Sweet shortcrust pastry (pâte sucrée)

Sweet shortcrust pastry, or pâte sucrée, is a variation on traditional shortcrust pastry and can be used for many desserts requiring a pastry shell. It has just the right amount of sweetness and texture to perfect your sweet pastry dishes.

This sweet pastry dough can be made quickly and easily either in a food processor or by hand. It can be prepared ahead of time and can be stored in the fridge or frozen until you are ready to use it.

It can be used in recipes such as lemon tart, cherry Bakewell tart , raspberry frangipane or mince pies.

You may also like to try sweet almond pastry which includes ground almonds to add sweetness and moisture to your pastry shell.

The quantities in this sweet shortcrust pastry recipe are sufficient to line a 20cm diameter tin.

Ingredients

• 160g plain flour (all purpose flour) - plus extra for rolling out
• 80g butter - chilled
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla essence
• A small amount of cold water - only needed if the pastry dough is too dry

How to make sweet shortcrust pastry

This easy sweet pastry recipe can be made either by hand or in a food processor.

Using a food processor: Place the flour and butter in the food processor and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar, egg yolk and vanilla extract (or vanilla essence) and blitz again until the ingredients have combined to form a dough.

To prepare by hand: Rub the flour into the butter (160g flour and 80g butter). Sift the icing sugar (50g) into the bowl containing the butter and flour, add the egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or vanilla essence), mix together and combine the ingredients to form a dough.

If you are preparing the pastry during warm or hot weather it is a good idea to start by adding just the egg yolk instead of the whole egg as the pastry is likely to be softer. Add some or all the egg white If more liquid is needed.

If the pastry dough is still too dry, add some cold water a little at a time, just enough to bind the dough together. This is most likely to be necessary during cold weather.

Wrap the pastry dough in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out and proceeding with your recipe.

To roll out

Lightly flour a pastry board. Place the ball of dough on the board and roll out to a thickness of around 3mm in the shape of a circle. Carefully lift and lay over a 20cm diameter tin, gently press into position and trim the excess pastry.

Tips for making sweet shortcrust pastry

1. Make sure the butter is chilled before starting to prepare the pastry particularly during hot weather. Remove from the fridge just before using.
2. The sweet shortcrust pastry can be prepared ahead of time, wrapped in cling film and stored in the fridge until ready to use. The pastry can be kept until the following day in the fridge. If you plan to keep it any longer I suggest it is frozen and defrosted shortly before using. The dough can be frozen either unrolled or after lining a tart tin.
3. You may need to adjust the amount of moisture used in the pastry. Start by using just the egg yolk and add the egg white only if needed. If any further liquid is needed to bind the dough add some cold water, a little at a time. Use only sufficient water to bind the dough taking care not to add too much.

FAQs

Recipes with sweet shortcrust pastry

Take a look at the recipes below for ideas on how to use your batch of sweet shortcrust pastry for desserts.