, eat until you feel sick. Enjoy!
So what about you? Were you lucky enough to do Home Ec at school?
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 packet of milk arrowroot biscuits
- 1 tin of condensed milk
- 125 g 4.4oz butter, melted
- 3 eggs separated
- juice of 3 lemons
- 4 tablespoon of caster superfine sugar
- zest of half a lemon to decorate
- whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to serve
Instructions
- Smash the biscuits into a fine crumb either by hand or in a food processor.
- Stir in the melted butter and then press the mixture into the bottom of a greased 22cm tart tin.
- Mix the egg yolks together with the condensed milk until the mixture is smooth and then stir in the lemon juice. Mix it very well until it's nice and even.
- Spread the egg mixture over the crumb base and refrigerate until chilled.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg whites until they are stiff and then gradually add the sugar. Continue beating until it makes a shiny meringue.
- Spread the egg white over the lemon layer.
- Use a blow-torch to gently brown the top of the meringue (optional).
- Refrigerate until it is chilled.
- Remove the tart from the tin, slice it up and serve with whipped cream and/or vanilla ice cream.
Daisy@Nevertoosweet says
Oh yum :) I love no bake recipes hehe ~ even thoough I can't live without my oven hehe
Claire says
Oh no I couldn't live without my oven either. The element died on me a while ago and I nearly cried! Luckily it was fixed quickly.
K-bobo @ Gormandize with A-dizzle & K-bobo says
Looks incredibly luscious! I like the fact that it doesn't need baking too - so easy!
Claire says
It's super easy and very very tasty!
Lizzy (Good Things) says
I love these old style recipes that use classics like Arrowroot biscuits. Well done Claire, very nice indeed.
Claire says
They are so plain but so tasty aren't they?!
JJ @ 84thand3rd says
How wonderful to have a recipe passed down through the generations. I did take Home Ec and fondly remember making funnel cakes in 5th grade - fried dough doused with sugar - thank you America-land! The tart look delicious!
Claire says
Funnel cakes sound rather delicious!
Christina @ The Hungry Australian says
Oh boy that looks good, Claire. I think I could keep eating this until it was forcibly taken away from me :)
Claire says
Yes it's one of those recipes isn't it! Not too sickly sweet to make you want to stop.
Hotly Spiced says
I wish I'd taken Home Ec to. What a great recipe. It looks old school but something that all of us should have in our repertoire. Love lemon and meringue - amazing and unbeaten combination xx
Claire says
It is an unbeatable combination isn't it?!
Nic says
The tart looks delicious! But believe me no home economics is not a bad thing, I was forced to do it for 3 years and hated every minute and it put me off cooking for years!
Claire says
Really Nic? Maybe I have a rose-coloured idea of what Home Ec must have been.
The Hungry Navigatrix says
LOVE old recipes like this - there's always a good story behind them.
I think 'eat until you feel sick' should be the official postscipt to all your recipes!
Claire says
Haha it seems to be a theme when I eat sweets so you're probably right!
Jennifer (Delicieux) says
What a fantastic recipe Claire. I love the footnote of "eat until you feel sick"! That made me laugh, as did your text to your Mum. Like Lorraine, I was wondering where the name came from. You'll have to let us know.
Claire says
It's cute isn't it. Very typical of my grandma!
[email protected] says
Oh I can see how this could be addictive. The lemons cut the sweetness until just after you have eaten your third piece and thats when the sickness would hit. Very nice to have a recipe thats passed down.... you need to give it a family name!
Claire says
That's about when it hits, yes! It seems that mum might have made up the name because she has no idea where it came from!
molly kelly says
Dont know where the name originated! It wasn't after any teachers...cant really say. It used to be very yummy 'tho!
xx
Claire says
Well thank you for the recipe! x
Kyrstie @ A Fresh Legacy says
Great recipe! It looks lovely and such a nice way for it to passed onto you :)
Claire says
It's delicious Kyrstie. Actually you could describe it as a fresh legacy!
Anna@ The Littlest Anchovy says
No bake? Eat until you feel sick? OK then, if you insist! These look so fluffy and divine!
Claire says
I do insist Anna!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
How fantastic! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I've never heard of harttree tart before but it sounds delicious :D Do you know where the name came from? And you didn't have home ec? We did and I did it (although it wasn't that great :)).
Claire says
I didn't realise it wasn't something well known until I just Googled it. I'll ask mum and get back to you about the name. I have a feeling it's named after a teacher.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
I love no bake desserts, especially during the summer when it's hot and I'm trying to avoid using the oven! Gorgeous lemon tart!
Claire says
It's the perfect recipe for a hot summer day!