WILD STRAWBERRIES TARTS
by Laurent Duchêne
For 8 tarts (? 6 cm)
Breton shortbread
4 egg yolks
130g caster sugar
2 pinches of salt
130g softened butter
180g flour
12g baking powder
Whip the yolks, the sugar and the salt in a bowl with a whip.
Soften the butter, kneading it with a spatula to obtain the texture of a pomade.
In another bowl, hand mix the butter, the flour and the baking powder. Add the yolks and the sugar progressively to obtain a smooth dough. Put away on a dish covered with a sheet of baking paper or a sheet of plastic film and cover with a plastic film. Put away in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
Lower the dough with a roll to a thickness of 1cm and cut 8 x 6cm disks with a set of stainless steel circles.
Keeping the circles, bake on a plate at 160°C for 7 minutes.
Pass the pastry roll lightly at the centre of the shortbreads to hollow them and put back in the oven for 25 minutes at 160°C.
Pastry cream (for the vanilla cream)
To be prepared the previous day or minimum one hour
500g milk
? vanilla pod
6 egg yolks
120g sugar
20g flour
20g Ma?zena
Split and brew half of the vanilla pod in milk (minimum one hour before) and bring to a boil in a saucepan.
In a bowl, whip the yolks with the sugar and add the flour and the Ma?zena.
Mix with a whip, adding some of the boiling milk.
Pour back into the saucepan and bake on a high heat while stirring all the time with a whip until the mix is boiling.
Put away in a bowl and cover with a plastic film before putting away in the refrigerator.
Vanilla cream
120g pastry cream
20g butter
Bring the pastry cream to a temperature of 35°C.
Soften the butter to obtain a pomade texture and loosen with some of the pastry cream.
Mix the butter to the rest of the cream thoroughly with a whip to obtain a smooth, shiny and slightly firm cream.
Décor
200g strawberry jam
100g icing sugar
8 small meringues
A few leaves of gold
QS strawberries
Dressing
Place a tablespoon of strawberry jam at the centre of the shortbreads.
With the pouch of a 1cm pastry bag, lay a ball of vanilla cream on the jam, at the centre of each shortbread.
Lay the wild strawberries on the cream, starting from the edges of the tarts.
To finish, lay a small meringue and a few leaves of gold on your tarts and sprinkle lightly with icing sugar.