These vegan jam tarts are a delightful and easy to make sweet treat. You’ll love the combination of flaky, rich pastry and sweet, fruity jam in this traditional British teatime favourite.
We love to share recipes inspired by different cuisines around the world. As Paul is from Austria we’ve built up a great collection of Vegan Austrian Recipes, but we don’t (yet) have that many classic British recipes from my home country. British food might not have the best reputation for its traditional cuisine, but where it excels is in its teatime treats!
These easy vegan jam tarts make the perfect afternoon snack served with a pot of tea. Kids love them too - especially cutting out the pastry. And we also find they are a lovely treat to take with you on a plantbased picnic.
Ingredient tips
With just four ingredients these vegan jam tarts are delightfully simple to make. Here's our tips on choosing your ingredients:
Jam
The great thing about making jam tarts is that you can use a variety of jams, so everyone can have their favourite flavour. It’s also a great way of finishing some half empty jars of jam lurking in the back of your fridge!
Our homemade apricot jam is our absolute favourite. The most traditional filling would be strawberry jam, and other berry jams work great. You can even use marmalade or vegan lemon curd for a citrusy twist.
Vegan butter
We recommend a block style vegan butter for best results. The firmer texture creates flakier, more melt in the mouth, pastry.
If you are looking for a vegan butter that works great in baking and doesn’t contain palm oil, then our favourite is Naturli Vegan Block, available in the UK and Europe. If you're in the US we've heard great things about Miyoko’s Vegan Cultured Butter.
Flour
Plain white flour is what we normally use to make pastry. If you are in the US then look for an all purpose flour with around 10% protein or use pastry flour.
You can also use other flours like wholemeal, spelt, or even a gluten free blend. You'll probably find you will need to add more water to bring it together into a dough. The texture will not be so light and flaky, but we still like it for a change.
Making pastry
Pastry is actually very simple to make, but can be a bit daunting to make for the first time. So here's a step by step guide and our top tips to help you!
There’s just three ingredients:
- Plain flour
- Vegan butter
- And cold water
Whatever amount of pastry you make the basic principle is the same: Use half the weight of fat as you use of flour. For example, 8oz flour and 4oz vegan butter.
First you dice the butter, then you do what is called ‘rubbing in’. You put the cubes of butter in a mixing bowl with the flour.
Then using your fingertips, you rub the pieces of butter into the flour, until you have no lumps left, and the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Next, you add just enough cold water to bring it into a ball of dough with your hands.
The side of the bowl should become clean, and the dough should be firm, and not sticky.
Top tips for great pastry!
- Dice your vegan butter as soon as you get it out of the fridge (you can even pop it in the freezer and grate it for an even flakier pastry texture)
- Use ice cold water and only add just enough to bring it together into a dough
- Don't overwork - this can lead to a tough pastry
- Chill your pastry in the fridge before rolling - we put it in a small bowl covered by a plate
- Lightly dust your board and rolling pin with flour before rolling so the pastry doesn’t stick
Making the tarts
STEP 1 - On a floured board, roll out the chilled dough to a 5mm or less than ¼ inch thickness
STEP 2 - Cut out circles of pastry with a 7.5cm / 3 inch cutter. Re roll the dough as necessary.
STEP 3 - Line a 12 hole tart tin (or a deeper muffin tin) with the pastry circles and gently push them down and into the corners using your fingertips.
STEP 4 - Fill the tart cases with 1 - 2 teaspoons of jam. Don't be tempted to overfill as jam can bubble up and overflow.
STEP 5 - Bake in the oven at 190°C / 375°F for 15-20 minutes.
STEP 6 - Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack. The jam can stay very hot inside, so take care to be patient and not burn your mouth!
We hope you enjoy these easy vegan jam tarts! You might enjoy these other vegan sweet treats too:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Jam Tarts
Ingredients
- 8 oz (220 g) plain flour
- 4 oz (110 g) vegan butter diced
- 2 tbsp ice cold water
- ½ cup (170 g) jam 1-2 teaspoons per tart
Instructions
Make the pastry
- Add the flour and the diced vegan butter into a large mixing bowl.8 oz (220 g) plain flour, 4 oz (110 g) vegan butter
- Using your fingertips, rub in the vegan butter into the flour until you have a lump free mixture resembling breadcrumbs.
- Add just enough of the water to bring it into a firm, not sticky, ball of dough. Avoid overworking the dough for light and flaky pastry.2 tbsp ice cold water
- Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for 1 hour.
Assembling and baking the tarts
- Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F)
- Dust a board and rolling pin with flour and roll out the ball of pastry to a thickness of 5mm or just under a ¼ inch
- Using a 7.5cm / 3 inch cutter, cut out 12 circles of pastry to line a tart tray (or muffin tin). Reroll the pastry as needed.
- Fill each pastry case with 1-2 teaspoons of your choice of jam. Be careful not to overfill as the jam bubbles up and can spill out.½ cup (170 g) jam
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. The jam should be bubbling and the pastry should be starting to turn light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tray for 10 minutes, before transfering to a wire rack to fully cool down.
Notes
No scales? Use 1 ½ cups flour and ½ cup vegan butter or 1 stick. Got leftover pastry? Extra pastry can be made into more tarts, or covered and kept in the fridge for 3 days, or frozen. Storage Keep these tarts in airtight container or tin for up to three days.
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
joe says
If some drops of lemon juice are sprinkled on the jam before baking it wont spill over.
Sophie and Paul says
Thanks for that great tip Joe, we look forward to trying it!
Sia Makwana says
can i use leftover pastry cutoffs to make stars for decoration on top?
Sophie and Paul says
Yes you can! Just pop them on after you've filled with jam and bake as normal.
Maria Del says
For vegan butter can i use peanut butter?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Maria,
Sorry, but peanut butter wouldn't work for the pastry in this recipe. Margarine or a vegan 'buttery' block work best! Coconut oil is an option but is more difficult to work with as it melts so easily. Hope this helps!
Ellen says
Can I use regular salted butter?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Ellen, if you don't need them to be vegan, then yes you can. The salt will have an effect on the flavour, but I don't think they'll be too salty. If you wanna give a plant based butter a go some time, then in the UK Naturli vegan block tastes amazing, and Stork baking block works really well for pastry too. In the US Earth Balance sticks or Miyokos are great brands too. Happy baking! Sophie
Karen Simner says
I tried the pastry, it was nice and light. I’d picked blackberries on a walk and added apples to make small tarts. I dusted with ground almonds and icing sugar. We ate them with soya cream 😘
Sophie and Paul says
Glad you enjoyed the pastry Karen. Your mini tarts sound really yummy! We've been having a lot of apple and blackberries lately too, such a great combo!