Strawberry and White Chocolate Custard Tarts
Tart Shells
Ingredients:
140g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
50g (1) egg
2g salt
250g plain flour
25g almond meal
Method:
Use the scraper paddle in your stand mixer and cream together the butter and sugar on a medium speed - it doesn’t need to be too pale as we don’t need to incorporate air. Add the egg and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, we don’t want to over mix it. Squash it into a flat slab, wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight.
Dust your bench and rolling pin with flour and roll the dough out to about 3mm in thickness. Use a 10cm round cutter to cut out your pastry and line egg rings. Prick the bases with a fork and bake at 160C for 10 minutes.
White Chocolate Custard
Ingredients:
350g milk
150g cream
10g vanilla extract
40g cornflour
50g (3) egg yolks
90g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter
80g white chocolate
Method:
Chop the butter and white chocolate and place in a bowl, set aside for later. Heat the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan. In a separate bowl whisk together the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar. Pour half of the hot milk over the eggs and whisk to temper the eggs. Pour the eggs into the saucepan with the rest of the milk and turn the stove onto a medium heat. Use a silicone whisk to continuously stir the custard until it thickens and boils. Immediately pour the hot custard over the chopped butter and white chocolate. Use a stick blender to emulsify the butter and chocolate with the hot custard. Cover with cling film touching the surface and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
Assembly
Ingredients:
Baked tart shells
Custard
400g fresh strawberries
200g Apricot jam (with pectin as an ingredient)
Method:
Place the custard into a piping bag and pipe a generous amount into each tart shell. Slice strawberries however you like and arrange them on top of the custard.
Bake the tarts at 180C for 18 minutes
Heat the apricot jam until runny and brush over the tarts while hot.
The tarts are best served cold or at room temperature. I’ve sprinkled them with freeze dried raspberries too for extra colour