Treacle tart
British desert

Treacle tart is a British tart with a filling made from golden syrup. The earliest known recipe is from the English author Mary Jewry in her cookbooks from the late 19th century; however, mentions of treacle tarts predate her cookbooks. For example, in April 1828, a Mrs. Delafields of Fan-street (a treacle tarts, green-grocery and periwinkles seller) in London appeared upon summons as to why she was allowed to keep a ferocious dog after a complaint was made against her.
Desserts
Treacle tart is prepared using shortcrust pastry, with a thick filling made from golden syrup (also known as light treacle), breadcrumbs, and lemon juice or zest. The tart is normally served hot or warm with a scoop of clotted cream, ordinary cream, ice cream, or custard. Some modern recipes add cream, eggs, or both to create a softer filling.
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This entry incorporates text from “Treacle tart” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.