Et en fin... Inspiration 101

It's been awhile... Between work and life, things have just gotten in the way of blogging...
So I thought I would share some of my inspiration with you. Or rather, a person who inspires me.
I worked with Lawry - waitressing at his restaurant - while I was studying. He simply makes the most beautiful food, and is always happy to talk and discuss food - sharing the benefit of his knowledge! From looking, watching and talking with Lawry I have learnt so much! A fabulous creme brulee is one of those things...

So, what makes Lawry's creme brulee so wonderful? Texture and surprise. By pouring the toffee over the custard instead of blowtorching sugar to form a "crust", you get crack and crunch which is of course the attaraction to creme brulee!! The surprise comes in the form of different flavour combinations... Of course nothing beats that vanilla hit, but one thing Lawry tought me is how to build flavours into a dish and to pleasantly surprise the diner! Try layering the flavours in the custard, try giving them something unexpected!

In this variation, I have used Frangelico to give pleasant mellow nuttiness to the custard, and I deepened this by putting some crushed toasted hazelnuts on top of the firm custard, but underneath the toffee crust. The almost-but-not-quite hazelnut praline topping gives the Frangelico something to bounce off!

Hazelnut Crème Brulée
3 egg yolks
225mL milk
3 1/2T caster sugar
1T plain flour
1tsp vanilla bean paste2T Frangelico
150g hazelnuts, chopped roughly
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water

Heat milk in saucepan over low heat, slowly bringing the milk to boil. At the same time beat caster sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Incorporate flour until well combined. Add hot milk, and whisk mixture over low heat until mixture thickens. The consistency should be thick enough to leave a ribbon of custard. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and Frangelico. Pour custard into ramekins, leave to cool.
Toast hazelnuts lightly in a dry frypan. Set aside. Place sugar and water in a saucepan, heat until sugar dissolves (do stir the pan!) and continue heating until a toffee is achievedScatter toasted hazelnuts over cooled custard, pour a thin layer of toffee over the top. Leave to set

Ma petite robe noire... Canapes!

Do you ever have those recipes which just work? The ones that you know everyone will love without even thinking about it? I was given a cookbook for my birthday a few years ago, Ma Petite Robe Noire. This fabulous French cookbook by Trish Deseine is a collection of basics such as stocks and sauces and of, course, her stand-by recipes! The idea is that every cook should have a few fail safe recipes, just like every woman should have "une petite robe noire" (little black dress) in their wardrobe for those occasions when nothing else seems to work for you. Over the years I have definitely accumulated a few "little black dress" recipes of my own which I gradually share over upcoming posts.

These beautiful little tartelettes are so fresh and summery - absolutely perfect for the warm autumn weather we have been having of late. Keep in mind that these rely on super fresh ingredients - great tomatoes are the key! Though you can use ready-made basil pesto, homemade is vastly superior (you can ask my baby sister - I had to wrestle the spoon away from my sister - she couldn't get enough of it!) You can make the pastry cases and pesto earlier, and assemble at the last minute. What more could you ask for?




Tomato, Basil and Bocconcini Tartelettes

12 grape tomatoes, halved
6 bocconcini, halved

Pâté brisé
100g plain flour
50g butter
Iced water
Basil Pesto
1 bunch basil (reserve some of the small leaves and flower-y heads)
2T parmesan, grated
2T pine nuts, toasted
1 clove garlic
Salt
75mL olive oil

Combine flour and butter until you get a crumb like mixture. Add a little water until the mixture comes together as a dough. The less you work the dough, the better the texture will be! Rest the pastry for half an hour in the fridge.
Roll out the pastry and line your tartelette cases (I used a mini cupcake pan for this). Prick the pastry lightly and bake for 10-12 mins or until golden
To make the pesto, crush the garlic and a pinch of salt together in a mortar and pestle. Add pine nute and parmesan and pound further. Add half the basil leaves and half of the oil, continue pounding until well combined. Add remaining basil leaves and the rest of the oil, pound agin until well combined.
Spoon a little pesto into each case, top with 2 tomato halves and a piece of the bocconcini. Top with the reserved basil leaves.
Occasionally I pop the tartelettes back in the oven for a few minutes (without the basil leaves of course!) if I want something a bit warmer. Either way they are delicious!

Makes 12

Mastering Macaroons

Macaroons are beautiful (End point - no arguments!). I first came across these beautiful jewel coloured treats in patisseries when I was living in France. Needless to say, I very quickly became addicted to their slightly chewy texture and vibrant flavours (my personal favourite is violet and cassis - last tome I was in Paris we splurged in Laduree as you can see below!)

Since I have joined the world of food blogging I have been reading about how hard and tempremental these babies are to make at home. With my sister , we decided to spend a weekend mastering the art of the macaroon (at least for home cooks anyway!)

Armed with lots of egg whites and almond meal, a tried and true recipe and a whole day, we set about it. And guess what? We did it! Our little babies had feet and tasted delicious - so maybe my hand isn't the steadiest in piping small circles of batter, but the texture was wonderfully chewy and the lemon and line clearly shone through the sugar and the almonds.

I think I'm going to have to say it...

My macaroons were a success!

Lemon and lime macaroons

3 egg whites

50g caster sugar

200g icing sugar

110g almond meal

Zest of 1 lime and 1/2 a lemon

Lemon curd, to fill (my sister made this, and it was amazing!)

1. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add caster sugar to egg whites until a glossy merengue forms. If you tip the bowl upside down, nothing should fall out!

2. Sift icing sugar and almond meal together twice to make sure you have a fine homogenous mixture. Add to merengue along with zest. Fold aggressively for about 10 "turns" to incorporate the almonds into the merengue. Continue folding for another 35 turns. Lift a small bit up, if the tip fades after about 30 seconds, then you are good to go! Otherwise, do a few more turns and test again.

3. Fill a piping bag with the mixture, pipe small rounds onto lined baking tray. Once complete, let tray "proof" for about an hour.

4. Pop the macaroons into a 150 degree Celsius oven for 10-12 minutes.

5. Cool and fill with the lemon curd

Makes about 24 macaroons

Going Home and Tea Time Treat!

I love going home - hanging out with my family and generally relaxing (and being spoilt by my mum of course!) And, I think they like it when I come back and cook for them all as well!

I have been very inspired by the last of the stone fruit that is slowly getting harder and harder to find. I adore peaches and wanted to try something a little different. I have been reading these two blogs obsessively and both often feature fruit mouses in their summer recipes.

Then, whilst shopping for baking supplies - my sister and I were having our first try at baking macaroons - I found the most gorgeous mini tartelette cases that I just had to buy. So requirement number to go with the fruit based mousse - some sort of pastry base in my new cases.

The final component... blueberries. I love Nigella Lawson and - like me - she thinks that peaches and blueberries are a match made in heaven! So I garnished these tartlettes with blueberries.


I left the tartelettes in the fridge until the light was right for photographing them... And then I came back to get them ready. A few were missing... apparantly my mum couldn't wait for afternoon tea!

These two are the other reason I like to come back as well... My wonderful dogs have the most beautiful personalities (and they love food too!)

Peach and Blueberry Tartelettes

½ quantity pâte sucrée (use this recipe, replacing the cocoa with plain flour)
2.5T water
¼ cup sugar
3 egg yolks
2 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water
250mL thickened cream
2 peaches, pureed
Blueberries, to decorate

Blind bake pastry in oven (180 degrees) for 10 mins or until golden brown. Leave to cool

Dissolve sugar in water, bring to boil (taking care not to stir the syrup) until syrup reaches soft ball stage.

Lightly whisk egg yolks, add sugar syrup and gelatine leaves and whisk quickly (so egg yolk doesn't cook from the heat of the syrup) until thicknened

Whisk thickened cream until soft peaks form. Stir a quarter of the whipped cream into the egg yolk mixture, and fold mixture back into remaining whipped cream. Stir peach puree into cream and egg mixture until well combined.

Spoon or pipe peach mousse into cool pastry cases. Leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours. Top with blueberries.

Makes approximately 20 tartelettes or 4 individual tarts

Limes... Encore! And a fun new challenge...

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

So, my first Daring Bakers challenge! I joined this group because I wanted to challenge my baking skills and to try lots of different things - I have a tendency to get stuck in a bit of rut with my desserts (fruit tarts and trifle - occasionally I will branch out to a cake)

I was really excited to see this month's challenge was a tian. Though Jennifer's recipe was based on oranges, any citrus fruit could be substituted.

Now, you all might have noticed a trend. I am love with limes! So, this was a no brainer in terms of substitution. It had to be limes! But, given they are such a tart fruit, I had to figure out how to balance this. What other flavours - whilst staying true to the spirit of Jennifer's recipe - could I incorporate to balance the lime?

Coconut. What could be tropical than lime and coconut? So, I put a little coconut in the shortcrust pastry and a touch of Malibu in the whipped cream. I also made sure to soak the lime segments for quite a while in the syrup.

The recipe consists of five key components: shortcrust pastry, marmalade, flavoured whipped cream, fruit segments and caramel. In the recipe below orange marmalade is used along with orange segments. I used pure 100% lime here! Even in the marmalade. I tasted each component separately - and was a bit sceptical about how they would come together - what a pleasant surprise when I polished off the finished product after the photos! It actually worked! The tangy, slightly bitter marmalade cut through the rich buttery pastry - with the coconut adding a nice "toastiness". The whipped cream balanced perfectly the lime segments with syrup bringing it all together. It is a great dessert and despite all of the separate components, I could totally see it working for a dinner party because you could make them a few days before and stash them in the freezer, bringing them to room temperature an hour or so before in the fridge.

Jennifer's Recipe for Orange Tian
Note: There are quite a few steps to making this dessert; however a lot of them can be made in advance. The orange marmalade can be made several days ahead of time and the caramel sauce and orange segments preparation should be made the day before you make the dessert. Also, if you have a scale, try and use the weighed measurements as they will be the most accurate.
The recipe can be a little bit tricky to put together, especially the first time. My main tip is to make sure the whipped cream is firm enough when you make it and be sure to leave the desserts to set in the freezer for long enough or they will fall apart when you unmold them.

Variations allowed:• You can choose to serve the dessert ‘family-style’ and don’t have to make it in individual portions• You can use your favorite “Pate Sablee” recipe if you have one, but it must be a pate sablee• You can add any additional flavoring to your whipped cream• You can play with different citrus in this dessert (grapefruit, blood orange, lemon) at any step in the recipe.However, you must make the tart dough, the whipped cream, the caramel sauce, citrus segments and marmalade.

Preparation time:- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes- Assembling: 20 minutes- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Equipment required:• Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough (see photo). The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold without its base.• A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)• A stand-up or hand mixer• Parchment paper or a silicone sheet• A baking sheet• A rolling pin

For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature;
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon;
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon;
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons;
Salt 1/3 teaspoon;
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; I used 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup shredded coconut
baking powder 1 teaspoon ;

Directions:Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:
Ingredients:
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; I used lime juice here
1 large orange used to make orange slices; Approximately equal to 3 limes
cold water to cook the orange slices;
pectin 5 grams;
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Directions:
Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:
For this step you will need 8 oranges. I used limes - it took about 3 limes to do one cookie cutter
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:
Ingredients:
granulated sugar 1 cup;
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; I used lime juice here
Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.
[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:
Ingredients:
heavy whipping cream 1 cup;
3 tablespoons of hot water;
1 tsp Gelatine;
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar;
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon I used both lime marmalade and a tablespoon of malibu here

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Hard day, easy dessert!

Some days are just long and hard. You don't have a moment to think, and food is the last things on your mind.

Then you arrive home. Sometimes when I feel like this, I take the easy option of a toasted cheese sandwich. Othertimes, I spoil myself with a beautiful meal, taking the time in the kitchen to unwind from the stresses of the day.

This dessert, a strawberry and amaretti crumble, definitely falls into treating yourself category, but is so simple to make. The flavours are simple, but it is the textures which really make this dish - the crunch of the amaretti biscuits and the softness of the cream! Not a bad way to finish of the day, right?

Strawberry and Amaretti Crumble

2 punnets small strawberries, halved
1T icing sugar
1T crème de cassis
½ packet amaretti biscuits, crumbled
150mL thickened cream
2T brown sugar

Sprinkle icing sugar and crème de cassis over strawberries, leave to marinate for ½ hour.
Divide strawberries amongst 4 glasses. Top each glass with some of the crumbled amaretti biscuits.
Whip cream until soft peaks form, spoon some cream into each glass. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar. Place glasses very briefly in a low oven for 1-2 minutes to warm through.

Cold nights and the end of summer

Summer is finally over. It was like somebody turned a switch on Monday and the cold weather arrived straight away on the first day of March. A couple of years I discovered how great a nice bowl of soup can be on a chilly night, after a day at work. The leftovers for lunch the next day are just as good as well...

Despite this, it has taken a long time for me to find a pumpkin soup I like. There are couple of key characteristics a pumpkin soup must have in my mind. First of all is texture, secondly a little kick is never a bad thing! And in my opinion, pumpkin needs something else in order to cut through it's natural sweetness.

One of my girlfriends found this recipe last year, and soon as the weather turns chilly I crave this soup. The red lentils add great texture, roasting the pumpkin gives great depth to the soup and the harissa adds piquancy! It makes such a great meal, curled up in front of the television.

Spiced Pumpkin, Red Lentil and Carrot Soup

1kg pumpkin, cut into large chunks

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, sliced in half moons

1T paprika

1 ½ T ground cumin

2T harissa
1 cup red lentils

1 bunch of coriander, chopped

750mL vegetable stock

olive oil

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
Toss pumpkin with a little olive oil and roast pumpkin until soft.

In a large saucepan, heat approximately 1T olive oil. Add onion and carrot and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add cumin, paprika and harissa, stir for 1 minute. Add stock and bring slowly to the boil. Lower the heat and add lentils. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes or until lentils are soft.

Add half of the lentil mix (including liquid) to the pumpkin and coriander in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add puree to remaining lentil mixture, stir to combine.

Serve with additional harissa and coriander sprigs.

Cooking cupcakes...

Cupcakes are everywhere at the moment. At birthdays, at weddings, at morning teas, afternoon teas and for dessert! To be honest, I have been a bit non-committal on the cupcake front for a while now. They just don't interest me over something like a beautiful fruit tart or pastry. Until now.

I was meeting some friends for afternoon tea, and said I would bring something sweet. I didn't have much in the cupboard (story of life and subject to another post!). I always have the basics of a cake floating around, so cupcakes were an easy option. Rifling through the pantry for my cupcake holders, I came across a packet of dried rose petals, and I thought how pretty and girly! All it takes is a flash of inspiration, one flavour - one element!
Throwing in some vanilla, white chocolate and good friends, beautiful moist cupcakes and a lovely afternoon chatting emerged! Other combinations of flavours keep springing to mind. Cupcakes... everywhere!

Rose and vanilla cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 ¼ cup plain flour
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarb soda
1 cup sugar
100g butter
150mL sour cream
2 eggs, seperated
1tsp vanilla paste
1T rosewater

To decorate:
100g white chocolate
100mL thickened cream
½ cup icing sugar
Dried rose petals

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Cream sugar and butter together. Beat in egg yolks, sour cream, vanilla and rosewater. Stir in flour, baking powder and bicarb soda until well combined. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until soft peaks emerge. Fold gently the egg whites into the cake batter. Fill cupcake holders/pan two-thirds full with cake mixture. Bake for 15-20 mins.

Heat cream until just below boiling point. Remove from heat and add white chocolate, stirring until it has melted into the cream. Cool the ganache in the fridge. Sift icing sugar into ganache and whip until thick. Top cooled cupcakes with ganache and sprinkling of dried rose petals.

Makes 12

Limes!

One of the things I like the most about Sydney is that you can still find a place away from it all. I was talking about this the other day iwth friends and we are all so amazed that on the harbour, 15 mins away from the centre of the city, you can find yourself on a seclude beach, surrounded by bushland, with barely anyone else around! Having found a few of these places myself in my area, one of my favourite things to do on the weekend is to take the papers or a good book and go and hang out on my own in the peace and quiet. I love the fact that I don't have to fight for space or worry about children running around flicking sand everywhere.

So, after a long hard afternoon at one of my favourite harbour beaches, I was super relaxed and came home to make a late afternoon snack. I didn't want to go out and battle the local supermarket (pretty much the complete opposite to the "away from it all" theme...), so I had to make do with what I had at home.

Limes. And I mean alot of limes! Both me and my flatmate had bought a bagfull each this week. I love using limes in salad dressings and asian dishes, but I rarely use it when baking. During the week, I had been reading some old posts of one of my favourite blogs ,and noticed a recipe for a really simple lemon cake . Of course, faced with a bowl full of limes and the basics of a cake in front of me, there was no question!

The only citrus cakes I have made before generally required a syrup to make them moist and flavoursome. This cake is great because the texture is really soft and moist and the flavour of the limes just shone through, with no fiddling about whatsover with any syrups. With a glass of soda and ... you guessed... lime! I had a nice refreshing treat on my hands!

Lime Loaf Cake

2 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 eggs
2 limes, zest and juice
½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in lime zest and juice. Fold in flour and baking powder. Stir in milk until well combined. Fill a loaf pan with mixture and cook for 45 minutes.

Chocolate and Vanilla Tarts with Cherries

It was so hard to think of something to make for my first post. I had a few rules I wanted to follow. I wanted something with cherries, I wanted something from my repetoire of recipes that I use all the time, and I wanted something a little special.
When I was in France, I used to bake every day. One of the first things I learnt to make was pastry - both a savoury (pâte brisée) and sweet version (pâte sucrée). I have to say that this is what opened up the world of baking to me, because once you can make pastry you can make quiches, pies and tarts of course.

Which brings me to my next discovery, crème pâtissière, to which I have Damien Pignolet's wonderful book French to thank! He advocates adding lightly whipped cream to the cooled custard, which lightens both the texture and flavour of the crème pâtissière.

With pâte sucrée and crème pâtissière, you can make any fruit tart. Here I have added cocoa to the pastry to make the tart slightly richer and to offset the sweetness of the crème and the cherries, and of course how could I make a custard with out vanilla? But you could add melted chocolate, fruit puree or lemon zest if you wanted.

Slightly altering the flavourings of both the flavouring and the custard to complement the flavours of the fruit is the key to an interesting fruit tart!


Chocolate and Vanilla Tarts with Cherries

20 cherries, pitted and halved

Pâte sucrée au chocolat

150g butter
1 cup plain flour
¼ cup cocoa
¼ cup icing sugar
1 egg, beaten

Iced water

Crème pâtissière

3 egg yolks
225mL milk
3 1/2T caster sugar
1T plain flour
1tsp vanilla bean paste

150mL thickened cream

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
In a food processor, combine flour, cocoa, icing sugar and butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Add egg. Process. Add a little water until dough just comes together in a ball. Divide dough in two, form each half into a ball and cover in cling wrap.
Refrigerate for 30 mins, remove and roll out until approximately 3mm thick and line 4 loose bottomed10cm tart tins. Prick the base of each tart lightly.
Cook for 10 minutes, and leave to cool

Heat milk in saucepan over low heat, slowly bringing the milk to boil. At the same time beat sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Incorporate flour until well combined.
Add hot milk, and whisk mixture over low heat until mixture thickens. The consistency should be thick enough to leave a ribbon of custard.
Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla. Leave to cool.
Whisk cream until soft peaks form. Fold into cooled custard.

To assemble tarts, spoon crème pâtissière into tart cases and arrange cherry halves in a circular pattern. Enjoy!