Fruit Tarts Again

Feeling a little bit less than totally pleased *hm...hmm* with the previous attempt for fruit tart, i.e. the creme patissiere was a bit too watery for my liking, I tried baking another batch. This time, just for comparison sake, I use Jo's egg tart recipe for the pastry. The creme recipe was from Super Food Idea. This time I am happy with the result. There is not much different in the two pastry texture-wise. But my friend Mag thought M4M pastry was sweeter than Jo's. For the ease of making, I would recommend M4M pastry. It is less sticky and easier to work with. And if you don't have much time on hand, it can be used straight away, unlike Jo's recipe that requires 2 hours refrigeration.



Ingredients:
Pastry:
125 g butter or margarine (soften at room temp) 
62.5 g castor sugar
1/4 egg 
250 g plain flour 

Method:
Grease the tart tins with melted butter or oil.
Cream the butter with caster sugar until pale and creamy. 
Add egg and continue to beat. 
Fold in flour until it becomes a dough. 
Line the small tart tins with dough. 
Poke holes using a fork on the tart shell 
Bake at 350F or 175C or gas mark 5-6 until edge slightly brown. 
Slide tart out and let it cool down. 

(hint: if you are slow, keep a portion of the dough into the fridge to prevent the butter from melting, making the dough oily) 

Creme Patissiere:
2 cup milk 
1/2 tsp vanilla essence (or 1 vanilla bean, split)
6 egg yolks 
1/2 cup castor sugar 
1/3 cup cornflour

Method:
Heat milk in a saucepan with vanilla bean until almost boiling (scald). Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until thick. Whisk warm milk into this mixture.
Pour mixture back into saucepan. Stir constantly over moderate heat until boiling, thick and smooth. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat well. Allow to cool.
 
Scoop the cooled custard into each tart shell, decorate top with fruits (strawberry, kiwi, peach, grapes etc). 

Glaze:
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup water

Method:
Warm jam in a small saucepan. Sieve to remove lumps or seeds. Return to pan with water. Blend well. Bring to the boil, stirring. Brush over fruit. Allow to set. Serve with cream. 

Note:
The pastry recipe is from M4M. It is supposed to be for 25 portions, but I only managed to get about 14-15 portions. The creme recipe is from Super Food Idea. It yields more than 12 portions! The original recipe calls for 2/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup castor sugar.

Serves 12