Raspberry Frangipane Tart (Possible LF)

Raspberry Frangipane Tart is sweet, tart and full of fruit. I made this one for a dinner party as the dessert after a delicious roast chicken; it went down well. I even made separate mini lactose-free ones for my partner - to do the same replace the butter with margarine and milk with soy milk and it tastes just as fantastic!

Raspberry Frangipane Tart

INGREDIENTS:

For the pastry:
125g sugar
155g butter
40mL milk
270g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp salt


For the filling:
180g butter, softened
180g icing sugar
180g ground almonds
70g flour
1 size 6 egg

For the tart:
300g frozen raspberries, thawed
1/2 cup apricot jam

METHOD:
For the pastry:
Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.
Add milk, flour, baking powder and salt and mix until combined.
Wrap in pastic wrap and refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.

For the filling:
Beat butter, icing sugar, almonds and flour until well combined.
Add the egg and mix until combined.
Set aside.
Gently simmer the apricot jam with 4 tablespoons of water for 5 minutes, remove from heat and set aside.

For the tart:
Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius.
Roll out pastry to 4mm thick and line a 24 cm loose-bottom tart tin.
Spread filling into pastry.
Place raspberries evenly over the top of the filling.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.
Allow to cool before removing tart from its tin.
Glaze with apricot jam mixture.

Serve with vanilla ice cream and berries.

Enjoy!

Just desserts here

Tarte Fine Au Citron (Lemon Tart) Recipe

Tarte Fine Au Citron or lemon tart is a classic french dessert. Using my favourite pastry, Pate Sablee, the result is a smooth lemon filling inside a light but tasty tart case. As a variation, a meringue top can be added.

Tarte Fine Au Citron (Lemon Tart)

INGREDIENTS:
350g Pate Sablee (recipe can be found here)
5 eggs
180g caster sugar
150ml cream
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp milk, for glazing

METHOD:
Roll pastry out to 3-4 mm thick.
Line a lightly buttered, 22cm tart tin or 4 x tartlet tins with the pastry.
Refridgerate for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius.
Lightly whisk eggs and sugar in a chilled bowl - do not let the mixture turn pale.
Add lemon zest and juice. Stir briefly then cover with cling film and refridgerate.
Bake 'blind' the pastry for 15 minutes.
Remove baking blind material and leave for a couple of minutes then brush the base and sides with egg glaze.
Bake for 5 minutes; remove from oven then turn temperature down to 150 degrees celcius.
Lightly whish chilled lemon mixture.
Pour into tart case(s).
Bake immediately for 1 hour until lightly set.
Leave for 5 minutes before carefully removing the tart(s) from the tin.
Leave to cool on wire rack for at least 4 hours before serving.


TIPS:
- Serve the tart as is, sprinkled with icing sugar and/or accompanied by berries.
- After an hour of baking, a meringue top can be added then baked until lightly golden.
- The tart improves with time and can be made a day in advance but keep it in a cool place and not in the fridge to prevent the pastry from going soggy.

Enjoy!

Just desserts here 

Chocolate Wassant Recipe

Chocolate wassants have a tasty crust that conceals a soft sweet bread swirled with chocolate. Great as a snack as well as an after dinner treat. This recipe is similar to that found at My Little Space with a couple of small changes and added details. The recipe for the chocolate paste used can be found here or for a version that is made from cocoa powder try the recipe found here

Chocolate Wassants - Fresh out of the oven

INGREDIENTS:
Starter Dough:
225g    flour
1 tsp    dried yeast
100ml    luke-warm water

Main Dough:
225g flour
100g  sugar
1 egg
60ml   water
70g  butter, melted
1 tsp  salt

1 batch of Chocolate Paste

METHOD:
For starter dough, sift flour into a bowl. Dissolve yeast in water and add to flour, mix/knead until just combined. Cover and leave in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.
For main dough, sift flour into a bowl. Add sugar, egg, water, butter and salt.
Break risen starter dough into pieces and add to main dough.
Mix to form a soft dough, cover and leave in warm place for about an hour or until doubled in size.
On a floured surface, knead dough until smooth then roll out dough to a size that is larger than your chocolate paste.

Chocolate Paste in the middle of Wassant dough

Place chocolate paste in middle, then one third either side into the middle, then in half.

Folding one third into the middle form either side

Folding in half

Rolling out the dough after folding

Roll out to about 20 x 30 cm then fold and roll out again.

Folding one third into the middle

Folding the one third from the other side into the middle

Folding in half

Do this folding and rolling at least one more time.
Then roll out to 30 x 40 cm rectangle and cut into triangles.
Roll up dough like swiss rolls and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper
Rest for 30-40 minutes

Chocolates wassants ready to go in the oven

Brush rolls with egg wash and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until brown.

Chocolate Wassants

Enjoy!

Just desserts here

Chocolate Paste Recipe

Inspired by My Little Space I decided to try making home made chocolate paste. This version is based on the recipe found here just with a couple of little changes and added details. Easy to make, just gotta have a little patience! Is perfect for making Chocolate Wassants.

Chocolate Paste - Ready to be bagged and refrigerated

INGREDIENTS:
2 egg whites
100g  sugar
50g  flour
10g  corn flour
2 tbsp  milk
150g  chocolate, chopped.

METHOD:
Combine egg whites, sugar, flour, cornflour and milk in a saucepan. Mix well
Add chocolate and heat mixture on a very low heat until chocolate has melted.
Heat mixture on a low-medium heat until thickened, stir continuously.
When mixture is a paste like consistency, remove from heat and leave to cool.
Transfer to a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least an hour until set.

Chocolate Paste: Ready for use in Chocolate Wassants after an hour in the fridge

TIPS:

• Make sure you melt the chocolate into the mixture on a very low heat; alternatively you could melt the chocolate in the microwave first then add to the rest of the mixture.
• Be patient when waiting for the mixture to thicken; too much heat and you're running the risk of burning or splitting the mixture

Enjoy!

Just desserts here 

Pate sablee (sweet tart pastry - french) Recipe

My most favourite of the pastry bases crispy, sweet, soft and crumby all at the same time. Hard to work with but a few tricks and it works out fine. This is a french sweet tart pastry and it's delicious!

Here's the recipe I use and a few tips to help get it right

You can either be a real pastry chef and make this on a clean flat surface or if you're a little messy like me, in a big bowl.

INGREDIENTS:
250g flour, sifted
200g butter, cut into small pieces
100g icing sugar, sifted
2 egg yolks
pinch of salt

METHOD:
Combine together the flour, icing sugar and salt. Add butter and rub butter into flour using your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and use a fork to slightly combine into mixture. Using your hands mix and press the mixture together until it resembles a soft smooth round of dough.Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge.

TIPS:

• You can use the pastry straight away; but it is always best to rest pastry in the fridge for at least 30 minutes; this allows the gluten to do its thing and prevents the pastry from shrinking when cooking or acting like elastic when rolling it out.

• Roll the pastry out between two pieces of non-stick baking paper to prevent over use of flour, stickng to the rolling pin/rolling surface and your hands from warming the pastry to much.

• Use drops of water on each corner to get the bottom piece of paper to stick to the work surface and prevent the pastry and paper from shifting around whilst rolling.

• When rolling it out, try not to handle it too much. Also try to work quickly and in a cool place. This is because the pastry has a high butter content so the more the pastry warms the sticker and softer it gets and the harder it is to work with.

• Before you put your pastry into a tart tin. Carefully peel off one of the pieces of paper and place exposed side down into tin. You can use the reamining piece of paper, that is still stuck to the now top of the pastry, to manipulate pastry into shape of tin before peeling off then re-using to hold baking blind material.

• Or, if you don't mind a few creases in the pastry case, you can use one of the pieces of paper as a liner for tin and place the pastry straight into the tin with paper attached underneath.

 Hope that all made sense, if not please let me know.