Tart Aux Fraises

 

Wouldn't it be nice to be sitting at a cafe somewhere in Paris sipping black coffee and nibbling on a tart aux fraises while watching Parisians go on about their daily life. I can only dream for now.

I always wanted to make those beautiful sweet pastries you see at a French cafe. They look so chic and so delicious with their creamy filling, topped with refreshing fruit, glazed or garnished with chocolate strips and powdered sugar. There's just a certain je ne sais quoi about anything that's French.


The process can be broadly be summarized in 3 steps:-
(i)    making the pastry;
(ii)   cooking the pastry cream; and 
(iii)  assembling the tart.

In the videos I watched to learn to make the pastry cream, they would use a whisk to whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. I followed and I must have over whisked as the mixture turned out too frothy. All of the hard work went down the drain. 

One thing I learn in life is never stop at failure because it is only a step to success, so I started all over again and this time without the damn whisk! Even though I wasted 5 eggs (1 yolk ran into the whites while separating) loads of milk and sugar, it's okay because it's a learning process and not all is lost as long as you get to learn something. That's what we live for right, to learn.

Ingredients:
Shortcrust Pastry
200g AP flour
70g icing sugar
100g butter
1 egg

Pastry Cream
350ml low-fat milk
90g caster sugar 
4 egg yolks
40g cornstarch,sifted
20 AP flour, sifted
2 tsp vanilla extract
30g butter

About 8 medium strawberries, sliced
Apricot glaze

Method:

To make shortcrust pastry, in an electric mixer, mix icing sugar and butter until well-combined. Add egg and mix until well combined. Knead lightly until dough forms. Wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Press cold dough into tart cases. Pierce dough with fork. Crunch up a small square of baking paper and place on top of tart shell. Place dried beans on baking paper to prevent tarts from puffing up.

Preheat oven to 170c. Bake for 15 minutes.

To make the pastry cream, place egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and flour into a saucepan. Stir with spatula to combine (there's no need to use an electric whisk though picture suggests otherwise. I find that the mixture gets too frothy). Add in milk. Cook the mixture over low heat and constantly stir to avoid mixture to curdle up. If mixture curdles up remove from heat. 

When the mixture has thicken add butter and vanilla extract. Allow mixture to cool before using.

To assemble the tart, slice the strawberries and set aside. Fill tart shells with pastry cream. Smoothen surface with a spatula and arrange sliced strawberries on top. Glaze with apricot glaze.

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The tart aux fraises or a little less fancy, strawberry tart if you will, I made is far from those delicate and refined ones you find at a patisserie. Their uneven crusts and random arrangement of sliced strawberries made them look rustic and homemade.

The last time I baked the tart shells for the blueberry cheese tart I didn't pierce enough holes so the tarts puffed up so much that they lost their shape. This time I made sure that I prick it all over and for good measure I place some dried beans to weigh down the pastry. They didn't turn out perfectly even but they were deep enough to be filled with pastry cream. I'm confident that they will be better the next time I blind bake shells.

Happy baking! xx