Sarah* and I have been drooling over this recipe for months and we finally got around to  making it one sunny weekend in May; it certainly lived up to expectations! In Sarah’s own words…

When Kitty’s Kitchen came to visit me in deepest Hampshire (I like the idea of Kitty’s Kitchen being a vibe of relaxed and joyful cooking which follows me wherever I go – thanks Sarah! Ed.), a mere stone’s throw from the Bombay Sapphire distillery we made sure to put the local produce to good use. It seemed only right to make a Gin & Tonic tart we had been sharing with each other for over a year and I won’t go too heavily into detail because the recipe is pretty clear and the images speak for themselves.

We found that the pastry shrank fairly dramatically in the oven (which could be a problem of temperature and humidity but is always a danger when one isn’t familiar with baking in a particular oven). I think it is worth being quite generous with the edges on a first attempt to avoid this since too much shrinkage leaves less base to contain your filling; I speak from experience!

However, the whole was very pleasing; the filling zesty and smooth, the pastry light and the syrup gave an excellent added tang. I am not normally a fan of fiddly desserts but this one came out excellently and I would certainly do it again.

The gin and tonic syrup kept very well in the fridge, so well that it made it back to Northamptonshire and became the base of a blended gin for my Grandmother who was finding her dry gin too sharp having been spoiled with Edinburgh Gin Elderflower Liqueur for Christmas.

* who I call ‘wine-maker Sarah’; as opposed to ‘Australian Sarah’ who is writing a post for us later in the week, my sister Sarah… and the many other lovely ladies in my life of that name.