When In France...

...make a Tarte aux Fraises!

My need to bake followed me on holiday so I made a strawberry tart which goes down really well with the family.
A shortcrust pastry base filled with vanilla french custard and topped with fresh strawberries.
The extra shine comes from a thin coat of honey!

Depending on what fruit is in season this would cost £15 to feed 8.

Rhubarb and Strawberry tart

We had some rhubarb that was about to go off and we weren't sure what to do with it so I popped it with some sugar on the stove to simmer down into a lumpy puree.

This was to spread onto the base of my shortcrust pastry.

Next there is a layer of vanilla custard, topped with fresh strawberries.

To stop the strawberries oxidising you should brush them with boiled jam to seal them but I had the juices from my boiled rhubarb which worked very well. 

This also finishes off the tart with an appetisingly shiny look.

Click here for the recipe.

Red Fruit Tart

This deliciously fruity tart was to use up some of the almond paste I had made for my previous post, Almond Windmills. I quickly whipped up some sweet pastry, replacing the caster sugar for icing sugar as per usual, blind baked it, then filled with almond paste and topped with a mix of red fruit then baked till I was so tempted and had to take it out! This made me very ready for summertime when I'll be able to use fresh fruit.

Mom's Cherry Jam Tart

My mom is continuously making delicious jams and marmalades but so much so that we could never eat enough toast to use up all the kilos of it! 

This is her cherry jam in a sweetpastry base, a version of Mr Kipling jam tarts. 

Dark Cherry Tart

Gateau Basque aux cerises noires

This tart is a regional French desert that I saw being made at work this week but due to my clumsiness, the recipe didn't work out, therefore I plan to bring this one in as an apology... I'll let you know how it's received by the Chefs!

Carambar Tarts

In France we have a caramel chewy sweet that is a childhood favourite to all, especially my sister. This is a plain pastry case filled with a Carambar ganache (cook cream and Carambar to 104) and left to set. Voila! These were particularly successful with kids.

Lemon Meringue Tart

Lemon Meringue Tart is my Moms' favourite dessert although I'm not very keen, I personally find the candied lemon zests on top the best part!
It's a sweet pastry base (made with icing sugar not caster sugar as it makes it so much more delicious), a lemon curd centre (eggs, sugar and lemon juice whisked on water bath till thickened) and a meringue topping (I cheated by doing a French meringue but an Italian meringue -if you have the time- would be best) all finished off with candied lemon zest (twice brought to the boil then candied in a simple syrup).

Next week: Tarte Tatin x

White chocolate and raspberry tarts

With two whole bookshelves full of baking books and only a couple ever used, I decided to use the Ottolenghi menu, this London based restaurant had a wonderful recipe for white chocolate and raspberry tarts. Having just bough a bag of Valrhona Ivory chocolate I was able to get the best possible quality for these indulgent desserts. Just mix chocolate and cream and fill shortcrust pastry tarts with some jam! So easy.