Banbury Tarts

This iconic British confection, in which a spiced dried-fruit filling is baked in a flaky, traditionally lard-based pastry shell, is an icon of British culinary history. The first known recipe for a Banbury cake appeared in The English Huswife, published in 1615, and called for fashioning a sweet yeasted dough and currants into a big, rather elaborate pastry. By the early nineteenth century, individu