Make a No-Cook Tart Case

Try making our No-cook tart crust, then fill it with an equally easy filling – guaranteed to impress your guests. Here’s our basic recipe plus two gorgeous variations!

Making Quick, No-Cook Tart Crusts

Hate making pastry? We’ve got one thing to say to you: Biscuit Tart Crust! This is the answer to hot-fingered cooks’ prayers. Try making our basic biscuit crust (recipe below), using your favourite biscuits. Shortbread biscuits work well with a cream cheese and strawberry topping; and gingernuts are perfect paired with a dark chocolate truffle filling and curls of orange zest. Your guests will never know that you didn’t labour for hours...

Making a Biscuit Tart Crust

You can vary this in many ways: choose your favourite biscuits, add a little spice or orange zest, or swap the butter for lower-fat margarine.

You will need:

• Biscuits – enough to make 2 cups of crumbs. Gingernuts, digestives, oatmeal biscuits, and butter shortbread are all good.
• 2/3 cup butter
• That’s it – it really is this easy!

This no-cook tart crust has just three stages. In a food processor, blitz the biscuits to fine crumbs. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this bit in a plastic bag with a rolling pin – a great way to get rid of any anger issues!) Melt the butter in a wide pan, then tip in the biscuit crumbs and stir well. Now press the sticky crumb mixture into a buttered 9” tart tin, working it up around the edges to give a slightly raised crust.

To set it quickly, put the crust into the freezer, then fill with one of our delicious ideas below...

Super-Easy Ice-Cream Pie

Ice-cream pie is a great family dessert to keep stashed in the freezer. You can sneak it out and cut yourself a piece any time – then return the pie to the freezer. Make up a combination of your family’s favourite flavours, with a surprise layer of crushed chocolates or toffee in the middle.

Try making an irresistible Banoffee pie: slice 2-3 large bananas and put them directly into the tart crust, spreading them out evenly. Spoon over a little Dulce de Leche (or make your own – simmer an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a large pan of water for 2 hours, then cool and open), then cover with softened vanilla ice-cream (choosing a good quality one). Top the pie with shavings of white chocolate (make these using a potato peeler) and put straight into the freezer (unless you can’t wait that long).

White Chocolate And Raspberry Tart Filling

You’ve got a no-cook tart crust – fancy trying a no-cook tart filling? Try this summery and light filling. In a bowl, weigh out 14oz chopped white chocolate and set it over a pan of gently simmering water; leave it alone for 5 minutes or so, until the chocolate has melted.

In a clean bowl, whisk 7oz cream cheese with 150ml full-fat milk, the seeds from one vanilla pod and 75ml double cream. Sift in 1oz icing sugar and whisk the whole lot until it’s smooth, thick and airy. Pour in the melted white chocolate and blend together. In the bottom of your tart crust, arrange a punnet of fresh, washed and dried raspberries. Carefully pour the filling over them and put into the fridge until the filling is set. Cut slices with a warm knife.

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