Mini Walnut Tarlets

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I hardly bake tarts; and here, you see me posting two tarts in a row! Well, since I seldom baked tarts, I thought I'd make more tart shells at one go on the day when I baked the milky fruit tarts. I doubled the tart shell recipe that you see in my fruit tart post, and managed to make extra 12 mini and 3 medium size (those standard egg tart size) tart shells, which I stored in the fridge and baked them a few days later.

I had earlier eyed on the caramel nut tartlets by "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. It looked so tempting for a nut lover like me. The steps however, were more tedious -- involves poping the tarts into the oven twice, and making of two creams - almond and caramel cream. However after a long, tiring day at work, I decided to tweak another simpler pine nut tart recipe, and made a walnut tart instead. That's how baking has become so restricted for me because of my work. But I can't blame anyone or anything. It is my job and I'm getting paid for it while baking is still a hobby.

I didn't regret making the walnut tart because it was a really delicious tart that I couldn't help but devour the entire tart when I'd restricted myself to only eat half of it! Best of all, I get to used up all the nuts I had in my pantry and the whipping cream left from the strawberry milk tart. This is definitely worth making if you love nuts. :)

Recipe for Tart Shell (sweet shortcrust pastry) -- Please refer to the milky fruit tart recipe

All the steps remains the same, except that you've got to cut out little rounds of pastry with round pastry cutter or cut out a portion and pressed it into the tart tin. Bake for 10 minutes (instead of 20 minutes), removed from the oven, remove the weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the tart turns light brown.

Recipe for filling:

50g castor sugar
30g ground almonds
1 egg
1 egg yolk
140g double cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
70g pine nuts



To assemble:

1. Prepare sweet shortcrust pastry (baked in advance).



2. Prepare filling: Mix sugar and ground almonds together. Add egg, egg yolk, cream and vanilla extract and mix until incorporated. Do not over-mix.



3. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius. Spread nutella over the base. Pour filling in, then spread nuts evenly on top.



4. Bake for 15-20 minutes until tart is golden brown. remove from heat and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

The original recipe is a pine nut tart recipe. I replaced pine nuts with walnuts, and strawberry jam with nutella. I was lucky that this tart turned out successful, for I made a huge blunder. For a moment, I thought that I should pour in the egg-cream mixture and baked it with the shell together. So, after I almost filled up all the tiny tins with the mixture, I realised that nope, the recipe requires that the shell has to be baked in advance. Oh gosh! Worried that the tart will not bake well, and because I had pricked holes in advance on the prepared tart, I scooped off the mixture again, sent into the oven to bake for 10 minutes, removed from the oven, topped it with the egg-cream mixture and baked for another 20 minutes. Phew! everything turned out fine, much to my delight. hehe. I love it, the texture of a moist creamy centre with crunchy nuts on top!
I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink! This is the first time I am submitting two entries to Aspiring Bakers ;)

Not a cake this time but a milky fruit tart!

Yes yes... it's not a cake this time round. I made a tart! If you notice from the sidebar category of my blog, you could see that I hardly bake tarts, in fact there's only three tart posts! Somehow tarts don't fall in my "to-bake" list. I still prefer cakes, whether making it or eating it. If they do appear, then very likely, it is for someone than for myself. Haa, I don't know either why I don't like tarts, probably it's the rolling of pastry dough and lining over the tart shell that appears intimidating to me. Usually when the dough gets softened, it gets so difficult to line on to the tart tin with breaking.

I made this milky fruit tart to bring to my sisters' gathering, to celebrate a belated birthday for Xian. Instead of baking a cake, I decided to bake a tart for her since I'm always worried about cake melting during the journey to our meet-up venue; and I know she love pastry tarts too. :)

Dailydelicious's strawberry milk tart caught my eye and I love the white chocolate fillings that she used. It's kind of a white chocolate ganache. I don't know about my friends, but as a personal preference, I don't really like pastry cream which tasted too sweet and "eggy" for me. For the tart shell, I chosed the sweet tart dough by "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida.

I missed out last month's Aspiring Baker's on swiss rolls though I did bake a swiss roll last month. Coincidentally this month's challenge Aspiring Baker #10 - Easy as Pies (including all tarts, quiches, etc) came just in time for me. Hence I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of Not the Kitchen Sink!;)

Here's the recipe for the sweet short pastry:

• 70g unsalted butter



• 35g icing sugar



• a pinch of salt



• 1 tsp vanilla extract



• 20g ground almonds



• 130g cake flour, sifted

Method:

1. Beat butter, icing sugar, salt and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until just combined.



2. Add eggs and mix well. Add ground almonds and mix well.



3. Add flour and fold through completely. Using a scraper, mix batter until a smooth dough is formed. Wrap dough with a cling film, then place in the refrigerator to rest for at least 3 hours. (i only let it rest for 1 hour, probably that's why my dough is more difficult to be rolled).



4. Unwrap dough and place on a non-stick baking mat . Cover surface with cling film and roll to a thickness of about 3-5mm. Remove non-stick baking mat and place dough (with cling film still intact) into the tart tin and gently press it into the tin without stretching it. Remove and discard cling film.



5. Roll the rolling pin over the top pf the tin to remove excess dough. Prick dough with a fork, then let dough rest for about 5 minutes in the freezer before baking.



6. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius. Line tart tin with parchment paper. Place baking weights or rice into tart tin and bake for 20 minutes. Remove weights when pastry just begins to change colour around the edges, then continue baking until light brown, about 10 minutes more.

Recipe adapted from: "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida

Makes one 20 / 22-cm tart tin with fluted edges. I used 18-cm tart tin and two additional smaller tart tin.

The pistachios not only visually enhance the lovely tart, it adds a nice nutty crunch to sweet and tarty taste. The combination is heavenly!


Made two extras for my mum and hubby. :)

The white chocolate cream filling with speckles of vanilla seeds from the vanilla extract. I thought it looks better without the speckles.

I learnt from Dailydelicious that we could make the glaze from our usual fruit jam without having to buy the gel. Please refer to her blog for the white chocolate cream and strawberry glaze recipe. :)






Do try this lovely tart! I'm sure all ladies will love this! ;)

Strawberry Custard Tart

I am really lagging way behind what I am supposed to be posting by now. As you can see, Mother's Day was two weeks ago but I only have time to put up what I've made that day. Not to mention an ice-cream cake I made for dd for his birthday last week (*smile) and other bakes I've made till now. Whenever I delayed something that I wanted to blog about for too long a period, I'll tend to lose the enthusiasm, as there are new items that I'm excited to share about. How I wish I have more than 24 hours a day! I would then be able to do much more things that I always wanted. Anyway, I'm already thankful that at least I have a stable job that doesn't requires me to work overtime that often, so I can still spare time in doing things that I enjoy, as well as time for this hobby of mine. :) I baked this strawberry tart for dear mummy this Mother's Day. We postponed our family dinner as my brother was in Korea for a holiday. Thus Mum thought that since the cake won't be shared with the whole family, I could bake something smaller as she would not be able to finish a whole cake. So, I decided to bake this 6-inch tart filled with pastry cream and strawberries. I got the recipe from Happy Homebaker's Berry Tart, without modifying any part of the recipe except the topping. I like that the crust uses less butter and was pretty much easy to handle. This was also the first time I succeeded in making the pastry cream without getting it hardened into lumps. It was smooth and the vanilla extract taste was great!

Thanks Happy HomeBaker for sharing this recipe. It has been a long time we have eaten such a yummy homemade tart!

Pear and Almond Frangipane Tart

Finally, my photos are up! Had been trying for days, but the photos just stubbornly would'nt want to show their apearance, even on flickr. Well well, be it pretty or ugly, I think they deserves to be up here, cos afterall, it's a sharing of my successes/failures with everyone out there, where I can improve with every new recipe that I experiment (Though I have to say there are some which I have no time to share about with all, but you may enjoy the photos if you want, but pardon for my poor photography skills! :P ).

This is a lovely tart which I knew would definitely taste good even before I attempted. Buttery ground almonds crust.. reminds me of Chinese New Year almond cookies. I paired with sweet pear, though you may substitute with peaches, apples or plum.

I finally utilise the 16-cm tart shell which I bought for almost a year. :P

Ingredients:

Pastry
80g flour
20g ground almond
30g caster sugar
40g unsalted butter , soften at room temperature
1 tablespoon (15g) lightly beaten egg

Filling
85g ground almond
75g caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract (I omitted this)
1/2 egg
30g butter
1 pear, peeled, halved, cored, and sliced

Method:

Pastry Base

1. Lightly grease an 16cm tart pan, set aside.
2. Toast almond powder at 100°C for 10 mins. Stirring in between. Let cool.
   Sieve flour and almond meal. (I bought store-bought grounded almond which were too huge to pass through the sieve so i only sifted the flour).
3. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy (I cream manually with spoon).
4. Add in egg, very gradually, whisking the batter till well mixed each time the egg is added.
   Sieve over the flour/almond meal mixture in 2 to 3 additions into the batter. Fold the mixture gently with a spatula.
5. Form and shape the pastry into a round ball.
6. Chilled dough for at least 1 hour.
7. Roll out the pastry in between 2 sheets of cling wrap or baking paper.
8. Remove one side of the cling wrap or baking paper. Place it over the prepared tart pan.
9. Mould the pastry into the tart pan, smoothing the edges and the rim carefullyChill the pastry in Use a fork to poke holes on the pastry. Brush the top of the rim with egg wash.
10. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180°C for 10 ~12mins until the edges are slightly browned. Let cool completely.

Filling

1. Cream butter and sugar till the mixture turns fluffy. Add in the egg gradually, mix well each time the egg is added.
2. Add in ground almond. Fold with a spatula till well incorporated. Sieve over the flour onto the mixture. Mix with a spatula. Add in vanilla and mix well.
   Spread the filling onto the cooled pastry base. Ensure that the edges are filled up. Line with pear slices. Make sure the slices are well drained.
3. Bake in pre-heated oven at 170°C for 30 ~ 35 mins, until the edges and filling turn golden brown.
4. Let cool, and dust with some icing sugar if desired.

Recipe Source: Happy HomeBaking's Peach Tart (tart shell recipe) and Williams-Sonoma's Essential of Baking (recipe for the filling)

Note: I used a 16-cm tart shell and I have leftover batter. For the leftover, I made 2 more small tartlets.

Besides the tart being too sweet, it was truly good. :D

A day of bentos and tartlets

A lovely Saturday morning, lovely weather, off we girls went to the....ZOO! LOL yeah you are not seeing wrongly. We 4 'big' girls actually went to the zoo. Somehow got this idea from so and so..(I forgot whose friend), and decided to head outdoors. Yeah! I love outdoors..what i'm only worried about is the effect on my skin colour...No wonder people are saying I'm getting more and more tanned..:(











See the super thick crust??


As usual, the task of preparing for the day's picnic food would have to leave it to me and xian. We were already happily shopping for cute bento boxes, cutters etc at Daiso the week before. Knowing that xian would definitely be preparing quite an amount of food for the bento, so I baked some mini tartlets...
I find myself often being too ambitious. I would often be brainstorming in my head ...hmmm what am I going to bake, the different variations, favours, colours etc in order to try out everything. More often than not, it was not possible, of cos' unless I don't need to sleep. I'm a late night owl..hehe like to do my things at night..cos' in the daytime, would either be out or working. Just like this tart venture, had planned to make fruits, cheese, chocolate, apple crumble tartlets. In the end, I gave up on cheese and apple crumble as I thought it would be too much of a hassle to have to beat cream cheese; and that apple crumble only taste nice when it's piping hot. Lucky I was realistic enough. Haha...I was right; cos' after making chocolate and fruit tarts; I was already exhausted; it was already late at night. I had planned to bake this the night before so that I can chilled it for next morning.

For the tart shell, I used the recipe from Aunty Yochana's blueberry cheese tart. I had much difficulty pressing into these mini tarts shells, especially the mini muffin tray as I did not have enough mini shells. I made a total of 24, but i guess I could make much more cos' you see, my shell was so thick! For the custard and glazing, I used the recipe from Jodelibakery - go to fruit tarts. However, I wasn't too fond of such custard. I would probably use another type made from milk, egg yolks and cream next time.

Ingredient for tart shell:

100 g butter, softened
60 g icing sugar
30 g beaten egg
200 g plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Cream butter and sugar until soft
Add in beaten egg, salt and vanilla
Fold in flour and mix until a dough is formed
Chill the dough in the fridge for at least at least 30 minutes.
Roll the dough onto a work surface - about 3 to 4 mm thick. Use a round cutter and cut into rounds. Press in into the tart shell. Trim the edges
Poke the tart shell with a fock evenly.
Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Leave it to cool.

Method for custard:

Pour 250 ml of milk into a saucepan.
Dissolve 30 g of custard powder and keep stirring until no lumps are found.
Add 35 sugar and cook over slow heat. Keep stirring until soft lumps are formed. Let it cook.

(Note: I chilled it in the fridge as what the recipe says and ended up having thick solidfied custard which could not be piped onto the shell. So I would recommend not to chill it).

Method for glazing (optional):

Dissolve 1 1/2 tsp of instant jelly into 80 g of water. Bring to a boil. Let it cool a little and used it to glaze the tarts after fruits are added.

To assemble, after the tarts are cooled, pour cooled custard into the shell, add fruits as desired and glaze with glazing shell. I added some nutella into the shell before the custard. :)

Ok, now I'll introduce the chocolate ganache tartlet. I modified the chocolate ganache from my previous chocolate truffle recipe.


Ingredients:

20 g of conveture milk chocolate
30g of dark chocolate (72% cocoa) - If you prefer sweet chocolate, may use all milk chocolate cos' dark chocolate gives a bitter taste
50ml of whipping cream
10g of almond meal (Optional)
Whole almonds

Method:

Melt chocolate over double boiler and set aside.
Heat cream till simmer.Stir cream into melted chocolate and stir in widening concentric circles.
Add almond meal and stir gently.
Scoop into the tart shell, decorate with an almond on top. dada...finish!

Okok let's see what xian have in store for us.....

Fruits Bento...........

Potato Salad....

Colourful Bento...consisting of egg mayo /luncheon meat sandwich, taiwan sausage, meat /sotong balls, crab meat, cucumber, carrots and chicken nuggets.

I tried asking xian for the recipe ...Haha according to her, most of them were based on 'instinct'. Just fried the ready-made food, boil and potatoes and eggs and add mayo / bacon bits accordingly. "colour combi is impt in bento-making.. cos makes the bento very appealing!.. the food arrangement...must think and plan...use cute cutters for carrot, cute mini food cups (refer to the red and yellow paper cups) and cute food divider (refer to 'happy animals')..." Quoted by Kexian...LOL!
Well..anyway I think we were not so interested in the animals, :P rather we were more interested in eating, chatting, taking photos....relaxing outdoors.




















I guess age is catching up on us..hee..felt tired after a whole day's walk. But the movie 'Enchanted" wake us up! It's so funny and sweet...definitely a must watch movie....

And this is my favourite animal for the day..They would turn to the same direction all at the same instant the moment wherever there's food..So CUTE!