Miniature raspberry and pistachio tarts with creamy vanilla pastry cream and a thin layer of white chocolate. Pâte sucrée recipe adapted from Leite's Culinaria.
Ingredients
For the pâte sucrée:
½ cup (115g) butter, at room temperature
¼ cup (50g) sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (125g) flour
1 egg yolk
For the tart shells:
½ cup white chocolate, chopped
For the vanilla pastry cream:
6 large egg yolks
½ cup (100g) sugar
4 tablespoons (40g) flour
4 tablespoons (40g) cornstarch
3 cups (750ml) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For assembly:
Raspberries
Pistachios, roughly chopped
Honey (optional)
Method
Prepare the pâte sucrée:
Cream together the butter, sugar, and salt. You want to beat them together until the mixture is light and fluffy on the lowest speed possible on your hand mixer or stand mixer. You can do this by hand but it's going to take a lot of effort. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and then dump in the flour. Again, on the lowest speed on your mixer, mix in the flour for about thirty seconds. You should see pea-sized chunks of dough. Then, add in the egg yolk and mix for thirty more seconds. You should get a few pieces of dough from this. Take the pieces, press them together, and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for one hour. Once the dough finishes cooling place it on a floured work surface. Sprinkle some more flour on top and then smack the dough with your rolling pin. Roll the dough out, turning it a quarter turn every few rolls, until your dough is about 3mm thick. If you're making one large tart then roll it out until it matches the size of your pan. If you don't have a tart pan then you can use a pie pan that you cover with tinfoil so that you can remove the tart later. Cut the dough into squares that are larger than your miniature tart pans. Press the dough down to the base of the tart pan and then press lightly using the blade of the knife on the edges of the tart pan to scrape away the excess dough. You're not looking to cut it away, but to scrape it away. Move the knife away from the center of the pan over the edge of the pan to do this. If any rips form in the dough just use some of the scraps that you cut off to patch them up. Using a fork, poke holes in the bottom of the dough. Refrigerate the dough for at least thirty minutes and then fill up the center of the tart with rice or beans to weigh down the dough as it bakes so that it doesn't rise. Bake for thirty minutes, or until light brown, at 350°F (176°C). Remove the rice or beans and bake for five more minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature and then remove the tart pan's bottom or remove the shell from the pie pan if you used the aluminum foil method.
Prepare the tart shells:
Melt the chocolate in your microwave by heating it up in fifteen second intervals and stirring in between. Spread about a teaspoon of chocolate over the base of each tart shell, making sure to cover up all the holes and sealing any cracks that may have formed. Place in the fridge to harden while you prepare the pastry cream.
Prepare the vanilla pastry cream:
Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar together until they are a pale yellow. Sift together the flour and cornstarch and then whisk them into the egg yolk mixture until you get a smooth paste. Meanwhile, bring the milk and vanilla to a simmer (small bubbles) in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add slowly to the egg mixture, one drop at a time and then in a steady stream, constantly whisking. Then, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat until very thick, stirring constantly. Pass through a sieve if your eggs curdled (if there are pieces of egg in your pastry cream). Let cool to room temperature.
Assemble the tartlets:
Fill the tart shells with the pastry cream. Place raspberries on top, working from the outside in and arranging them in a circle. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on top. Drizzle with honey.
Recipe by IronWhisk at http://www.ironwhisk.com/2012/10/raspberry-pistachio-tartelettes/