Young Cooking

At the farmers’ market this weekend we picked up some fresh strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Once again, I was looking for an excuse to use another wedding gift; this time  cute little tartlet pans .

Prep Work:

1. Wash, dry, and slice the fruit of choice.
2. Preheat oven to 400 F.
3. Grease 8 tartlet pans.

Pastry Shell:

1. Cream the following ingredients together in the mixer:

   1/2 cup	unsalted butter
   1/3 cup	granulated sugar

   

2. Add the following ingredients:

   1/4 cup	egg substitute (or 1 egg)
   1/4 teaspoon	salt
   1 1/2 cup	flour

3. Continue mixing until the dough forms a ball (don’t over mix!).

1. Line each tartlet pan with about 1/4 inch of dough, and up the sides of the pans. Puncture each tartlet shell with a fork to avoid air pockets. 

2. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Pastry Cream:

1. Mix the following ingredients together until well mixed (consistency of cake batter):

   3 large	egg yolks
   1/4 cup	granulated sugar

2. Once the mixture is mixed, slowly add the following together until it reaches a toothpaste consistency. Traditionally a wooden spoon is used for this step, but I LOVE to use my synthetic wooden spoon (it doesn’t retain flavors/smells, but works just like wood).

   2 tablespoons	cornstarch
   2 tablespoons	flour

   

3. Set the mixture aside, and bring the following ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan:

   1 teaspoon	vanilla extract (or vanilla bean)
   1 1/4 cup	milk

4. Once the milk mixture is at a boil, slowly whisk in the egg/sugar mixture. Don’t stop whisking!
5. Put the entire mixture back on the heat and whisk until it is very thick.
6. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let cool.

Glaze:

1. In a small sauce pan, heat the following ingredients together, and stir until thin:

   1 tablespoon	liquid (we used Grand Mariner)
   1/2 cup	preserves (we used apricot)

2. Strain the ingredients into a small bowl and set aside.                       

Construction: Because I enjoy being a nerd, here’s a diagram of the  construction.

1. Remove the tartlet shells from their pans.
2. Brush the top of each shell with the glaze (this keeps the the shells from getting soggy). Let it sit until the glaze is set. 
3. Stir the pastry cream (it will be thick), and  put 1 - 2 tablespoons atop each pastry shell.
4. Add fruit in whatever pattern you’d like to the top of each.
5. Brush the fruit with a thin layer of the glaze.                                            
6. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving. 

I sent some to work with my husband, so we’ll see how they go over…