Come Spring...Tarte aux fraises ~ 春的氣息の草莓田園

Hello friends, it has been a while. Do you miss me? Hug <3

If you have been following me then you know the reason why I have been missing in action although it is not an excuse for not updating this space for such a long period of time. I thought it is still January, time just flies!

We had the coldest winter in the San Francisco Bay Area in years. It is especially cold and wet for the past 2 weeks making me really down. To cheer myself up, I fooled myself into believing spring is here by making spring-ish desserts =)

I decided to make fruit tarts simply because I found the cutest and yummiest strawberries at this marketplace. OMG, I can go on and on about this place but I’ll save that for another post because it deserves to have a post dedicated to it. It has the most amazing produces department – a must-visit shop if you live in the area. Now back to sweets. This is not your typical fruit tart - this one is a light version made with fresh whipped cream instead of pastry cream but it is nothing short of deliciousness! The shell is of a light, crumbly texture like sablé cookies. The strawberries are of the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. Put the 3 together, a mouthful of goodness and the perfect tea-nack! For variation, use raspberries and raspberry puree and rose water for the cream. So heavenly! bon appétite~





Tarte aux fraises
- make 6 individual size tarts

Pâte Sucrée or French Sweet Pastry Crust
290g all purpose flour
20g pastry flour
100g unsalted butter, softened and diced
80g caster sugar
2 eggs
Pinch salt

Strawberry Chantilly Cream
Makes about 2 cups

250ml heavy cream
60g granulated sugar
55g strawberry puree
1tbsp strawberry liqueur

Strawberries, mint leave for garnish

For the sweet pastry:
Sift together the flour and pastry flour; set aside. Beat butter, sugar and a pinch of salt using an electric mixer until pale, add eggs and mix. Add flour, mix until just combined, then turn onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disc; add a tablespoon of ice water if it appears too dry to form into a ball. Wrap in food wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C. Rollout the pastry as thinly as possible on a lightly floured pastry board. Use a 12cm/5-inch diameter round cookie cutter to stamp out 6 circles then use these cut outs to line six 10cm/4-inch pastry rings. Prick the bases with a fork and chill for 1 hour or until firm then trim off excess pastry.

Line each pastry ring with foil then fill with pie weight/baking beans/uncooked rice. Bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove foil and pie weight, return the pan to the oven for 10 minutes longer. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For the Strawberry Chantilly Cream:
Place the heavy cream, sugar in a bowl and whip using low speed then gradually increase to medium speed until soft peak forms. Add in the strawberry puree, liqueur and whip until stiff peak. Pour the whipped cream into a piping bag w/o a tip, let chill in refrigerator.

To assemble:
Spoon the Chantilly cream into each tart shells until ½ full. Arrange the strawberry halves, cut side up on top of the cream and some diced strawberries in the center. Finish off with a few mint leave. Serve soon after assembling.




哈囉﹐大家過的好嗎﹖阿V終於來更新了﹐真的不是故意偷懶喔。如果你常來這裡該是知道阿Vi在忙什麼。可能是忙昏了頭﹐我以為我只是離開了一會兒嘿嘿。。。

這個冬天好像特別的慢長﹐特別的冷﹐尤其是過去的兩週﹐好鬱悶喔。為了找回我的好心情﹐唯有騙自己說春天就在轉角所以特地做了富春天氣息的甜點。不知道是吃甜的讓人心情變好﹐還是看著嬌嫩剔透的莓果賞心悅目的關係﹐心情是up up =)

本來是想做慕斯蛋糕的﹐但是在這個好地方看到長的超可愛又香甜的草莓就決定做簡單又可突顯它美味處的甜點。說到這個好地方﹐簡直是愛煮愛吃的人的天堂﹐我可是可以幫它做一個專輯﹐愛死這家店了﹗好了﹐再說這個草莓塔﹐可不是一般的傳統果塔因為它的餡是發泡的鮮奶油而不是卡士達餡。加了草莓泥打泡的香堤麗鮮奶油除了香氣逼人外﹐口感清爽無負擔﹐搭配口感像sablés般酥脆到不行又富滿滿的奶油香可又不膩的塔皮﹐加上清甜中帶微酸的草莓﹐吃的很滿足。若用心的將草莓排列在鮮奶油上來營造賞心悅目的視覺效果再招待朋友來家吃下午茶很體面呢。聽起來不錯吧﹖也可以做成覆盆子玫瑰口味 - 將草莓改成覆盆子﹐草莓泥改成覆盆子泥﹐再用食用玫瑰露代替利口酒即可。


草莓田園
~ 6個直徑 10cm/4寸的塔

法式甜塔皮
290g 中筋麵粉
20g 低筋麵粉
100g 無鹽奶油 - 室溫放軟﹐切成小方塊
80g 細砂糖
2個 全蛋
/4茶匙 鹽巴

草莓風味香堤麗鮮奶油 – 約2 杯份量
250ml 鮮奶油
60g 砂糖
55g 草莓果泥
1湯匙 草莓利口酒

裝飾用
草莓
薄荷葉

製作甜塔皮：
將中筋麵粉﹑低筋麵粉混合過篩後備用。將切成小方塊的室溫奶油﹑細砂糖﹑1/4茶匙的鹽巴用電動攪拌機攪打至奶油變淡黃色後加入雞蛋﹐攪拌勻﹐然後加入麵粉快速拌勻成糰塊。若是麵粉過乾﹐加入1湯匙冰水﹐如果看起來還是很乾再加1湯匙冰水至聚集成糰塊。將麵糰放在撒上麵粉的工作台上﹐揉至軟滑成球狀。輕壓成扁圓片﹐蓋上保鮮膜﹐放進冰箱靜置60分鐘醒麵。

烤箱預熱至360°F/180°C。取出麵糰﹐放在撒上麵粉的工作台上﹐將麵糰桿成約厚3mm的薄片後用直徑12cm/5寸的圓的餅乾模具吸出4個圓形薄片。鋪進直徑10cm/4寸的塔派圈模裡﹐壓實塔皮底及塔皮壁﹐再用叉子戳刺氣孔。然後蓋上保鮮膜放進冰箱冷藏60分鐘定型。

取出﹐用刀子將模型裡多出來的麵皮切掉﹐在每個塔皮鋪上烘焙用紙﹐加入烘焙石或乾豆至半滿﹐放入烤箱烤15分鐘。取去烘焙用紙及烘焙石﹐繼續烤10分鐘或至塔皮呈金黃色。取去﹐擺放在網架上放涼。

製作草莓風味香堤麗鮮奶油:
將鮮奶油和砂糖放入拌碗中﹐用電動攪拌機先以低速打發鮮奶油至起泡﹐再轉中速攪打至出現軟尖角的程度。加入草莓果泥和草莓利口酒﹐以高速攪打至出現尖角的程度及拌勻即可。將香堤麗倒進擠袋裡﹐放冰箱冷藏備用。

組合及裝飾:
享用前將香堤麗鮮奶油舀進塔皮內至5分滿﹐然後將切掉蒂頭﹑對半縱切的草莓排列在上﹐再舀些草莓丁至塔的中央﹐最後以薄荷葉隨意的裝飾即可。