Fruit Tart

Hubby brought home some fresh berries from Washington last month and I just cannot imagine what to do with them. It will be such a waste to make fruit jam out of them since they are so expensive after our exchange rates.

However expensive though, they are still slightly cheaper than those sold in our Supermarts.

So, I decided to make something worthwhile with them since I have been enjoying fruits and desserts a lot lately. I have this recipe which I have not baked for a long time since it takes quite a lot of work. First the pastry then the filling and lastly the toppings. Hmmm …. if I am not going to bake them, I guess they will never bake themselves. So here goes …….

Sweet pastry recipe (makes 700 gms)

350 gm plain flour
a pinch of salt
150 gm butter (cubed)
90 gm icing sugar (sieved)
2 eggs, beaten

1. Sift flour and salt into a kitchen aid mixing bowl or a food processor.
2. Put in the butter, sugar and mix together drizzling in the beaten eggs.
3. Do not over mix, pour dough onto a cool marble worktop and knead quickly into a smooth dough. Divide dough into 2 equal portions and wrap with cling wrap and keep refrigerated for an hour.
4. Roll out pastry in between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper with a rolling pin and line your tart tins. This recipe can line two 8″ diameter tart tins.
5. Trim edge and pinch pastry edge. Make the border raised slightly above the rim of the tin. Place baking tins with pastry into the fridge to cool for approx. 10 minutes before baking them in your oven. Prick some holes on the base of the pastry with a fork. In this case, I used my super-heated water oven (healsio) preheated at 180 degree celsius for 10 minutes.

Pastry Filling

250 gm butter (softened at room temperature)
150 gm icing sugar (sifted)
250 gm ground almonds
40 gm plain flour
5 eggs, beaten

1. Beat butter in the kitchen aid till soft and creamy, add sugar, ground almonds and flour. Beat some more.
2. Add eggs slowly until batter is smooth. Spoon them into a piping bag with a large nozzle.
3. Pipe the filling into the cool pre-baked tart bases in a circular motion, starting from the outside in.
4. Bake tarts in the pre-heated oven at 180 degree celsius for 15 – 20 minutes, or until filling feels slightly firm and golden on top.
5. Cool on wire tray and arrange fruits on top of tarts.
6. Melt 5 Tbsp of gelatine granules in hot water and drizzle on the arranged fruits. Place tarts in refrigerator and cool before serving.