This Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Recipe will help you create outrageously delicious tarts or biscuits, with minimum effort and guaranteed success. It’s a rich base made out of butter, flour, eggs, icing sugar for sweetness and lifted with a touch of lemon zest. You’ll find that making shortcrust pastry in a food processor it’s easier than you thought. I trust that it will also boost your confidence to make those desserts that you have been longing to bake for so long!
Many people can find making shortcrust pastry very intimidating. It seems to me, that the general idea is that is too hard to make and many things can go wrong in the process. Problems such as the pastry being too soggy, crumbly, difficult to handle or the sides are shrinking are very common.
Well, allow me to demystify. I am super excited to share with you a simple, yet efficient sweet shortcrust recipe. The information and instructions in this post will help you succeed when baking. I use this base for all my fruit frangipane tarts, jam or cream tarts and even to make biscuits around the festive holiday season.
WHAT IS SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY?
It’s a combination of flour, Italians use “oo” flour but plain flour works fine here also, a type of fat, usually butter but lard is also common, eggs to add richness to the pastry, icing sugar for a touch of sweetness and lemon zest, or any other citrus zest that you prefer for extra flavour.
HOW TO MAKE SHORTCRUST PASTRY IN A FOOD PROCESSOR?
You could make the shortcrust pastry by hand, with the use of a stand mixer or using a food processor. I will talk you through the last method as I personally find that is the easiest and fastest method and is the one I use over and over again.
First of all, let’s take a closer look at the ingredients:
- Flour: “oo” flour is extra fine and is ideal for making pastry or fresh pasta. Alternatively, plain flour can also be used.
- Butter: Use a good, unsalted butter, with at least 82% fat such as this one from Kerrygold. The butter needs to be cold, straight from the fridge. Cut it into cubes. This way, it will combine faster with the flour, without overworking or overheating the butter that could damage the texture.
- Eggs: 2 medium whole eggs will be needed, straight from the fridge.
- Icing Sugar: Using icing sugar instead of caster sugar will create a smoother texture and it’s much easier to mix with the other ingredients.
- Lemon Zest: I like adding a bit of zing and flavour to my pastry and lemon is one of my favourites, however, you can use orange zest or other citrus zest of your preference.
Second of all, we need to combine all of the above, and for this, a food processor will come in handy.
Firstly, sift the flour and add it to the food processor bowl. Throw in the cold butter cubes and blitz a few times, using a medium speed, until you obtain a texture similar to that of “wet sand”.
Secondly, add the remaining ingredients all together: eggs, icing sugar and lemon zest. Pulse only until a ball of dough forms.
Thirdly, transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and using your hands, shape it into a ball, without kneading or overworking the dough. Wrap it tightly in cling film then chill in the fridge for at least 45 minutes before using or best if chilled overnight.
Tip: Giving the dough a round shape at this stage, will make it easier to roll it into a circle when ready to use!
USEFUL TIPS FOR BEST SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY RESULTS
- Prepare your Mise en Place: This means, to gather all your ingredients and having them ready to be used on your worktop together with the equipment that you’ll need.
- Weigh: Use a scale to weigh all your ingredients. This is the most precise type of measuring ingredients.
- Chill the Dough: Resting the dough for at least 45 minutes, or better yet, overnight, allows the gluten to relax and the butter to cool. This way, you will obtain a better texture and it will reduce the possibility of your pastry shrinking whilst baked.
- Don’t Knead the Dough: This type of pastry dough comes together easily and doesn’t need any kneading. If you do that, the butter will start to melt and will affect the texture and consistency of the dough. No one wants a tough shortcrust pastry!
- Work Quickly: When you are ready to roll the dough, handle it as little as possible. This way, the butter won’t start to melt. If you can, use a marble pastry worktop and have a cool overall temperature in your kitchen.
HOW TO ROLL PASTRY DOUGH
- After you’ve chilled the dough, take it out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature for 15 minutes.
- Lightly flour your worktop surface and with the help of a rolling pin create a circle shape. In order to measure how large you need this to be, simply place your tart tin dish over. It has to be larger so that you can cover the sides of the dish.
- Brush the tart tin dish with a little bit of butter all over then sprinkle flour over it and shape off any excess.
- Roll the dough circle over the rolling pin, lift and unfold over the tart dish as per the below image.
- Lift the edges overhanging the tart tin and let the weight of the pastry fall down. Using gentle movements, press the dough into the edges of the tart tin all the way around.
- To cut the excess dough you can use your rolling pin and slide it over the edges. Alternatively, you could use a sharp knife and cut all-around.
- Using a fork, start punching the dough all over – this will help the dough keep its shape when baking.
- Lastly, place it back into the fridge for another 15 – 20 minutes before adding your desired filling and bake.
CAN YOU FREEZE SHORTCRUST PASTRY DOUGH?
Yes! You can make shortcrust pastry ahead of time. I always make a double batch, one to use right away and one to freeze and have ready when needed.
For best results, wrap the dough tightly in cling film, then place it in an airtight container. It will keep well in the freezer for up to 1 month.
When you wish to use it, take it out from the freezer and place it in the fridge overnight. Before rolling it, leave it at room temperature for 30 – 45 minutes then shape as needed.
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Recipe
This Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Recipe is easy to make with the help of the food processor and is the perfect base for your tarts and biscuits!
Ingredients
- 500 g "oo" flour (or plain flour as an alternative), sifted
- 250 unsalted butter, cut into cubes, cold from the fridge
- 2 medium eggs, cold from the fridge
- 200 g icing sugar
- zest from 1 lemon
Instructions
- Sift the flour then add it to the food processor bowl together with the cold butter cubes. Pulse several times on low - medium speed until the butter incorporates and you obtain a texture that looks similar to "wet sand".
- Add the eggs, lemon zest and icing sugar and blitz again on low - medium speed until the dough starts to form.
- Lightly flour your worktop surface and transfer the dough. Using your hands shape the dough into a round ball. No need to knead it.
- Cover tightly with cling film and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 45 minutes, or better yet, let it chill overnight.
- When you are ready to use it, take the dough out from the fridge and leave it at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling it out then use as desired.
Below, you can see how I have used half of the dough from this recipe to create a mouth-watering Apricot Jam Tart. This is a 23 cm tart dish. For this, I used about 230 g of apricot jam and baked the tart at 165 °C Fan for 45 minutes until it turned golden brown.
Notes
HOW TO USE LEFTOVER SHORTCRUST PASTRY
Depending on how much leftover pastry you have available you could do the following:
- Freeze it. Tightly cover in cling film then place it into an airtight container or a zip bag and freeze for up to 1 month. Read the full blog for instructions about how to use the shortcrust pastry from frozen.
- Make a few biscuits. Simply roll out the dough to an approximate thickness of 0.25 cm then use a cookie cutter to shape as desired. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and bake the cookies at 170 ° C Fan for 10 - 12 minutes.
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