Fruit Tart

I love fruit tarts - they are fun to make, look pretty and have a perfect summery taste. This recipe is from the Joy of Baking website.

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups (210 g) all-purpose (plain) flour + a pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 oz, 113 g) unsalted butter
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1 egg

For the cream:
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1/8 cup (20 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
3 tablespoons (20 g) cornstarch (or wheat-, potato-, whatever- starch)
Optional: 3/4 tablespoon (10 ml) liqueur

For the glaze: (optional, but recommended)
1 tablespoon apricot jam or preserves
1 teaspoon liqueur or water or a combination of the two

For the topping:
2 - 3 cups fresh fruit, such as berries, kiwi, bananas, plums, pineapple, melon, peaches, or whatever else you think belongs on a fruit tart.

You also need a tart pan or a springform pan, or another pan with detachable sides.

Directions:

For the crust:

Sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside.
Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the egg, beating just until incorporated.
Dunk flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball of dough. Don't overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.
Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into an 11 - 12 inch (28 - 30 cm) circle that is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick.

* So says the recipe. To avoid a floury mess, I like to cover both the rolling pin and the counter with plastic wrap, so the dough doesn't stick to either.

To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pan, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry. The pastry should be about an inch larger than pan.
When the pastry is rolled to the desired size, lightly roll pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll.
Unroll onto top of tart pan.
Gently lay in pan and lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan.
Prick bottom of dough (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes).
Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten.

Preheat oven to 400 F (200 C)
Line unbaked pastry shell with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
Fill pastry shell with rice or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface.
Or, you know, use *proper* ceramic pie weights if you have them :).
Bake crust on the center rack for 20 to 25 minutes until it is dry and lightly golden brown.
Remove weights (or rice, beans, whatever) and cool crust on wire rack before filling.

For the cream:

In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar and eggs together
Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine the milk and vanilla and bring to a boil
Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.
Place the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly.
When mixture boils, whisk it constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and hard to stir.
Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using).
Pour into a clean bowl and cool.

For the glaze:

Heat the apricot jam or preserves and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted. Remove from heat and strain through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps.
If using, add the liqueur at this point.
Let glaze cool until it is only slightly warm.

Assembly:

Brush a thin layer of the glaze over the bottom and sides of the cooled pastry shell to prevent the crust from getting soggy.
Let the glaze dry 20 - 30 minutes.
Spoon the cream into the tart.

Wash and slice the fruit you are using.
Arrange fruit (in concentric circles or randomly) on top of the cream, making sure no cream is showing.
Rewarm glaze and lightly brush on fruit.
Chill and serve.

Store covered in the fridge.

Berry Pie

I've been eyeing this recipe for a while, especially since it's from a book that I am contemplating getting. I finally got a chance to make it - my first ever American pie, yay! It's delicious too :). The crust takes in from the filling and gets wonderfully juicy, but not soaked and it holds the filling beautifully. And the filling has this divine tartly sweet taste that cooked berries have. OK, enough with the self-promotion, on with the recipe :).

Ingredients for one two-crust 9-inch (23 cm) pie:

For the crust:
14 tablespoons (7 oz, 200 g) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups (320 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
5 to 7 tablespoons ice water*
1 tablespoon vinegar**

* Ice water = water with ice in it. I don't remember why the cold temperature is so important, but it is.

** The vinegar's purpose is to prevent the dough from forming tight gluten bonds and help it stay flaky. You can't taste it, so don't skip it. The recipe said cider vinegar, but I used wine vinegar. I assume any type will do.

For the filling:
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons (20 g) cornstarch (cornflour)
a pinch of salt
the zest of one lemon (about 2 teaspoons), finely grated
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cups (about 1 lb, 500 g) berries. The recipe uses fresh blackberries, I used a mix of frozen raspberries, blueberries and marionberries.

Directions:

For the crust:

* The crust is not labor-intensive, but it takes a while to make, as it has to rest in the fridge a few times in increments of 1 hour, 30 min, and 1 hour, so a total of 2 and a half hours. The resting is important, as it allows the dough to settle, not shrink during baking and form the flakes that it should. If you don't care to wait, just use store-bought crust.

Divide the 14 tablespoons of butter into 2 portions: 9 tablespoons and 5 tablespoons (130 g and 70 g).
Refrigerate the 9 tablespoon portion and freeze the 5 tablespoon portion for at least 30 minutes.
Place the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Process for a few seconds to combine.
Add the refrigerated butter, cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) cubes, and process for about 20 seconds or until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Add the frozen butter, cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) cubes, and pulse until the frozen butter is the size of peas.
Add 5 tablespoons of ice water and the vinegar and pulse 6-7 times
Pinch a small amount of the mixture to see if it holds together.
If not, add another 1 tablespoon water and pulse 3 times.
Try pinching again to see if it holds together.
If not, add the final 1 tablespoon water and pulse 3 times.

At this point, my dough still looked like a mess of dry crumbs, but I am happy that I resisted my urge to add more water in it :).

Divide the dough in half. Wrap each portion with plastic wrap and flatten into discs. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Remove one disc of pie dough from the fridge.
If it's too hard to roll, let it sit out for about 10 minutes.
Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch (0.3 cm) thick and about 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter.

I always have trouble rolling buttery doughs, as they tend to stick to the counter and tear. So I cover the counter with plastic wrap, cover the rolling pin with plastic wrap and roll it like that. Easy to clean up too!

Carefully transfer to a 9-inch pie pan.
Trim the dough edge to about even with the edge of the pan.
Cover with plastic and let dough rest in fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

For the filling:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, lemon zest.
Whisk in the lemon juice to make a slurry.
Add the berries and gently toss them to coat with the slurry.
Mine were frozen and easy to handle, but if you are using fresh, be careful not to crush them.
Let sit for about 15 minutes.

Assembling the pie:

Toss the berries once more and then pour the mixture into the bottom crust.
Roll out the remaining disk of dough to about 12 inches in diameter.
Moisten the edges of the bottom crust with water and gently place the top crust over the berries.
Tuck any overhang under the bottom crust and press down to seal the two crusts.
With the tip of a knife, cut 3-5 slits in the top crust to allow steam to vent.
Cover pie loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour before baking.

Set your oven rack to the lowest position, so that the bottom crust bakes well.
Preheat oven to 425F (220 C).
Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any juice.
Bake for 30-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Check the pie after 20 minutes and protect the edges from over-browning (mine did!) with a ring of foil if necessary.
Allow pie to cool on a rack for at least 4 hours before serving. This is not only to protect you from burning your mouth :) but also to allow the filling to settle.

Cream Pie 2

This is one of my mother-in-law's recipes but it looks like a spin-off from Chrisell's recipe a few posts down, so for the sake of consistency, I'll call it Cream pie 2.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 cup + 3 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 lb (500 g) heavy whipping cream
1/2 oz (14 g) gelatine, for Americans, that's two envelopes of Knox gelatine.
1 cup fruit - berries work best, but sliced banana is good too
1/4 cup of cold water

Directions:

For the base:
Separate one egg white from the yolk - for how to, see here.
Set egg white aside, beat yolk with the remaining 2 eggs, 3 teaspoons of sugar and the flour.
Pour batter into a buttered pie dish.
Bake at 350F/175C for 6-7 minutes or until lightly brown.
Let base cool.

For the filling:
In a large bowl beat whipping cream with sugar until it forms soft peaks.
In a separate bowl beat egg white until it forms soft peaks.
When egg white is properly beaten, it should cling to the bowl when the bowl is flipped.

That is not of paramount importance in this recipe, but it is if you are making meringue.

For gelatine:
Soak gelatine in cold water.
Put the dish containing gelatine in another dish filled with water and put the whole constuction on the stove on low heat.
Continously stir until gelatine is dissolved.
Let it cool a little bit.

OT: should we make one post with instructions on how to work with gelatine, separate egg whites etc., so everybody can reference to it?

Add fruit (chopped or sliced if necessary) to whipped cream mixture and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon - no mixer at this point!
Add whipped egg white and stir.
Add gelatine and stir.
Pour everything on the cooled base and leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

I didn't get to take a picture before the pie was cut:

Strawberry Cream Pie

I made this pie for a dinner party on Friday night, and it went down very well. It's very sweet and rich, but the blandness of the cream layer nicely counterbalances the very sweet strawberry filling.

Please let me know if there are any products in this recipe that don't make sense to non-Australians!

Biscuit (Cookie) Base:

Ingredients:

250g sweet biscuits (US: cookies) (I used Arnotts Choc Ripple - any plain chocolate biscuit/cookie will work)
120g margarine, melted

Method:

1. Place biscuits (cookies) in food processor and blend until finely crushed.

2. Add melted margarine and blend until it can be rolled into balls

3. Press into the base of a ~20cm (8 inch) diameter pie dish or springform tin, and refrigerate until firm (a couple of hours). I used a pie dish and greased it with margarine beforehand to make sure the pie came out easily.

Pie Filling:

Ingredients:

1 85g (3oz) packet strawberry jelly crystals (US: jello)
2 x 1/2 teaspoon gelatine
3/4 cup (185mL) hot water
~425g (1 pound) can strawberries in syrup
300mL whipping cream
1/4 cup (62mL) cold water

Method:

1. Blend strawberries and syrup in a food processor on high for ~2 minutes until strawberries are completely dissolved

2. Put jelly, gelatine and hot water in a saucepan.

3. Stir over medium heat until jelly is dissolved.

4. Combine the strawberry mixture with the jelly mixture. Stir thoroughly then pour on top of set biscuit base. Refrigerate until firm (I left it overnight to be certain).

5. Place the cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatine over the top.

6. Place the bowl containing the gelatine over a bowl of hot water (like when melting chocolate) and stir until dissolved. Allow to cool slightly.

7. Whip cream until it is forming soft peaks. Stir in the gelatine and water mixture.

8. Spread cream mixture over pie and refrigerate until firm (a couple of hours).

9. To decorate, top with sliced strawberries or chocolate curls, or dust with cocoa.