Curd Cheese Tart and Custard Tartletts

We finally had a bit of sun... for about five minutes...

Thank you library. I told you there's be more baking, didn't I ;) After much deliberation I decided that I'd try making a dessert from 'Desserts: A Lifelong Passion' by Michel Roux. This book is swish, all the recipes are so, well, fancy! It's definitly a more advanced cookbook, he expects you to know what he's talking about in his recipes, there aren't really any explenations of how to go about creaming things etc. Still, once you know the basics there's really no need for that. The pictures in it are spectacular and all the recipes sound so good, I never want to have to bring it back >_<

The icing sugar kinda dissolved in the middle

I've been wanting to bake a cheesecake for ages, and although this isn't quite what I had in mind it came close enough. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't set properly, the mixture just looked so liquidy. But it all worked out well in the end. I made some pastry a couple of weeks ago from some fat that was about to go off and froze it, so I got a chance to move some of that out of the freezer too :)

The only modification I made to this recipe was to substitute ordinary shortcrust pastry for his sweet pastry, it sounded like it would have been overpoweringly sweet. I think this was a change for the better, though if you're a big fan of sweet things then you might like it that way. He also suggests using puff pastry if desired.

I didn't threaten to fall apart when I took it out of the tin, to my relief

Recipe: Curd Cheese Tart

Ingredients:

• Shortcrust Pastry (see recipe here)
  
• 150g soft curd cheese (fat content of your choice) (I used cottage cheese)
  
• 50g caster sugar
• 150ml milk
• 3 eggs, separated
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Zest of 1 lemon, thinly slivered and blanched
• 20g flour, plus extra for dusting
• 30g cornflour
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Method:

1. On a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry to about 2 mm thick. Use it to line a 22cm/ 8 1/2 inch loose-bottomed pie dish.
   
2. Refrigerate until firm. Line with tin foil and baking beans. Bake blind in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Leave to cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
   
4. In a bowl, whisk together the curd cheese, sugar, milk, egg yolks, lemon juice and zest, flour, and cornflour. Beat the egg whites stiffly and delicately fold them into the mixture with a spatula.
   
5. Fill the pastry case with the mixture and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 150 degrees Celsius and bake for a further 15 minutes.
6. Take the tart out of the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for five minutes. Remove from tin and leave to cool completely.
7. Dust with icing sugar. Serve cold, but never chilled (this will destroy the flavor).
   

It reminds me of mountains

The thing that impressed me most about this recipe was that fact that it contained so little fat. I'm not saying it's sin-free or anything like that, but for such a creamy tasting dessert it has very little in it; no butter, no cream, just some cottage cheese which isn't exactly indulgent :P If you wanted to make it richer you could use a curd cheese that has a higher fat content, but I really don't see the need to.
The texture is like a baked cheesecake, and the lemon flavor is very subtle, I think I would like it a bit stronger but my mum, the one who wanted it, says it's supposed to be like that, so I guess I can't argue. It wasn't complicated to make, again I was just afraid that it wouldn't set, but it obviously did. It started browning quite early on and needed to be covered with tinfoil, otherwise I would have ended up with what would have looked like a burnt cloud!

Overall, it was a success :)

Then the sun left

I still had some defrosted pastry left over from the tart, there was no point in waisting it, so I made custard tartletts! Not exactly complicated, but they're still really nice.

I love these little foil cups

Ummm, I can't really post a recipe for them. All I did was line the foil cases with the leftover pastry, baked them blind for about 10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius, removed the foil and beans, reduced the oven to 150 degrees, and continued to bake them for another seven minutes or so until they browned. Then I just made some thick Bird's custard in the microwave and filled them with it. Top with berries, leave to cool, and enjoy!

Until next time...

Heaven With Strawberries

Hello! First post in my new blog! I guess I should say some inspirational words about why I made it etc. Let's cut to the chase; I like to bake and take pictures, that's why I made it. I want to try and develop my skills and get feedback and comments from people who actually know what they're doing, and I just like to go on and on about things. So enjoy!

In honour of my new blog I baked a strawberry tart, it seemed appropriate. I have wanted to bake one of these for ages and now seemed as good a time as any, especially since they were selling two packets of strawberries for five euro in Dunnes. The recipe is taken from Williams and Sonoma’s ‘Essentials of Baking - which is one of my favourite baking books that I own. The recipes are really good and deliver exactly what they pro mice, plus the step by step instructions are really clear and easy to follow.
I altered the recipe slightly, using patisserie cream instead of the suggested mascarpone cream filling and I had to use vanilla essence rather than a pod as they are IMPOSSIBLE to get.

Filled tart case

The jam glaze really helps to brighten up the fruit

And a shot of the yummy, if not slightly squidgy, inside.

Recipe: Strawberry Tart with Patisserie Creme

Rich Tart Pastry:

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups (200g) all-purpose flour

½ cup (60g) confectioners’ sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (125g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 2 cm pieces

2 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon cream

Method:

In a food processor combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Pulse one or two times to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse 7-8 times until the mixture forms large, coarse, crumbs the size of large peas.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks with a fork, then stir in the cream until blended. With the motor running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough begins to come together, but does not form a ball.

On a work surface, shape the dough into a 6 inch (15cm) disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 45 minutes.

Remove the disk from refrigerator. If it is too hard to roll out leave it to stand at room temperature for 10-20 minutes. Lightly dust a rolling pin and work surface with flour.

Roll out the dough and line a 9 inch (23cm) tart pan, using a double crust on the edges. Freeze tart until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit). Line the frozen tart shell with aluminium foil, fill with dried beans/rice/baking weights.

Bake until crust dries out, around 15 minutes.

Reduce heat to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit)

Remove foil and weights. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool.

Pastry Cream (Créme Patisserie):

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups (375 ml) whole milk

1 vanilla bean, halved length ways and scraped

4 large egg yolks

½ cup (125g) sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Method:

In a saucepan over a medium heat warm the milk and vanilla bean pod and scrapings until small bubbles appear along the edges of the pan. Remove from heat, then remove the pod.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar until smooth. Slowly whisk in the hot milk until blended. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place over a medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to the boil and thickens, about three minutes. Cook for a further minute. Pour through a fine-meish sieve into a clean bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, poke a few holes in the wrap. Refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours.

3 tablespoons seedless strawberry or raspberry jam.

About 25 strawberries, hulled.

To assemble:
Melt the jam in a microwave on medium power. Fill the tart shell with the pastry cream. Carefully arrange the strawberries, pointed end up and close together, on top of the filling. Brush strawberries with melted jam. Refrigerate until cold.

I thought this was a really, really nice tart, and was quite proud of it if I do say so myself. The cream wasn't too rich but still creamy and satisfying. I would have perhaps liked it to be a little more solid to prevent the contense of the tart sliding out of the case once cut, but sacrafices must be made.