Fruit Tart With Pastry Cream Filling Food

FRUIT TART WITH PASTRY CREAM FILLING

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry dough to a thickness of about a 1/4 inch, and as even as possible. Don't spend too much time rolling it, though, or you'll overwork the dough, and the pastry will be too tough.
• Now cut the dough into circles that are a little larger than the diameter of the tart tin you're going to use. In this case, you're making 4-inch tarts, so you'd cut out circles about 4 1/2 inches across.
• Press the circles of dough into the tart tins. You want to get a tight fit against the bottom and sides. Trim off any excess dough by running your rolling pin over the tops of the tart tins.
• Line the shells with parchment paper and fill with uncooked beans, rice, or pie weights to prevent the crust from puffing up while it bakes.
• Bake for about 15 minutes or until the shells are a nice golden brown color.
• Remove the pie weights and the paper, and let the shells cool all the way before removing them from the tins.
• While they're cooling, heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan along with about a tablespoon of water until it liquefies.
•  Pour the glaze through a wire mesh strainer and into a small bowl to remove any bits of fruit.
• Now pipe the shells half full of pastry cream. Or you could just spoon it in and gently smooth it down.
• Next, arrange your fruit on top of the pastry cream, about a 1/2 cup per tart.
• Finally, brush each one with the apricot glaze.
• Refrigerate the tarts for at least an hour, until it's time to serve them.

PASTRY CREAM FOR FRUIT TARTS

Steps:

• Place milk, vanilla bean, and 1/4 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over high heat; cook until almost boiling.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar until thickened. Sprinkle in cornstarch and flour and continue beating until well combined.
• Remove vanilla bean from milk. While whisking constantly, slowly pour heated-milk mixture into egg-yolk mixture. Pour mixture through a fine sieve back into saucepan, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium-high heat, until it thickens and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes.
• Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in butter until melted. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the pastry cream; refrigerate until completely cooled.

PASTRY CREAM ( FOR FILLING ECLAIRS AND FRUIT FLANS)

Steps:

• Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until almost white.
• Mix in the flour and custard powder.
• Boil the milk in a thick based pan.
• Whisk onto the egg mixture, mix well.
• Return to the heat and stir to the boil. Add the vanilla.
• Remove from the heat and pour into a basin. Stir occasionaly to avoid a skin forming on the surface of the pastry cream.
• Cool, and use as needed.

FRESH FRUIT TART WITH PASTRY CREAM

Steps:

• Pastry Cream: Heat the half-and-half, 6 tablespoons of the sugar, and the salt in a saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and whisk until the sugar has begun to dissolve and the mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the cornstarch until combined and the mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds. When the half-and-half mixture reaches a full simmer, gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture to temper. Return to the saucepan, scraping the bowl; return to a simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and it is thickened, about 30 seconds. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla. Strain. Press plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate 3 hours. Crust: Whisk together the yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bow. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and combine. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until dough just comes together. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch disk. Refrigerate 1 hour. Remove the dough. Unwrap then roll out to a 13-inch round. Transfer the dough to tart pan. Remove the excess dough. Prick the bottom and sides of the dough with a fork. Freeze for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Press foil into the frozen tart shell and over the edge, and fill with weights. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Remove the foil and weights. Continue to bake 5 to 8 minutes longer. Cool. Spread the cold pastry cream over the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the kiwi slices in an overlapping circle around the inside edge of the pastry. Arrange the raspberries inside the kiwi. Mound the blueberries in the center.