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Delicious fruit tart!

Sweet Pastry Crust:

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Pastry Cream:

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

3 large egg yolks

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour

Scant 3 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch

3/4 tablespoon (10 ml) liqueur (Grand Marnier, Brandy, Kirsch) (optional)

Apricot Glaze:

1/2 cup (125 grams) apricot jam or preserves

1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or water or combination of the two (can also use other liqueurs)

Topping:

2 - 3 cups mixed fruit, such as raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, kiwifruit, bananas, plums, pineapple, melon, etc.

Sweet Pastry Crust: In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.

Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

Have ready an 8 - 9 inch (20 - 23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into an 11 - 12 inch (28 - 30 cm) circle that is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pan, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry. The pastry should be about an inch larger than pan.

When the pastry is rolled to the desired size, lightly roll pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll. Unroll onto top of tart pan. Never pull pastry or you will get shrinkage (shrinkage is caused by too much pulling of the pastry when placing it in the pan). Gently lay in pan and with a small floured piece of pastry, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry. With a thumb up movement, again press dough into pan. Roll rolling pin over top again to get rid of any extra pastry. p***k bottom of dough (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with pie weights, rice or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface. Bake crust for 20 to 25 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack before filling.

Pastry Cream: In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.) Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine the milk and split vanilla bean on medium heat until boiling. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture. (The vanilla bean can be dried and placed in your sugar bowl to give the sugar a vanilla flavor. This sugar can then be used in baking where you would like a vanilla-flavored sugar, e.g. pies, cakes, cookies.)

Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using). Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Apricot Glaze: Heat the apricot jam or preserves and water (if using) in a small saucepan over medium heat until liquid (melted). Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps. (If using, add the liqueur at this point.) Let cool until it is only slightly warm.

Variation: If glazing strawberries, raspberries or any other red fruit you can make a red currant glaze. Gently whisk 1/2 cup (125 grams) of red currant jelly over medium heat until melted. Let cool slightly and then lightly glaze the fruit using a pastry brush.

To Assemble Tart: To remove the tart from the fluted sides of the pan, place your hand under the pan, touching only the removable bottom not the sides. Gently push the tart straight up, away from the sides. The fluted tart ring will fall away and slide down your arm. If you want to remove the bottom of the pan, run a knife or thin metal spatula between the crust and metal bottom, then slide the tart onto a cardboard cake round.

Spread a thin layer of apricot glaze or melted chocolate over the bottom and sides of tart to prevent the crust from getting soggy. Let the glaze dry between 20 - 30 minutes. Spread the Pastry Cream into the tart, filling about 3/4 full. Level with an offset spatula.

To decorate the tart you will need 2 to 3 cups (480 - 620 ml) of mixed fresh fruit (such as berries, bananas, oranges, kiwifruit, plums, pineapple, and melon). Prepare the fruit by gently washing and drying. Peel and slice the bananas, plums and kiwifruit. The strawberries will need to be sliced also. Arranging the fruit on the tart can be done either randomly or in concentric overlapping circles, starting at the outside edge. Try to cover all the pastry cream with fruit so that no pastry cream is showing through.

After arranging the fruit, rewarm the glaze, if using, and gently brush a light coat on the fruit. Do not put it on too thick or it will look like Jell-O. Try not to get any glaze on the tart shell. The idea is to make the fruit look shiny. If not serving immediately, refrigerate. Take out about 30 minutes before serving to give the fruit and cream a chance to warm to room temperature.

Heres a savory recipe!

Potato Croquettes!

Made these for the first time the other day and they are awesme. Good for a snack or a bento lunch, these fried mashed potatoes

You need:
--I don't really use measurements, so there aren't any, it's pretty diy--
Mashed Potatoes (boxed, home made, flakes, whatever youd like)
Any seasonings you'd like inside
Cheese (shredded or in tiny cubes)
a Protein (optional. Can use shredded -cooked- chicken, cold cuts, sausages, baby shrimp, etc.)
Flour
2 beaten eggs
Bread crumbs (I also added corn bread crumbs to mine to give it a little more of a sweetness in the midst of the saltiness.)
Oil and equipment to fry/grill.

You do:
--it looks like a lot or steps, but really its not--
1. Make the mashed potatoes. Make sure they aren't too runny, of course not too solid either, you'll just need them to be fairly moldable.
2. While warm, mix with seasonings and cheese, and the optional meat. Other things can be added of course; corn/brocolli pieces/other veggies, any other cheeses, or...basically anything you'd like.
3. Pour onto a flat surface to cool for a while (I just used a paper plate.)
4. Put flour and bread crumbs into seperate plates, and the eggs into a shallow bowl.
5. When cool enough, mold into whatever shape you'd like. I just roll into a ball and flatten into patties in my palm.
6. Dip your patties into the flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs.
7. Heat oil in frying pan/skillet.
8. Fry or grill (your preference) the patties in the oil until they are nicely browned. You don't have to overcook them because remember, everything inside is already cooked, you just need to heat it and cook the breadcrumbs.
9. Set somewhere to cool and to drain the oil.
10. Enjoy while still nummy and warm.

Lemme know if there are any questions.
Will try to submit a picture next time i make them.

A Drink as well!


Me and my friend used to make this as kids. Not the best thing in the world. but good for a sweet and creamy treat.

Orange Cream

In a cup, mix to taste- Milk, a little bit of Vanilla, and Orange juice. Add ice and put in a cute, clear cup.
If you know how, you can add ice and ice cream and blend for something like an Orange Julius or whatever its called.

its not an exact recipie buut,

what you need:
brush
philo dough (theyre like sheets)
butter

1. cut the philo dough into strips(lots of layers of the philo sheets) (maybe 1 or 2 inch strips...doesnt really matter)
2.melt your butter down into a liquid
3. take your brush and dip it into the butter and brush it between the sheets
4. carefully twist them
5. bake until golden brown

its really tasty if you do it right, but its very perfect with tea because theyre light flaky and have a light buttery taste ^-^ i figured this thread could use something that wasnt sugary and still tasted good.

I posted this in the Vegan thread, but I suppose I'll post it here as well (because it's really nummy! whee )

Tea Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbs. tea leaves, crushed to a fine powder (most varieties of black tea are good for this)
1/2tsp salt
1/2tbs. vanilla extract
1tsp water
1 cup margerine or butter (mealted)


Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F).

-If your tea leaves are not already ground to a fine porder, crush them up with a morter and pestle.

-Mix all of the ingredients together.

-Roll the dough to a long cylinder.

-Refigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

-Slice the dough into 1/3" thick peices.

-Place the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with tin foil.

-Bake until the edges begin to brown (about 10 minutes).

This is a family recipe that I baked just yesterday for the first time, I thought I'd share it with you.

Crescent Moon Cakes { Makes roughly 30 }

Ingredients

500g Margerine
250ml Cream ( I use Elmlea Double Cream)
White Cake Flour ( No specific Measurement )
A Jar of Jam, any kind will do but Strawberry works very well.
1 egg

(You should use baking powder also, however I found they worked very well without, and I don't know the measurements for the baking powder anyway >_< I *think* it's 1/2 teaspoon.)

Tools

Hands
2 Bowls ( 1 large plastic bowl and 1 smaller bowl of any sort )
A Rolling pin
A glass or large circular cake cutter
Baking Tray
Oven
Fork
Teaspoon

Making the Cakes ~

1. Preheat the Oven to Gas Mark 5.

2. In a large plastic bowl, put your margarine and cream. Make sure your margarine is soft as this will make it easier to mix. Use your hands to mix the margarine and cream, currently the contents of your bowl should be mostly liquid.

3. In a seperate bowl, mix your entire egg well, not including the shell of course, I suggest using a fork. After the egg is mixed, it should look like yellow slightly bubbly liquid, add that in to the mixture in the large bowl.

4. Mix the contents of the large bowl using one hand, holding the bag of flour with the other. Alternatively, enlist the help of a friend to hold the flour.

5. As you mix, add in the flour. Keep adding flour until it no longer sticks to the side of the bowl. By this point your mixture will be a soft yellow dough.

6. Sprinkle flour on the surface you will be rolling on as well as your rolling pin. Put the dough on the surface and roll it out, dont make it too thin or your cakes wont stay closed!

7. After the dough is rolled out, use a glass to cut circular sections from the dough, these will be your cakes. It's best to do them one a time, I think.

8. Add your jam to the middle of the small circle, the most jam you should ever need to use is 3/4 teaspoon. Then fold the circle over, making sure the edges close over and the jam wont leak, then shape it into a more moon-like shape.

9. Repeat this process until you have enough moons to fill your baking tray, then use the middle shelf of the oven to bake them. They should take about 20 minutes to bake and when they're done they will be a pale gold colour and hard to the touch. If you can turn the cake over the bottom should be a brown colour. Watch out, they're very hot!

The amount of dough should make between 2 and 4 batches, depending on the size of your baking tray.

My friends and I like to make this into a type of pie:

Ingredients
1 large Granny Smith apple
3 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Lemon juice
Confectioners’ sugar

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450F and place rack in center of oven. Peel, core and slice apple. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, flour and vanilla until smooth.
2. Melt butter in a 10-inch cast iron or other ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Spread apples in pan and cook for 4 minutes. Turn apples and continue cooking 3 minutes. Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon over apples and cook another minute or until sugar begins to melt. Remove pan from heat, stir apples lightly to coat with sugar, and then top with batter.
3. Bake 15 minutes or until mixture puffs up and turns golden brown around edges. Remove from oven and cut into four wedges. Sprinkle with lemon juice and serve with a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar. Serves 4.