When I saw an Instagram post from BBC Good Food about a recipe for a Cornflake Tart, I was both intrigued and perplexed. What the heck is a cornflake tart? Many of the comments on the post were from people (presumably in the UK) who fondly reminisced about eating the tart at school. I couldn't believe I had never heard of this dessert before. For some reason it struck me as odd that cornflake tart is a British dessert instead of an American one. Cornflake cereal is an American invention, and given the popularity of Rice Krispies treats in this country, it seems like a cornflake tart is the sort of thing you should see at a bake sale in the Midwest.
In any case, I had to try a cornflake tart for myself. The recipe uses prepared shortcrust pastry for the crust, but of course I couldn't use a pre-made pie crust. Instead, I used the excellent crust recipe from Yossy Arefi's Rose Apple Tart. When I made the apple tart a few months ago, I loved the crust's butter cookie flavor. One thing I did differently with the crust this time is that I used pie weights when I blind baked it, to minimize shrinkage. Also, while the crust was hot from the oven, I brushed on a bit of egg white to help seal it and prevent the crust from getting soggy.
Once you have the crust prepared, the remainder of the recipe is quite easy. The tart has a layer of jam underneath the cornflake filling, and when I was at the store shopping for jam, I decided to splurge on a jar of Tiptree Little Scarlet Strawberry Conserve. The jar cost twice as much as the regular Tiptree strawberry conserve, but I had never tried jam made with Little Scarlet strawberries and I was curious about it. The jam is intensely flavored and has tiny whole strawberries in it; I used up the entire jar making two tarts.
I got neat, clean slices. While the cross section of the crust looks a bit light in the photo above, the crust was nicely browned on the bottom, fully cooked through, and just as delicious as I remember from the previous time I made it. It was not soggy at all. Even though the layer of jam was thin, it made the overall flavor of the tart rather sweet. The cornflake filling was nicely set, satisfyingly crisp, and very tasty. All of the components together combined into something quite delightful and my tasters were big fans of this tart. So was I. There was something very comforting and familiar about it, even though it was something I had never tasted before. But I would love to make this tart again, and help spread the word about this fun and delicious dessert that deserves a bigger following in America!
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