Showing posts with label Tarts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tarts. Show all posts

Pineapple Tarts

9:12 PM | Labels: ,

The red packets (angpows) from Citibank a few years ago. I didn't realise how precious the collage picture of Peranakan items were until I was looking for some Peranakan-themed paintings for my house. I saw artworks that have the similar look as the angpow packets and they were priced S$500 onwards.


These pineapple tarts are before bake (lightly glazed with egg yolk). I think I shall skip the glazing part next time. It's too strenous for my back. As for the tiny star, I first saw it in E's Joie's blog.

Pineapple tarts before bake. These pineapple fillings were home cooked. I always insist on cooking my own pineapple paste so that I can control its sweetness. I can't imagine how much preservatives goes into the store-bought ones.

This year, out of curiosity, I bought 1 packet of pineapple paste from my baking instructor, just so I can compare the difference in taste and texture. The conclusion is, nothing beats homecooked.

These tarts are left on the wire racks after being baked in the oven. The fillings that are lighter in colour are the store-bought ones. I must admit they look nicer because of their golden colour. But once you put them in your mouth, you will be disappointed.

 What I like about this picture is how the 2 shades of pineapple fillings make an interesting pattern.

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Posted by mercoon.boy

Apple Crumble Tart

6:53 AM | Labels:


In my previous attempt to make a raspberry crumble, I used the raspberry jam bought from Ikea, but the result was too sweet. Today I decided to make another fruit crumble. This time, I wanted to do my own apple filling so I could control the sweetness. The method to do the tart shell is similar to the fresh fruit tarts. The only differences are the breadcrumbs-like toppings as well as the size of the mould (I used a tart mould with a removable base which I bought from my baking instructor). I used brown sugar for my filling, that's why the brown colour in the photos.

Ingredients
Crumble:
300g plain flour
pinch of salt
175g sugar
200g unsalted butter, cubed at room temperature
butter for greasing

Filling:
450g apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm piece
50g brown sugar
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pinch of ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Do a base crust using half the amount of ingredients in the fresh fruit tart recipe. Half bake the base for 10 mins. Proceed with filling and topping.
  3. Place the flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Taking a few cubes of butter at a time rub into the flour mixture. Keep rubbing until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
  4. Cook the apple with butter in a large pot and sprinkle over the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir well being careful not to break up the fruit. When It's ready, the apple should be soft.
  5. Pour apple filling into the half-baked tart shell. Sprinkle the crumble mixture on top.
  6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until the crumble is browned and the fruit mixture bubbling.
  7. Sprinkle some cocoa powder on top of tart.

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Posted by mercoon.boy

Fresh fruit tarts

8:57 PM | Labels:





I have wanted to try-out this recipe very long time ago, since the day my colleague let me sampled it. I think about 1 year ago.

The easiest part in this recipe is mixing the pastry ingredients. The flour need not be sieved I was told. In fact, this applies to all tarts making. But I'm so used to the motion of sieving the flour after weighing it, I forgot. Anyway it only make the crust smoother.

Theoretically, the recipe looks easy - prepare the crust, prepare the custard filling, pour filling into tart shells, top the cut fruits and glaze the toppings.

The difficult part comes in rolling the dough and presssing it into indivdual moulds, especially the small ones. Even though it is more tedious with the small moulds, it is worth the effort. The small tarts are cuter and also easier to eat. You can pop 1 whole mini tart into your mouth, no mess!

I made the crusts the night before and store them in an airtight container, at room temperature. I over-boiled the custard mixture. As a result, the cream was thicker and more difficult to pour into the crust. I have to use a piping bag to fill up the crusts. When glazing the fruits, I worked too slow, so the jelly cooled down and curdled up. That's why the lumps of jelly around the fruits.

Tart pastry
Ingredients
250g butter
100g sugar
1 egg
500g plain flour
Method
1. Preheat oven at 180 degress C
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy and add in the egg
3. Add in flour slowly and knead well.
4. Place into tart moulds and bake until golden brown

Custard
Ingredients
500g water
150g sugar
50g butter
50g fresh milk
100g custard powder
1 egg
Method
1. Boil water, sugar and butter together
2. Mix milk, custard powder and egg together and pour into no. 1. Cook over gentle fire until mixture thickens. Pour into baked tart shells.

For glazing
Boil together 1/2 tbsp agar agar powder, 150 ml water and 50g sugar until dissolved. Brush onto fruits. Another method is dissolving 100g of apricot gel with 80g of water over low fire.
Fresh fruits topping
I used kiwi, strawberries and canned peaches.

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Posted by mercoon.boy
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