Harry Potter’s favorite dessert, Treacle Tart is full of luscious caramel flavor all wrapped up in a lovely no -roll shortbread crust. Enjoy this easy dessert with afternoon tea or coffee, or while curled up with your favorite book!
When it comes to British desserts – I have some favorites! Sticky Toffee Pudding, Sponge Cake with Limoncello Cream and Strawberries… and this tart.
It’s the kind of dessert you make when you’re craving something really simple and don’t want to run to the store for ingredients! After one bite, you’ll understand why it’s Harry Potter’s favorite!
What is Treacle Tart?
Treacle tart is British dessert made with a shortbread type crust that’s filled with a mixture of treacle, eggs, breadcrumbs and lemon juice.
What is Treacle Tart made of (and what you’ll need to make it)
- All-purpose Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Butter
- Treacle
- Fresh breadcrumbs
- Fresh lemon juice and lemon zest
- Eggs
- Heavy Cream
What is treacle?
Treacle is any uncrystallized syrup that is made during the refining of sugar. The most common forms of treacle are golden syrup, a pale variety, and a darker variety known as black treacle.
Are treacle and molasses the same thing?
Black treacle is the British equivalent of molasses. It comes in several grades – the lightest is referred to as golden syrup.
In the U.K. you can find Lyle’s Golden Syrup in almost any grocery store. Here in the U.S., it’s a little trickier to find. Some larger grocery stores carry it. I’ve also found it at World Market and you can order it from Amazon.
How to Make this Treacle Tart Recipe:
- Make the tart dough – I used a food processor but you can make the dough by hand if you don’t have one. TIP: If making by hand freeze the butter until hard and then grate the butter into the flour and mix with your fingers.
- Pat the dough into the tart pan – No rolling required.
- Make the filling.
- Bake – Pour the filling into the par-baked tart shell and bake until done.
Step #1 – Process crust ingredients 
Step #2 – pat into a tart pan. 
Step #3 – Make the filling. 
Step #4 – Bake and serve.
Tips for making and storing Treacle Tart
- Treacle tart can be made up to 2 days in advance. You can store it, covered at room temperature or store it in the refrigerator. If storing in the refrigerator, let it come to room temperature before serving.
- Treacle tart doesn’t freeze well!
Other Recipes to serve with Treacle Tart:
Love this recipe? I would be so happy if you rated it!
Cheers! Nancy
Treacle Tart
Ingredients
For shortbread crust”
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 – 2 Tablespoons water optional
For the Treacle Tart Filling:
- 1 cup Lyle’s golden syrup or Steen's Pure Cane Syrup
- 6 Tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- zest of one lemon
- 2 eggs
- 3 Tablespoons heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the shortbread crust:
- Add the flour, butter, sugar and salt to the bowl of a food processor and process until the mixture resembles wet sand, about 3 minutes.
- Test the mixture with your fingers. When pressed it should hold together. If not, add 1 Tablespoon of water and mix again for 10 seconds.
- Dump the dough into a 10 inch removable bottom tart pan and press into the sides and along the bottom.
- Lightly cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the tart shell for 15 minutes or until it is light golden brown.
For the Treacle Tart filling:
- Pre heat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the treacle bottle into a bowl of hot water to warm.
- Add the breadcrumbs to a bowl and drizzle the treacle over. Stir briefly to combine.
- In another bowl, add the eggs, cream, lemon juice, zest and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add the egg mixture to the breadcrumb and treacle mixture. Mix until just combined. Pour into the prepared tart shell. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes or until the filling is set.
- Remove the tart from the oven and let cool. Slice and serve!
Recipe Notes
- Lyle’s golden syrup can be found in some larger grocery stores. Cost Plus World Market also carries it as does Amazon!
- If you can’t find Lyle’s golden syrup, you could substitute honey. Karo syrup doesn’t have enough flavor to work in this recipe.
- This tart is lovely on it’s own, but you could also serve it with a bit of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
- You can store the tart, covered in the refrigerator for up to two days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
This tart sounds good. Could you use Karo syrup?
Hi Deborah! I wouldn’t recommend Karo simply because it lacks the flavor of the golden syrup. Honey is closer to golden syrup in flavor but it doesn’t have the caramel flavor that golden syrup does. If you don’t want to order it from Amazon, I did find this tutorial on how to make it from regular sugar. I haven’t tried it myself, but it should work! http://www.internationaldessertsblog.com/make-golden-syrup/ Let me know how it turns out!!!
I’ve never heard of this. Must have missed it while watching Harry Potter. 🙂 I love that caramel-y flavor so I’m sure to love this!
It was only in the books not the movies, but it was Harry Potter’s favourite dessert! This recipe was perfect.
Hi Kayla! You are absolutely right – definitely need to correct that – so glad you enjoyed the tart!!!
How many eggs?
Hi Ellen! It is two!! Clearly I need a proof reader! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Do I bake the tart crust before and let it cool before putting in the filling? Or do I put the filling in just the chilled tart dough?
Hi Karissa,
Yes! You need to par-bake the crust for about 15 minutes before filling and baking the tart! I went back into the recipe card and broke out that step so hopefully it is clearer! I hope you enjoy the tart!!!
I haven’t had treacle tart for ages! Yours looks beautiful! Pinned! <3
Can I use 1/2 & 1/2 in place of heavy cream?
Hi Jaime!
Half and half should work fine!!! Thank you for asking. Now, off to add that note to the recipe!
Can I use a 9” baking pan? Will it change the baking time?
Hi Jaime!
Definitely and to be honest, the dough for the crust won’t fill the pan. So what I would recommend is to increase the recipe (for both the crust and filling) by 25%. By doing this, the bake time should be the same!
Our Steen’s Pure Cane Syrup works well in this recipe. Well known in Louisiana and the Deep South, its only ingredient is the juice of the sugar cane, cooked in open kettles into a fine syrup for over 100 years.
Hi Janice! I had no idea that there was another pure cane syrup and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you letting me know! I will be adding this to the recipe now – thank you, thank you for that tip!!!!