When life gets you down... Have a tart!
Fruit Tarts never fail to cheer me up, not just by their bright colours, but also the flakey, buttery tart base contrasted with the smooth creaminess of the custard. I realised that I've been unable to resist fruit tarts lately when I need my sweet fix at the end of meals at local cafes. My favourites are lemon tart and strawberry tart, and I love trying to decipher the ingredients used to make the base. Sometimes it's really crumbly, sometimes it's got a nutty texture to it. I'm still on a hunt for the best tart base but I really like the ones incorporating almond meal.
I recently borrowed a book from the library by Eric Kayser on Sweet and Savoury Tarts. Eric is a master french baker who churns out nothing less than mouthwatering pastries. Truthfully I don't know very much about him. All I can tell you is that flipping through the book can turn a bad day round just because everything looks so good. I wanted to try at least half the recipes inside.
If only there was time...
My book is due back in the library this Sunday so I decided to try out one last recipe from it, a strawberry breton shortbread-tart recipe. This one gives you a relatively flat base, but one that is crumbly and buttery. Pairing it with a vanilla bean custard and cream mixture, the finished tart looks too good to be eaten. You can actually put any fruits on top of it, peaches, blueberries and all the lovely summer fruits.. It just gives it that additional burst of colour.
This tart base is really soft, so it is recommended that the mixture be chilled for a day before baking. But because of the lack of time, it was only in my fridge for a couple of hours. Handling the dough was a sticky affair.
Breton Shortbread Pastry (makes 10 inch round tart base) adapted from Eric Kayser's "Sweet and Savoury Tarts"
90g unsalted butter
80g granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
120g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add the sugar and salt, mix through. Incorporate the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly. Pour in the flour, baking powder and vanilla essence. Mix thoroughly. Form a ball with the dough, cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Mould the dough into desired tart tin, bake for 30mins at 150 degrees C, or until golden brown.
For the Custard Mixture also adapted from Eric Kayser's book
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons cornflour/plain flour
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2 cup heavy cream
In a saucepan, bring the milk to boil. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks together with the sugar and flour. Pour a little of the hot milk into this mixture and beat together. Pour it back into the saucepan. Scrape the vanilla bean into the mixture and bring it to boil again, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. When the mixture is completely cool, whip the cream and fold it into the custard.
