Salted Caramel & Nutella Chocolate Tarts

I finally assembled these chocolate tarts, after a few breaks in between preparing the different parts. It was quite a long process for me. It started with the salted caramel sauce which I made last Tuesday. Then on Friday, I made & baked the tart shells. The weekend was a busy one for me, so I kept the baked shells in the fridge & only managed to prepare the Nutella ganache & assemble the tarts on Monday morning.

The inspiration to bake these tarts came after I tasted the Nutella tart my daughter bought from a local cafe last week. I wanted to try a new recipe, so I flipped through Vincent Gadan's Homemade Pâtisserie, Pastry Made Easy & the chocolate & salted caramel tart caught my eye. 

Preparing the tart shells took longer than expected, thanks to the hot & humid weather here. My kitchen is not air-conditioned & I didn't want to do the rolling & cutting of the dough in my bedroom, so  the dough had to go into & out of the fridge a few times as it got soft & sticky rather fast. At the same time, I was also making another all-butter pastry, the one that required a lot of foldings, for another tart. And before starting with the chocolate dough, I also made a cheesecake for my son's birthday...  So, you can imagine how busy I was that day...

But all the effort & time spent making these delicious tarts really paid off! Salted caramel & chocolate make an amazing combination! The sweet caramel really balances off nicely with the rich bittersweet chocolate flavour from the ganache & melt-in-the-mouth sable. The hazelnut flavour from the Nutella & chopped nuts (which also gave great texture & crunch) seals off this must-try dessert. Just be sure to use good quality cocoa powder & chocolate for a truly luxurious French dessert.

Salted Caramel & Nutella Chocolate Tarts

Ingredients:

Chocolate Sable Dough
175g all-purpose/plain flour
5g almond meal
15g Dutch cocoa powder (I used Valrhona.)
110g unsalted butter, 1.5cm cubes, cold
2 pinches table salt
4g baking powder
75g pure confectioners' / icing sugar, sifted
1 egg (50-55g)
butter for greasing
flour for dusting

Salted Caramel Sauce
1/2 recipe (room temperature)

Nutella Ganache

100g dark chocolate pieces (I used Valrhona Equatoriale 55%.)
40g nutella (I'll add more the next time.)
125ml heavy cream (I used dairy whip cream.)
whole hazelnuts (toasted & chopped) - for topping

Method:

For the chocolate sable dough:

1. Place the flour, almond meal and cold butter into a mixing bowl and rub the ingredients between your hands until it forms a sandy texture. This should take a few minutes.
2. Add the salt, baking powder, sugar and whole eggs, then mix with one hand to make a dough ball. Mix for two minutes until all combined.
3. Flatted the dough into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes before using.
4. Prepare four 10x2.5cm fluted tart moulds by brushing the inside with softened butter, dust with flour and shake off any excess—this will ensure the dough doesn’t stick to the mould after baking.
5. Lightly flour a clean surface and, using a rolling pin, roll the dough to a 5 millimetre thickness. Cut out 4 circles of dough using a round cutter with a 13cm diameter. Place a circle over a tart mould & press in the dough lightly with your fingers, from the centre, around the base & then up the sides. Take the rolling pin and roll over the top of the mould - this will cut the top edges, giving you a clean finish. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 170ºC/gas mark 3. Line the tart base with parchment and baking beans. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes. (I baked mine for 25 minutes.) Allow to cool.

For the Nutella ganache:

In double boiler, combine cream and chocolate pieces, stirring constantly until dissolved and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in Nutella. Set aside.

To assemble tarts:

1. Spoon 1-2 tsp (depending on the size of the tart moulds) salted caramel sauce into the pre-baked tart base.
2. Then pour or spoon the Nutella ganache onto the caramel sauce. Garnish with chopped toasted hazelnuts.

Notes & modifications:

1. Because of the hot weather, I made sure my butter & flour were cold before mixing. I kept my chopped butter in the freezer & the flour in the fridge before starting to mix. I used a food processor to mix my dough. It's faster than doing it with the hands, thus preventing the butter from melting in the process.
2. I used two 10-cm heart shape, eight 8-cm round & three 6-cm round tart pans to use up all the dough.
3. The baked tart is quite fragile, so you need to handle it very carefully when assembling the tarts. To reduce breakages, I chilled the shells first as cold tart shells are not as fragile.

Chocolate Sable Dough recipe is by Vincent Gadan & Michelle Guberina from Homemade Pâtisserie, Pastry Made Easy.

I'm linking this post to Cook-Your-Books event no. 16 hosted by Kitchen Flavours.
I'm also linking this post to the Best Recipes for Everyone, September Event : Chocolate Wonderland, hostedby XuanHom's Mom Kitchen Diary.

Plum Tartlets

It's been a long time since I last took part in the Bake Along event...... So I thought I should take a break from posting my Hari Raya bakes (I still have a few!) & bake some plum tartlets for its 67th event. 

These tartlets are not the typical tarts that we've all come across because the base used is not pastry but closer to a cake. A few bloggers describe them as having cakey texture. The ones made by some of them do look like the texture is a cross between a cake & a pastry. Mine turned out to be more like a cake, moist  & just slightly crumbly.

Cake or pastry, I still like these tartlets.... very buttery with a tinge of lemon flavour, & the slight tang of  the plums is a good thing for an otherwise sweet dessert. Besides that, they are so pretty! I couldn't stop looking at them! 

Plum Tartlets

Ingredients:
120g unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon  ground cardamom (I used a pinch.)
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk
100g granulated sugar (I used 90g.)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used pure vanilla paste.)
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
3 plums, pitted and sliced
2 tbsp turbinado sugar (I used demerara.)
confectioners' sugar for dusting
ice-cream for serving (optional)
three 4-inch ramekins (I used mini tart pans with removable base - 1 rectangular & 3 heart shape.)

Method:

1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly butter the ramekins and place them on a baking sheet.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt; sift & set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a medium mixing bowl, using a handheld mixer), cream the butter on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolk, granulated sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to beat until the mixture is light in colour. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in thirds, mixing just until incorporated; be careful not to overmix.
4. Divide the dough evenly among the ramekins. Fan plum slices in each ramekin, lightly pressing the slices into the dough with your fingers. Sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar.
5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tartlets look set and the tops are golden brown. These are best served warm, but they can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
6. Serve the tarts with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar and a scoop of your favourite ice cream, if desired.

**The recipe above is only half the original recipe & I converted the measurement into metric.

Recipe from The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook by Cheryl Day & Griffith Day.

Source: Frontier Co-op.

I am submitting this post to Bake Along, an event organised by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of  Bake For Happy Kids.

I'm also linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up August (flour) event, organised by Bake for Happy Kids & My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

Quiche Toast

I made beef quiches for breakfast this morning. It was quite fast to prepare them as I used sandwich bread for the cups instead of making the pastry base from scratch. It's so much easier but still very delicious. I highly recommend you to make these quiche toasts... I can guarantee your family will like them!

Quiche Toast

Ingredients:
150g ground beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
pinch of salt & pepper
1 tsp oil
12 slices sandwich bread (I used wholemeal.)
2 eggs
⅔ cups milk

a pinch of salt and pepper

⅓ cup cheese, grated (tasty, gruyere, cheddar - any good melting cheese) - I used mozzarella.
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves,
oil spray / oil / butter for greasing pan

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg C.
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in small pan over high heat. Add onion & sauté until soften & slightly caramelised. Add in ground beef & continue cooking until meat turns brown. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Cut bread into rounds or just cut crusts off. Use a rolling pin to flatten the bread.
4. Grease 12 muffin tin holes (I used butter.), then press the bread into the muffin tin.
5. Place in oven for 3-5 minutes until the toasts are just a bit dry. (The toast cups should not be browned.) Remove from oven and set aside.
6. Whisk together the egg, milk & a pinch of salt & pepper.
7. Divide the cooked beef  between the 12 toast cups, then top them with the cheese.
8. Pour the egg mixture into each cup, almost to the rim, & sprinkle the coriander leaves. Then immediately place the muffin pan in the oven. If you take too long between pouring the egg mixture into the toast cups and putting it in the oven, the egg will start soaking into the bread.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the top is golden and the filling is set.
10. Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes before serving. The filling will be puffed up but it will deflate while resting.
11. Garnish with extra coriander leaves if desired. Serve warm.

Makes 12 toast cups.

Recipe adapted from  Recipe Tin Eats.

Notes:

1. Instead of beef, you may use any other filling like seafood, ham, mushroom, etc but there's no need to precook the seafood or ham.
2. Do not use stale bread as it would be difficult to flatten & press it into the muffin hole.
3. Toasting the bread until it's dry before adding the filling is an important step as it prevents the egg mixture from soaking into the bread.
4. You need to grease the muffin holes generously as the egg mixture may overflow onto the holes & it then may be difficult to remove the quiche toast.

Hong Kong Flaky Egg Tarts

Last week,  I made Hong Kong flaky egg tarts. The tarts are different from the ones I made before as this time, the shells are made using puff pastry instead of the cookie pastry. I used the recipe shared by Meg of Dreamersloft. 

The tarts not only look gorgeous, they are delicious too! I especially love the pastry.... very flaky, buttery & beautifully layered. If you planned to make these, be prepared to be patient as you need to fold the pastry & leave it to rest for a few times. This is especially challenging in a humid condition like Singapore's. One thing for sure, the effort is all worth it!

Thank you Meg for generously sharing this recipe. I've cut & pasted the recipe below, but you still need to go to Meg's blog for the step-by-step picture tutorial.

Hong Kong Flaky Egg Tarts

Recipe yields 8 tarts
4cm base tart casing (measures 6cm from the top)
9cm perforated cookie cutter

Oil Dough:

100g Plain Flour, sifted
160g Unsalted Butter, cubed and keep in chiller until use

Water Dough:

20g Bread Flour, sifted
60g Plain Flour, sifted
5g Custard Powder, sifted
10g Egg
40g Iced Water

Filling:

100g Fresh Milk
50g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1 drop Vanilla Extract

Method:

1. Make the oil dough. Combine the flour and cold cubed butter in a large bowl. Use pastry cutter to press the butter into the flour until it forms a rough dough. Alternatively, use electric blender and pulse the mixture until rough dough forms. Work quickly so that butter do not melt.
2. Place the dough on a piece of clingwrap and wrap it up into a small rectangle parcel (about 10cm x 15cm). Chill in fridge for 30 mins.
3. Make water dough. Combine all the ingredients into an electric mixer, and blend until a dough forms. Knead for 5 mins until dough is smooth (texture feels like ear-lobe). Mold into a rough oval shape, wrap in clingwrap and chill for 20 mins.
4. Take both water dough and oil dough out from the fridge. Dust the work surface with flour so that the dough will not stick to the work surface. Remove clingwrap (keep it aside). Roll the water dough into a large oval, make sure it has sufficient space allowance for the oil dough to be enclosed within. Place the oil dough in the middle of the water dough.
5. Wrap the water dough like a parcel, encasing the oil dough, make sure no oil dough is exposed at the seams.
6. Slightly flatten/roll the combined dough, dust with some flour top and below and wrap the dough in clingwrap. Chill in the fridge for 20 mins.
7. Retrieve the dough from the fridge. Dust the work surface and rolling pin with flour. Remove clingwrap (set aside), dust top and bottom of dough with flour. Roll the dough into half inch thickness in rectangle shape. Fold one side towards the centre (as shown).
8. Fold the other side towards centre. You will have 3 layers. Dust with flour all around. Wrap in clingwrap and chill in fridge for 20 mins. This is round 1 of folding. (We will do 3x3x4)
9. Repeat step 7.
10. Repeat step 8. This is round 2 of folding.
11. Retrieve the dough from the fridge. Dust the work surface and rolling pin with flour. Make sure to dust a larger surface area. Remove clingwrap (set aside), dust top and bottom of dough with flour. Roll the dough into half inch thickness in rectangle shape. Fold left and right sides towards the centre (as shown).
12. Fold one side of dough towards centre again. You will see 4 layers now. This is round 3 and final round of folding. Dust with flour, clingwrap and chill in fridge for 20 mins.
13. Retrieve dough from fridge. Dust work surface and rolling pin with flour. Place dough on work surface, dust with flour. Roll the dough flat into 0.5cm thickness. Use cookie cutter to stamp the dough into individual tart shells.
14. Wrap tart base using clingwrap (separate each layer) and chill in fridge for 15 mins. *At this point you could freeze the tart base for subsequent use.
15. Retrieve tart base from the fridge. Mold each piece into the tart casing, pressing down the dough towards the sides and bottom of the casing. Avoid touching the top part (perforated) else pattern will not be visible after baking. As you can see, I'm using a larger cookie cutter because I want to create height for the egg tart without having to "push" the base upwards (like some recipes do). Poke some holes in the tart base using a fork gently (not too hard else egg filling will leak). Chill tart base in fridge for 15 mins. Preheat oven at 220 degree celsius.
16. Prepare egg filling. Combine all ingredients of egg filling, make sure sugar is fully dissolved. Sieve the egg filling 2 times. Once tart base is ready, pour the egg filling into each tart to about 70-75%.
17. Place tray of egg tarts at the bottom most rack. Bake at 200 degree celsius for 15 mins. After 15 mins, bake at 180 degree celsius for 10 mins. After 10 mins, slightly open the oven door, slip a cloth or oven mitt by the door and let egg tart bake in residual heat for another 10 mins.
18. After 10 mins, remove the tray from the oven and let egg tarts cool slightly before removing the tarts from the casing.

Recipe by Dreamersloft.

Turkish Pide...... again!

My family & I love the Turkish Pide that I made in December. I've been itching to make it again especially since my husband didn't get to taste it then as he was out of town. So last weekend, I baked 3 pitas for lunch. I decided to try a different recipe for the filling because I wanted one which would produce more flavour. So I googled & found a recipe which looked promising. 

It turned out to be a great choice. It definitely had more flavour than the previous recipe. Besides requiring a long list of  ingredients, the filling also needs to be cooked first before placing it onto the dough. As for the dough, I decided to use the same recipe because I think it's excellent!

Turkish Pide
(makes 3 large pieces)

Pide dough

Ingredients:
60g water
1 & 1/2 tsp instant yeast
375g bread flour
60g yoghurt
90g milk
3 tsp sugar
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
olive oil for brushing on baked pita

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast in water. Set aside.
2. In the large bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer, combine flour, yeast mixture, yoghurt, milk & sugar.
3. Mix using the dough hook, on low to medium speed, until just combined. Add olive oil & continue mixing until well combined. Then add salt & continue mixing until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix and knead by hand. 
4. Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 
5. Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. (If you are not using a pizza stone, place pita onto an inverted baking tray before placing it into the oven for baking.) Preheat the oven to 200°C for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.
Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough into 3 parts. Form 3 round balls of dough. Cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes.
6. Take a ball of dough & roll out into an oval, 5mm thick. Place it on a baking paper which is placed on a peel (if using a baking stone) or an inverted baking tray. Put filling on the dough, leaving 1-inch border. Fold the sides in & apply the ends with water & pinch together. Crack an egg onto the center of filling.
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until the pita turns golden brown. 
8. Remove pita from oven & brush the crust with olive oil. Serve warm.

Adapted from Table for two.... or more.

The above pictures are taken from my previous Turkish Pide post.

Filling

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
350g minced beef
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
1 pinch strands saffron
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 tsp parsley flakes
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
fresh mint leaves (chopped)
salt and black pepper
3 eggs (Do not cook with the above ingredients.)

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. Fry the beef until brown. 
3. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. 
4. Stir in the tomato puree, ginger, coriander, saffron, cinnamon & parsley.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes & mint leaves. Season with black pepper and salt & cook for a further 10 minutes until almost dry.

Adapted from recipe by Paul Hollywood.

Italian Almond Tart

I baked the Italian Almond Tart today.... just couldn't resist baking it after looking at the posts for the current (& ending very soon) Bake Along event. As expected, the tarts looked gorgeous & they got a few of BitterSweetSpicy's FB fans excited! Before that, when the tarts were still in the oven, I was already feeling excited . They were so fragrant.... 

Before the tarts were completely cool, I decided to cut one as I couldn't wait to take a bite. Oh my.... it's so  heavenly.... The combination of the flaky, fragrant tart shell &  moderately rich almond filling makes this tart an excellent dessert!

Notes & modifications:

1. I made 1 recipe of the dough & only 1/2 recipe of the almond filling. The recipe made four 10cm heart-shape & one 11x6 cm rectangle tart pans, with removable bottom.
2. For the dough, I added the water last.  I didn't need to add all, just a little. 
3. The dough was quite sticky, so it was quite challenging to roll out the dough to the pan.
4. I only spread a thin layer of jam onto my tart shell because I didn't want my almond tart to be too sweet.

Italian Almond Tart
Recipe by Williams-Sonoma.

Ingredients:
1 rolled-out round of tart dough (see recipe below)
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g almond paste, cut into 1-inch cubes (recipe below)
1/4 C sugar
2 eggs
1⁄3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (I used pastry flour.)
1/3C raspberry, plum or cherry jam
1⁄3 cup sliced almonds

Method:

1. Fold the dough round in half and carefully transfer to a 9 1/2-inch tart pan, preferably with a removable bottom. Unfold and ease the round into the pan, without stretching it, and pat it firmly into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Trim off any excess dough by gently running a rolling pin across the top of the pan. Press the dough into the sides to extend it slightly above the rim to offset any shrinkage during baking.
2. Refrigerate or freeze the tart shell until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 375°F.
3. Line the pastry shell with aluminum foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or raw short-grain rice. Bake for 20 minutes, then lift an edge of the foil. If the dough looks wet, continue to bake, checking every 5 minutes, until the dough is pale gold, for a total baking time of 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.
4. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and reduce the heat to 350°F. 
5. In a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a whisk, beat the butter until smooth. Add the almond paste, one piece at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. While continuing to beat, sprinkle in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour. 
6. Spread the jam evenly over the bottom of the partially baked tart shell. Spoon in the almond paste mixture and spread evenly over the jam. Sprinkle the surface evenly with the sliced almonds. 
7. Bake the tart until the filling is golden and the middle is firm to the touch, 35 to 45 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the tart cool completely. If using a tart pan with a removable bottom, let the sides fall away, then slide the tart onto a serving plate. Serve at room temperature.

Makes one 9 1/2-inch tart; serves 8.

Almond Paste
Recipe from Joyce. (makes about 250g)

Ingredients:
150gm ground almond
90gm sifted powdered sugar
1 to 1-1/2 tablespoon egg white (adding a little at a time as needed to form a dough)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp salt
Mix everything together and knead to a dough. Use as directed or freeze it.

Basic tart dough
Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
2 Tbs. very cold water (I didn't use all.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1⁄4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used pastry flour, aka top flour.)
1⁄3 cup sugar
1⁄4 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick / 125g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1⁄4-inch cubes

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, stir together the egg yolk, water and vanilla; set aside.
2. To make the dough by hand, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas. Add the egg mixture and mix with a fork just until the dough pulls together.
3. To make the dough in a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, stir together the flour, sugar and salt in the mixer bowl. Add the butter and beat on medium-low speed until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas. Add the egg mixture and beat just until the dough pulls together.
4. Transfer the dough to a work surface, pat into a ball and flatten into a disk. Use the dough immediately, or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 30 minutes.
5. To roll out the dough, on a lightly floured board, flatten the disk with 6 to 8 gentle taps of the rolling pin. Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn. Lightly dust the top of the dough or the rolling pin with flour as needed, then roll out until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick. Use a small, sharp knife to cut out a round or rounds 2 inches greater in diameter than your tart or larger tartlet pans. Use a small, sharp knife or a cookie cutter to cut out rounds 1/2 to 1 inch greater in diameter than your miniature tartlet pans. If using a rectangular tart pan, cut out a rectangle 2 inches larger on all sides than the pan. Makes enough dough for one 9 1/2-inch tart, six 4-inch tartlets, twelve 2-inch miniature tartlets or one 13 3/4-by-4 1/4-inch rectangular tart.

I'm linking this post to Bake-Along #55 hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Lena from Frozen Wings.

Mini Pizza Tarts

My sister-in-law organised a barbecue a few days ago. So I had to think of what to bring along to the chalet. As usual, I took quite some time to decide what to make or bake. Every time I had to make the decision, I would have a list of questions in mind & weigh the pros & cons of bringing the thing that I had in mind... it just slowed down the whole process but I just could't help it... maybe it's the practice I had in school. The funny thing is, very often, I'd end up making the same thing. Haiz...

This time, I decided to make some mini pizzas, again....(except, this time, I used a different recipe for the crust.) Almost two years ago, I made Mini Pizza Pies as my contribution to a barbecue organised by the same SIL. Back then, the pies were quite a hit with the guests, especially with the kids. Come to think of it, who doesn't like pizza....? They were still a big hit this time around... they disappeared within an hour of the gathering!

I also spent some time deciding which mould I should use. At first I wanted to use the medium disposable aluminium tart moulds but I found them too big for finger food. Then I thought of using the small ones but they were too small & shallow. In the end, I used my Chicago Metallic Bakeware Lift & Serve Single Squares, the same ones I had used before. I just love the pan. When I first saw it online, I thought it would be great for mini cheesecakes since the base is removable.  But so far, I've never used it for baking cheesecakes, just tarts. Nevertheless, it was a very good buy... I ordered 4 pans, all the way from the US & waited for more than a month for them to arrive since I opted for the lower shipping cost.  So,  I can make 48 minis in one go! 

Mini Pizza Tarts

SAVOURY SHORTCRUST PASTRY
Adapted from recipe by Paul Allam & David Mcguinness from Bourke Street Bakery, The Ultimate Baking Companion.

300g unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1.5cm cubes
600g plain flour, chilled
5g (1 tsp) salt
15ml (3 tsp) vinegar, chilled
170ml (2/3 cup) water, chilled

Method:

1. Mix together the flour & salt in a large bowl & toss through the butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour to partly combine.  You should now have a floury mix through which you can see squashed pieces of butter.
2. Combine the vinegar with the chilled water & sprinkle it over the flour mixture & mix until the dough binds together. You should still be able to see streaks of butter marbled through the pastry; this gives a slightly flaky texture to the final product.
3. Divide into two even-sized portions & shape into two round, flat  discs about 2 cm thick. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap & refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
4. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator 20 minutes before you wish to roll it. Place it between 2 pieces of plastic &, working from the center of the pastry, roll the pastry away from you, then turn the pastry about 30 degrees & roll out again. Continue to repeat this process until you have a flat round disc, about 3 mm thick.
5. Cut the pastry using a round pastry cutter & place on top of the mould (ensuring it is in the center & use your fingers to gently push the pastry into the mould, moving around the rim until all of the pastry has been inserted. Leave to rest for at least 30 minutes. (I left mine in the fridge.)
6. Preheat oven at 220 deg C. Slide the pan onto the middle shelf of the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 170 deg C & bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the pastry cases turn golden brown.
7. Spoon filling into the baked pastry cases & then sprinkle grated cheese.
8. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or just until the cheese has melted.

FILLING:

500g ground beef

black pepper

Italian herb mix

salt

1 can (300g) Prego tomato spaghetti sauce

mozzarella cheese (grated)

Method:

1. Fry ground beef in a frying pan until it's cooked & the water (if any) is almost dried up.
2. Add in black pepper, Italian herb mix & salt. Mix well. Remove from fire.
3. Combine spaghetti sauce & ground beef & mix well.

(Made 42 tarts.)

I'm  submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers No 35: A Palate For Pizza (September 2013) hosted by Joey of Little Accidents in the Kitchen. 

I'm also linking this post to Cook-Your-Books No 4 hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours.

Tart Teratai

Time really flies... tomorrow will be the 14th day of Ramadhan. I'm feeling a bit anxious... there's a long list of things to do as Eid is approaching. And at work, the pace is also picking up as the term assessments are around the corner & before long, it's the end of the school term... I'm glad next weekend will be a long one in view of Singapore's National Day. I hope to do my shopping & lots of baking!

Anyway, I've started my baking for the Eid celebration. I made the must-have pineapple tarts last Tuesday. I used the same recipe that I've been using for the last decade or so... You may refer to my post last year for this Lotus-shaped Pineapple Tart, aka Tart Teratai, recipe.

Have a good weekend! I'm sure I'll have a busy one!

Of wasted life & egg tarts......

I've never made egg tarts at home. The last time I had a hand in making them was during may pastry-making course at BITC. I didn't like the pastry. I've tried the store-bought ones a couple of times but they didn't excite me.  Last week, Amir asked me if I knew how to make egg tarts & if I could make some one day. That request came after a friend told him he would have wasted his life if he had not tasted egg tarts! Haha... Really....?

On Monday morning, I searched for a recipe & decided to use Wendy's. Started mixing the dough right after I'm done with typing & printing the recipe. By afternoon, these delightful tarts were already out of the oven.....  And these yummy-looking tarts sure did excite me! 

Just look at the tarts! Aren't they beautiful....? Of course they don't look like the ones out there, neat & uniform, but I just love the rustic look. On top of that, they are so delicious & very addictive!! This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you Wendy for sharing!

Alright, before I leave you with the recipe, let me just share with you my experience with baking these tarts. I baked them in two batches, one on Monday & the other yesterday. I thought the pastry for the first batch was a bit too thick. Other than that, they were perfect. I only managed to take one picture of the first batch using my phone when it was just out of oven, before I left the house to run some errands. You may take a look at it on my  Facebook Page. I also baked them at 200 deg C for about 25 minutes. For the second batch, the dough  was a bit too thin so much so the custard for some shells seeped through even before I could put the tray into the oven. I also baked them at 200 deg C for the first 10 minutes & reduced it to 180 for the next 15 minutes. The tarts turned out to be more fragile than the ones from the first batch. A bit more baking time would be good... So the next time I make this tart, I'll make sure that I roll out the dough to a medium thickness & bake them at 200 dec C, just as recommended by Wendy. Do read Wendy's post where she shared some tips on the thickness of the shells.

Egg Tart
Recipe by Wendy of Table for 2...Or More.
(I made about 22 tarts.)

Pastry:
250g plain flour
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg yolk
150g butter

Filling:
150g castor sugar
150 ml hot water
250 ml milk
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 large eggs
1 egg white


Method:

1. For pastry, cream butter, egg yolk & sugar until well blended.
2. Add flour & mix gently until well mixed. (Do not overmix or the pastry will be tough. If dough is sticky, add flour, a tsp at a time just until dough is not sticky.) Cover dough with plastic & leave to rest for about 20 minutes. (I added this step based on my knowledge on pastry making.)
3. Roll out pastry in between 2 sheets of plastic into thickness of about 4mm. Cut out pastry into circles using pastry cutter.
4. Gently press pastry into  tartlet pan.
5. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
6. For filling, beat all eggs lightly & set aside.
7. Dissolve sugar in hot water. Add in milk, salt & vanilla.
8. Finally, add in eggs & mix until well blend.
9. Strain custard mixture & pour into cold tart shells.
10. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 (with fan) / 200 deg C for 25 minutes.

Mini Pizza Pie

I'm happy because all that my family planned to do over the long weekend materialized. We saw the Titanic Artifact Exhibition at the ArtScience Museum on Saturday. On Sunday,  I was busy preparing for the next day's gathering & on Monday, we spent the whole day at Pasir Ris Park with my husband's family.

We volunteered to prepare Nasi Lemak (with sambal sotong, of course) & drinks. I also wanted to bake a type of savoury finger food, something simple & something the kids & adults love to eat. I came up with my version of  Mini Pizza Pie. Nothing new or spectacular, just a mini pizza with pastry crust instead of bread base. Still, the pie was a hit at the gathering. 

Just some notes on the making of the pies before I leave you with the recipe. Firstly, I used both butter & vegetable shortening for the pastry in the ratio of 3:1. Butter is for the flavour while the shortening produces a flaky crust. I read this tip from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan. You can use all butter but your crust will be crispy but not flaky. Another thing, although this recipe uses cold water, I didn't use it at all because my dough was already soft before I added the water. So it's a good practice to add any liquid a little bit at a time when mixing any dough. Finally, make sure all ingredients are cold, especially if you are leaving in a hot country like Singapore.  I even kept the flour in the freezer for few hours!

Mini Pizza Pie

Crust (recipe adapted from 500 Pies & Tarts by Rebecca Baugniet):

280g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

110g vegetable shortening ( I used Crisco. I weighed & froze it  for few hours.)

230g cold unsalted butter (I cut into small chunks & froze them.)

1 large egg

2 tsp vinegar

2 tbsp cold water (I didn't use at all since my dough was already soft.)

1. Combine flour & salt in a large mixing bowl. Add cut butter & shortening to flour mixture. 
2. Using a pastry blender or two knives in a criss-crossing motion, blend butter & shortening into flour mixture until it  has consistency of damp sand, with a few pea-sized pieces of butter & shortening remaining. (I rubbed in fat into flour using my fingers.)
3. Beat egg & vinegar. Slowly pour egg mixture over the flour, mixing only until mixture is moist. Add water only if dough is not moist enough. The dough should stick together & be able to hold the form of a ball.
4. Place dough between two pieces of plastic. Smooth dough with a rolling pin so it forms a flat disc of about 1 cm thick. Chill in refrigerator for a minimum of half an hour. Remove from fridge & roll out dough to about 3mm thick. 
5. Using a round cutter, cut out circles of pastry. Gently push dough into  moulds. 
6. Bake blind for about 15 minutes or untill pastry is slightly golden in colour. Remove from oven.
7. Pour about 1 tsp of  sauce into baked shell, followed by meat filling. Then sprinkle grated cheese.
8. Bake again for about 15 minutes.

Sauce:

spaghetti sauce (I used sauce in a can.)

Filling:

400g ground beef

white pepper

Italian mixed spice

salt

Combine all ingredients & cook until the beef is cooked & is almost dry.

Topping:

Mozarella cheese (grated)

Is your favourite Tan the new elected President?

          Mine is not ...........what a pity......but he almost is! What's the point......he's still not!!! For the benefit of those outside Singapore, Singaporeans went out to vote for our new President on Saturday. There were four candidates running & all four share the same family name Tan. My favourite, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, garnered the second hightest votes, lost to the winner by less than 0.5%! Maybe if the Tan who had the lowest votes had not contested, my favourite Tan would have won.......oh well........ 

         Saturday also marked the last weekend before Eid, the most important festival for Muslims in this region, which falls on Tuesday. Unfortunately, to say the least, the government decided to hold the Presidential Election on such a busy weekend for Muslims. So much for  being more understanding.......There were so many Singaporean Muslims who were on duty as election officials who were stucked at the polling station the whole day when they could have spent their precious Saturday preparing for the festival! My husband was one of the officials.... And for him, the election also caused some sleepless nights, planning & coordinating his team ....& that is on top of his regular job! 

            Alright....enough about the election...let's talk about food..... Saturday night is the last night my family & I broke our fast at home for this Ramadhan. We'll be breaking our fast tonite, the eve of Hari Raya, at my mum's place. Saturday afternoon, after finally wrapping up my cake-baking session for Eid, I baked some quiche. This time, I made an Asian-version quiche which I called Beef Korma Quiche. I've made this before for a few gatherings & the guests loved it, so do my family & I! The recipes for the pastry & custard are from my pastry-making course at BITC. The filling is quite similar to curry puff filling.

I'm submitting this entry to Aspiring Bakers #10: Easy as Pie (August 2011), hosted by Janine of  Not the Kitchen Sink!

Beef  Korma Quiche

Pastry:

200g medium protein flour

10g milk powder

2g salt

100g cold butter

+/- 120g ice-cold water (you may not need to use all)

Combine flour, milk powder & salt. Cut up butter into small cubes. Rub in butter into flour using fingertips until the flour looks like fine breadcrumbs. Then add in water just enough for the the dough to bind. Wrap in a plastic and leave in the fridge to rest for about 20 minutes.

Remove from fridge. Roll out dough till about 4mm. Cut out pastry & place in moulds. Poke some holes on the pastry using a folk. Leave to rest for about 20 minutes. Then bake the dough for about 10 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees C. Remove from oven.

Fill pastry with filling, then pour custard over it . Garnish with coriander leave & red chilli. Bake in over for about 30 minutes until the pastry turns golden brown. Ensure the bottom of pastry is cooked as this part tends to take longer to cook.

Custard:

2 eggs

110g fresh milk

90g whipping cream (I used coconut milk)

salt & pepper

Beat eggs & add the rest of ingredients. Mix untill well blend.

Filling:

200g ground beef

3 pieces cardamon

2cm cinnamon stick

3 pieces cloves

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 cm fresh ginger, minced

3 tbsp korma curry powder (add water to form  paste)

1/2 onion (chopped into small pieces)

salt

vegetable oil

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium fire. Fry cardamon, clove & cinnamon stick until frangrant for about 1 minute. Add garlic & ginger & fry for another minute. Add  korma curry paste & fry for about 2 minutes. Then add in meat & salt. Finally, add in onion. Cook until meat is almost dry. Set aside.

Garnish:

coriander leaves

red chilli (sliced)