Raspberry Tarts

Not many people aware but today is the National Raspberry Tart Day. This food holiday honors a popular baked dessert that consists of a fruit filling over a pastry. To celebrate National Raspberry Tart Day, indulge yourself with a slice of delightful tart or a tartlet with fresh raspberries. Check out the delicious recipe that we suggest you to cook for this sweet day :)

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 150 g unsalted butter at room temperature, diced
• 80 g icing sugar
• 35 g almond meal
• 1 egg
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
• 250 g plain flour

Creme:

• 125 ml milk
• ½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped
• 2 egg yolks
• 1½ tbsp white sugar
• 2 tsp plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp cornflour, sifted

Instructions:

1. Put the butter, icing sugar and almond meal into a large bowl and combine with your fingers. Add the egg, vanilla seeds and flour and mix to a dough. Press into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
2. Butter mini tart tins. Roll the pastry out to 5 mm thick on a lightly floured work surface. Use an upside-down tart tin to cut out pastry circles. Lay the circles in the tins and press gently to extend the pastry up the sides of the tins. Place the tarts on a tray and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes while you make the crème.
3. Combine the milk and scraped vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan and heat gently until hot. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale. Add the flours and whisk well. Gradually pour over the hot milk, whisking all the time, then return the mixture to the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly for 5 minutes, or until thick. Remove from the heat and push the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl to remove the vanilla pod and any lumps. Make sure you scrape all the vanilla seeds from the bottom of the sieve back into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.
4. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Bake the tart shells for 10 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool to room temperature.
5. Whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold it into the cold crème pâtissière. Spoon or pipe the crème into the cooled pastry shells. Top the tarts with a generous amount of raspberries sitting upside-down in the crème. Dust with icing sugar if desired.