Summer Tart

I'm stressed like hell, but keep calm and bake! It sucks to have like 11 stacks of work lurking in background and sickeningly depressing, but I'll steal time to bring my spirits up! It's nothing new, used the pate Sablee base, lemon curd and changed the friuts for a summer feel!

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26 NIV)

Rose Pineapple tarts

I've been deliberating over baking pineapple tarts. One part of me thinks that I might as well just buy, but the baker in me desires to bake them myself, so I gave in to the baker and decided to bake! Yes! Rose ones too! I hope I succeed. Recipe taken from thebakingbiatch.com.

(Makes 67 ten grams rounds) 

550g pineapple paste

360g all purpose flour

250g unsalted butter at room temperature 

50g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp corn flour

A pinch of salt

For egg wash

1 egg yolk

1tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven at 160 degrees. Sift the all purpose flour and corn flour together and set aside.

2. Beat the butter and icing sugar till light and fluffy. 

3. Add the yolks one at a time, beating to combine after each add. Add the salt and beat to combine.

4. Add the sifted flour in 3 additions, folding to combine in between each add. 

5. Roll the dough into a disc and leave in the fridge for about 30 minutes so the dough is easier to handle. 

6. Divide the chilled dough into 10g each.

7. Divide the pineapple paste into 9g each.

8. Flatten the dough with your hands and wrap the pineapple paste in between to get a round ball.

9. Crimp the tart into a rose or bake it plain round as it is. 

10. Egg wash the tarts by brushing the top.

11. Bake the tarts in a preheated oven of 160 degrees for 15 minutes and then increase the heat to 180 degrees and bake for another 2-3 minutes. 

I had difficulties getting the tarts properly crimped at first and they didn't look like roses, however, by the second tray, I was bolder and they looked more like roses. Verdict? Now I know why pineapple tarts are so expensive! They are so tedious to make! It was fun making them, but to make them in bulk, I don't think I have the patience. It was fun nonetheless and I might just make them again next week because I need to use up the rest of the pineapple paste. 

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NIV)

A Special Tart

My Godma's birthday falls on a weekend, so that gives me enough time to bake something for her. I decided on an unconventional cake again, this time, a cherries and strawberries tart. Happy birthday, Godma, someone who introduces me to my greatest gift in life, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. She gave me my very first bible at a very young age and there's no turning back since.

(Makes 23 cm tart)

1 recipe Pate Sablee

1 recipe Pastry Cream

2 tbsp jam for glazing (I used quince jam)

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Roll the pate Sablee between 2 sheets of baking paper.

2. Line the tart case with the crust pastry and press the sides into the case with your fingers. 

3. Line the top with baking paper, weigh down the pastry with baking beans or rice or beans if you do not have baking beans. 

4. Bake for about 25 minutes. For the last 5 minutes, I remove the baking beans and brown the pastry. 

5. Once baked, leave to cool completely and fill with pastry cream. 

6. Decorate with fruits of your choice. I couldn't resist cherries which I pitted and strawberries. 

7. Heat the jam over low heat to melt it. Brush the fruits with melted jam.

Lovely lovely tart. I hope my Godma and Godpa love it! 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14 NIV)

Lemon Curd Tarts

After all the festive feastings, I thought I'll just bake an unconventional birthday 'cake', a strawberries tart instead. I hope the girls like it. :) Unfortunately, I was rushing between meetings and completing the cake and the best I could was take the final product. I thought the strawberry lemon curd tart could do with a few more strawberries. A few days later, I did another tart, this time, leaving the lemon curd as the star of the dessert. I like how the sharpness of the lemon curd cut through the mildly sweet crust. I used the Pate Sablee recipe.

(Makes about 10 standard muffins)

1 recipe of Pate Sablee

1 recipe of Lemon Curd

100ml whipping cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees, fan mode. Roll the Pate Sablee into a round.
*(I rolled it in between 2 sheets of baking paper so that I don't have to wash the rolling pin and the table top. Yes, I'm lazy like that, hahaha.)*

2. Cut into rounds, I used 6.5cm cutter.

3. To make sure the tarts don't get stuck to the muffin tins, I lined the base of the tin with a strip of baking paper.

4. Ease the cut out dough into the muffin tins and weigh the dough down with baking beans. You can use any beans if you don't have the baking beans.

5. Bake in the preheated oven of 180 degrees for about 20 minutes. Leave to cool completely before assembling.

6. Pipe or spoon lemon curd into the tart cases.

7. Whip the cream and the icing sugar together till soft peak.

8. Pipe on top of the tarts to decorate.

9. Sprinkle lemon zest on top of the tarts to finish.

There.. Love these tarts and the simple decoration.

Happy 2015!!

but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31 NIV)

Egg Tarts

This week's new bake shall be egg tarts! I was deliberating between the traditional ones and the Portuguese ones. I did some research on both and decided on the traditional ones, convincing myself that maybe the traditional ones are healthier because crust pastry is healthier than puff pastry right?:p Because my husband said that egg tarts are too mainstream, I added cheese to some of the tarts and it's really not bad! Best eaten fresh and hot! 

This recipe is adapted from heimama blog.

(Makes 20 7cm egg tarts)

For the crust

300g plain flour

200g unsalted cold butter (cubed)

2 tbsp custard powder

2 tbsp milk powder

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 egg (lightly beaten) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

For the egg filling

80g evaporated milk

280g water

110g caster sugar

3 eggs (lightly beaten) 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

To make the crust

1. Sift the flour, custard powder and milk powder together into a mixing bowl.

2. Add the cubed cold butter and use your finger tips to rub the butter into the flour mixture until you get crumbs texture. 

3. Add the sugar and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the bowl and add the egg and vanilla extract. Use your hands to bring the mixture together until you get a soft dough. Be careful not to over mix the dough. 

4. Roll the dough into a disc and cling wrap it before resting it in the fridge for at least 30 min.

To make the egg filling

5. Boil the sugar in the water until the sugar dissolve and leave to cool completely. 

6. When the sugar syrup is cooled completely, add the egg, evaporated milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Sift the resulting mixture 3 times to ensure that it is very smooth. 

To assemble

7. Divide the dough into 20 portions of about 30g each and roll each into a ball. 

 

8. Press the ball of dough into the tart case and 'run' your fingers clockwise along the case, pressing the dough into the case. 

9. Fill the prepared cases with the egg filling until the brim. (If you are adding cheese, you can add it at this stage- I used laughing cow cheese) 

10. Bake the tarts in a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 20 min.

11. Leave them to cool. 

Egg tarts are best eaten fresh! 

They're really not bad and I prefer the cheese ones hot, see the glorious cheese in the photo above! It's really easy to bake too. :)

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. (1 Chronicles 29:11 NIV)