Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Raspberry Chocolate Vanilla Custard Tart

This one was the result of cleaning out the fridge. The pastry was already in the freezer and so was the raspberry sauce which was leftover from a birthday cake I made earlier this week. I just made the custard and threw it all together for dessert last night...once agian indulging my love for anything raspberry.


For the pastry:
½ cup butter, cut in small pieces
1 cup + 1 tbsp flour
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives, leaving small peas sized pieces of butter throughout the mixture. Add egg and vanilla and mix together only enough to make a dough form. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for a half hour before rolling out.

You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.

Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place in the bottom of a 9 inch tarte pan or pie plate. You will need to blind bake this crust for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F before removing the baking weights and baking for an additional 5 minutes. Cool the crust completely. Blind baking is essential so that the bottom crust will not get soggy. Let the dough hang a half inch past the rim of the pan to allow for shrinkage as the pastry shell bakes. Any excess can be trimmed off when the shell is still hot out of the oven.

To blind bake a crust, simply place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the dough and cover the bottom of the pie plate with baking weights. (Marbles, dry beans, peas, rice or barley work just as well as anything else.)


Raspberry Topping

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

1 ½ tsp corn starch dissolved in ¼ cup water

Slowly simmer raspberries, sugar and water for about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn starch mixture stirring constantly and cook for an additional minute. Cool completely.

Vanilla Custard

In a microwave safe bowl combine and scald almost to boiling

1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine

1/4 cup flour1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Over medium flame slowly add the scalded milk whisking constantly.Continue to cook over medium heat until mixture begins to slightly thicken. At this point remove from heat and pour about a half cup of this mixture onto

2 slightly beaten extra large egg yolks

whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture immediately back into the pot, continuing to constantly stir. Cook for an additional minute or two until pudding consistency and remove from the flame.

Stir in

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour the custard into the cooled pastry shell and cool completely before adding the raspberry topping. Garnish with raspberries, and shaved or melted chocolate when serving.

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