Chocolate Coconut Tarts

Chocolate Coconut Tarts

Coconut Crust:

1 cup cream of coconut

2 tablespoon light corn syrup

4 egg whites

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1 cup toasted chopped almonds

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

6 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups half-and-half

6 egg yolks

14 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Almond Topping:

1/8 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa

1/2 cup almonds

Crust:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut out squares of parchment paper to fit about (16-18) 4-inch pie tins. Center the parchment paper on each tin and place each lined tin on top of each other and weight down while completing recipe.

In a large bowl whisk together the cream of coconut, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla, and salt until well combined. Stir coconut and chopped almonds. Lightly spray the lined tins with nonstick spray. Press the coconut mixture into each tin , forming a crust. Place tins on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; using the back of the spoon gently press down the center of the crusts, if they have puffed up. Turn off oven and return the sheet pans back to the oven with oven door held ajar.

Filling:

In a large saucepan, whisk the cornstarch, espresso powder, sugar and sat until combined. Whisk in the heavy cream and half-and-half until incorporated. Place over medium high heat, whisk constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Reduce heat; continue to cook and stir for 2 minutes longer.

Remove from heat. Whisk in a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk in the tempered egg yolks back into the remaining hot mixture; whisking constantly.

Return to medium heat and bring back to a gentle boil; cook 2 more minutes longer.

Remove from heat and whisk in the cooled melted chocolate and vanilla extract until combined. Place the filling in a glass bowl and cover the top with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside to cool completely.

Almond Topping:

Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, water and cocoa. Over medium heat bring to a boil; add the almonds . Continue to cook while stirring until the liquid has evaporated and formed a thick syrup. Pour the almond mixture over the prepared pan and allow to cool completely. Once cool, chop in coarse pieces.

Assembly:

Remove the crusts form the oven and allow to cool completely before filling. Fill the cooled crusts with the cooled filling and top with the almond topping. Gently lift the tarts from the tins with the parchment paper liner; serve.

Raspberry Tartlets

ingredients

Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups , plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 7 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
• 2 eggs, beaten

Pastry Cream:

• 2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean , split
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon butter

directions

• 1

  Crust:

• 2

  Combine the flour and sugar into a food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade, pulse a couple of times to combine. Add butter chunks and pulse until a coarse meal is formed. Add eggs and process just until dough begins to form. Remove and form into a disk , wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

• 3

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

• 4

  Butter 8-10(3 1/2 -4 inch ) tartlet pans. Remove dough and roll to a thickness of about 1/8 inch thick and lined each tartlet pan. Place lined pans into freezer for at least 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and prick bottoms with fork. Line each pan with buttered foil and place pie weights in each pan. Bake for about 15 minutes , remove foil and continue until golden.

• 5

  Place on cooling rack , let cool and remove pans from shell.

• 6

  Pastry Cream:

• 7

  Combine milk, vanilla bean and half the sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil. Meanwhile in a bowl , whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar until they turn pale yellow and form a ribbon when dropped from a whisk, about 5 minutes. Sift flour and cornstarch into egg mixture and mix until blended.

• 8

  Remove vanilla bean from hot milk mixture and gradually whisk into the egg mixture. Whisk until blended and return to saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil , whisking for 2 minutes. Stream cream into mixing bowl. Dot surface with tablespoon butter and stir until melted. Cover top of cream with plastic wrap and allow to cool on rack, then refrigerate until needed.

• 9

  3 cup fresh raspberries

• 10

  Powdered sugar for dusting

• 11

  Fill when ready to eat. Fill shell with pastry cream and top with berries then dust with powdered sugar.

Pine Nut Tart

Dough

1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature

Filling

1 cup toasted pine nuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg , room temperature

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Assembly

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon heavy cream

sanding sugar (coarse sugar)

Dough:

In the bowl of a food processor, place the dough ingredients and pulse until dough begins to form. Form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Filling:

In the bowl of a food processor , process the nuts and sugar into a fine crumb. Add the egg and butter and process until smooth.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Press some of the dough into a 9-inch tart ring with removable bottom. Spread the filling evenly over the bottom of the tart dough. With remaining dough, roll out on floured surface into the diameter of the inside of the tart pan. Brush off any extra flour and carefully place the rolled out circle onto the top of the filled tart.

Beat the egg yolk and heavy cream until combined. Lightly brush the top crust with the egg yolk and heavy cream mixture . Sprinkle the top crust with sanding sugar.

Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool 15 minutes before removing outer ring.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Raspberry Dream

This recipe will make at least one 9 inch, one 6 inch and two 4 inch cakes. It all depends on the size and shape of the cake rings(molds) used.

Almond Cake:

200 grams almond paste

230 grams butter,room temperature

60 ml honey

200 grams granulated sugar

6 eggs , room temperature

125 grams all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

zest from 3 large lemons or 2-3 tablespoons

Lemon Syrup:

1 cup sugar

juice from 3 lemons and enough water to equal 1 cup liquid

Lemon Filling:

9 grams unflavored granulated gelatin

4 eggs, room temperature

zest from 4 large lemons

240 ml fresh lemon juice

220 grams butter, room temperature

Lemon Cream Filling:

2 envelopes unflavored granulated gelatin

2 cups water

6 tablespoons sugar

2 cups marshmallow cream , fluff or homemade

2 cups of lemon filling

4 cups heavy cream

Seedless raspberry jam

Fresh raspberries

Cake

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line bottom of a half sheet pan or jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter or spray with non stick spray the entire pan; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the almond paste, honey, butter and granulated sugar until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time , blending well after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining dry ingredients. Fold into wet mixture until combined.

Transfer batter to prepared pan and spread out evenly with off set spatula.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan. Once cooled, turn cake out and carefully pull off parchment paper.

Lemon Syrup

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring mixture to a boil. Remove from heat when sugar has been dissolved. Allow to cool completely.

Lemon Filling

Place gelatin in a small bowl. Add a little bit of water to dissolve gelatin. Add as much water as needed but not to runny consistency.

In a glass heat proof bowl, whisk together the sugar,eggs,zest and lemon juice until well combined. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water (double boiler, bain marie). Do not allow the water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Stirring constantly over the simmering water add the butter when mixture is warm. Continue to stir and cook until butter is melted and mixture has thickened to the consistency of ketchup or hollandaise sauce. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin . Continue to stir the mixture until the gelatin has incorporated into the lemon mixture.

Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl. Cover the top of the strained mixture with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Set aside and let cool completely in the refrigerator.

Lemon Cream Filling

In a medium saucepan , combine the gelatin and 1 cup of water and allow to set 1 minute. Cook over low heat , stirring constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the granulated sugar and remaining 1 cup of water and stir again until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

In a bowl whisk together the marshmallow fluff and the 2 cups of the cooled lemon filling until combined. Whisk in the gelatin mixture. Place in the refrigerator until the mixture forms mounds when spooned.

In a mixing bowl beat the heavy cream until stiff. Fold into the thickened lemon mixture and combine thoroughly.

Assembly

Using a cake ring (rings ) or spring form pan, cut out cake circles from cooled cake.

Carefully place a cake circle into the cake ring. Gently brush lemon syrup over the cake. Line the outside edge with fresh raspberries. Spread some raspberry jam over the exposed cake and place randomly over cake some more raspberries. Spoon some of the lemon cream filling over the cake and raspberries and even out with spatula until level. Repeat process again until cake ring is just to the top leaving the top with lemon cream filling. Place cake in refrigerator to firm up. Once cake is firm spread a layer of lemon filling over the top of the cake. Using a flat edge of a knife or long spatula level the top of the cake with the top of the pan. Place plastic wrap over the top of the cake to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate overnight. Garnish with fresh raspberries.

Lemon Meringue Tartlets put Spring in your step.

 

Crust:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered  sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp. vanilla

zest from 1 lemon

1 cup butter

small amount chopped white chocolate

Lemon Curd Filling:

10 egg yolks, whites reserved for meringue

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup lemon juice

zest from 2 lemons

2 tablespoons butter

Meringue:

10 egg whites

3 cups sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:

Combine all the ingredients, except the chopped chocolate, in a bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade; process until mixture forms a dough ball. Lightly dust 8 (4-5 inch) tartlet pans with flour. Press the dough into each pan; place in freezer to firm up. Remove from freezer and line with foil and fill each tart with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the tarts for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven; remove the foil and pie weights. Sprinkle a small amount of chopped chocolate into the hot tart shells. Using a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of chocolate on the inside of the tart shell. Make sure it’s a thin layer. Remove excess chocolate with the pastry brush if too much was sprinkled in initially. Set aside to allow tarts to cool completely.

Lemon Curd Filling:

In a saucepan, add the egg yolks, sugar , lemon juice and zest and whisk together until well combined. Over medium low heat continue whisking until mixture becomes thick and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat; stir in butter until melted and combined throughout. Place curd in bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours.

Once the curd in firm, fill the cooled tartlet shells. Meanwhile prepare the meringue.

Meringue:

In a stand mixer metal bowl add the egg whites and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. Heat the whites and sugar until sugar is dissolved, whisking constantly. With your fingers, rub the liquid between your fingers to detect any undissolved sugar granules. Remove the mixture from over the simmering water and place on stand mixer fitted with whip attachment. Starting at low speed, beat 5 minutes and gradually increase speed until meringue is stiff and shiny.

Pipe the meringue onto the tops of the filled tartlets. Using a kitchen torch , brown the meringue.

Should be served the day they are made.