PASTRIES & VARIATIONS; This is my favourite dessert to serve as finale to a summer BBQ. It can be enjoyed all the year round though as a treat to please family & friends.

FRESH FRUIT TART:

 

 

 

 

short-bread cookie dough:

    1 cup butter, softened                     

    2 cups all purpose flour

    pinch of salt                                                

    1 egg yolk

    2 drops vanilla extract                                            

    ½ cup sugar

    ½ cup semi-sweet choc pieces

pastry cream:

    ¼ to 1/3 cup sugar                                      

    4 tbsp. slightly heaped, cornstarch

    6 egg yolks                                                 

    2 cups milk

    2 tbsp. Amaretto liqueur

topping:

    sliced fresh fruits, such as strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, peaches, etc to decorate

    1 store-bought pkg. of fruit glaze, made according to instructions, to glaze fruits

 

 

 

Use a hand-held electric beater to beat butter and sugar together until fluffy and light coloured. Add egg yolk and beat until mixed in. Sift flour and salt together. Add half of flour into margarine, folding in with a wooden spoon. Add remaining flour and mix in.  Work dough into a ball. Flatten ball out into a large round. Wrap with wax paper and chill for 30 minutes.

 

To make pastry cream:  Mix sugar, cornstarch and egg yolks in a heavy saucepan.  Scald milk until almost boiling. Whisk hot milk into yolk mixture.  Put saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture becomes very thick and bubbles pop up in the middle and around the edges. Let it bubble for 30 seconds or so before removing pan from heat. Transfer into a bowl. Cool slightly; then add liqueur. Cover pastry cream with a round of buttered wax paper to prevent a skin from forming.  Cool then chill.

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Roll out pastry to fit a 9-inch tart/flan case with removable bottom. Line empty pie crust with wax paper and fill it with rice or baking beans; and bake blind for 12 minutes. Remove wax paper and bean/rice, and bake 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and set it on rack to cool completely.

 

Melt chocolate and paint a layer of it over the baked pie crust. Chill for 1 hour.

 

When custard is firm and set, spread it over the chilled pie crust.  Arrange fresh fruit in a decorative pattern on top of pastry cream.  Make fruit glaze according to package instruction and pour it over the fruits. Chill for 3 to 4 hours before serving.

 

 

 

 

VARIATIONS: 

 

 

1.   Substitute pastry cream with 250gm. cream cheese, softened and beaten with 2 tbsp. sugar and ½ tsp. vanilla extract.

 

 

 

2.   Pastry cream filling may be substituted with mascarpone cheese filling as follows:

 

9 oz. mascarpone cheese about 1 ¼ cups       

2 tbsp. icing sugar

2 tsp. ground cinnamon                                  

2 tsp. ground mixed spice

1 tbsp. Kirsch or cherry liqueur

 

Place ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until needed.