Quick 'in the cupboard' desert ... Treacle Tart

I don't know about you, but sometimes I'm cooking dinner, and yet all I can think about is how I don't have anything in the house for desert. This, by the way, is a disaster for me because I have to finish off every meal with something sweet!

Whilst dashing about the kitchen looking for something, anything to throw together, all I could find were bags and bags of porridge oats that I usually use for homemade granola. A brain wave hit me ... Treacle Tart!

This is a great desert to use up little bits and pieces from the kitchen; you don't need many ingredients, it's quick and yet it really hits the spot after a weekday dinner.

Ingredients
TIP: Don't worry too much about exact measurements here, just chuck in what you have
- 30g Molasses, if you don't have any brown sugar will be just fine
- 350g Golden Syrup (use up one of those 1994 tins of Lyle's Golden Syrup that is definitely sitting at the back of your cupboard)
- 80g Breadcrumbs - the best way to make breadcrumbs is to whizz some stale bread in a food processor, but if you don't have one, toast some bread very slightly and break it up into really small pieces
- 90g Porridge Oats
- 2 Eggs (free range please guys - poor ol' chickens)
- 1 Lemon, zest and juice
- 250-500g Shortcrust Pastry, depending on how thick you want the pastry to be, and frankly - how much you have in your fridge

Method
1) Grease a tart tin, around 20 cm, but again it doesn't really matter - it just depends how thick you want  your tart to end up. Preheat oven to 160 degres (fan oven)
2) Roll out your pastry and then place in your tin, pushing it into the edges and pricking the base a few times. Trim the excess. Place in the oven for around 12 minutes until the pastry begins to turn golden. You can put some greaseproof paper and baking beans on top to hold the pastry down if you have some... don't worry if not
3) Whilst your pastry is cooking; in a pan gently heat the molasses and golden syrup for 4 minutes. Add the lemon zest and juice, porridge oats and breadcrumbs, leaving a small amount of porridge oats behind. Stir, to combine all of the ingredients
4) Take off the heat, and leave for a couple of minutes. Then stir in the eggs
5) Remove your pastry from the oven and pour in your mixture
6) Sprinkle the left over porridge oats on top
7) Place back in the oven and cook for another 30 minutes
8) The tart can now cook away whilst you enjoy your dinner :) When you're done, take the tart out, leave to cool for a few minutes and then serve.

I served mine with some raspberry sorbet which needed using up - possibly a strange combination, but well... I liked it

TIP: You can tweak this recipe as you like. It may not be the most prestigious treacle tart, but I don't really think this matters for this type of desert.

Enjoy :) Oh, and if you can beat my 1994 tin of Lyle's Golden Syrup - do let me know!