Over Feeling Blue

Time is doing me good..... I am over feeling blue............ So I thought of amusing myself with sweet dessert - those cute mini tarts I saw so many times in baking books but never really got my hands on making them. It was truly enjoyable since this recipe allowed me to complete within 2 separate days - one day doing the crust and one day for making the filling and assembling. Perfect!

And longan might be something unique for tarts, isn't it? In fact it is longan season now in Thailand and longans are available on every corner of the streets. That inspired me.

But when it came to baking, these fresh longans didn't look that fantastic compared to the canned ones and believe it or not, they were also not as fresh and crunchy. Soaking in syrup definitely did good to these fruits. Having said that, I finally settled with canned longans for this recipe.



LONGAN CREAM TART
Makes 8 tarts

1. Crust
Makes 290 grams

Prepare: 8 tart cup size bottom 1 inch, top 3 inch, height 1.5 inch

Ingredients:
- Cake flour - sift > 125 grams
- Icing sugar > 45 grams
- Ground almond > 18 grams
- Eggs > 30 grams
- Salted butter – soften in room temperature > 75 grams
- Egg yolk - to brush crush during baking

Method:
- Combine cake flour, icing sugar, and ground almond in a big bowl. Make hollow in the center. Pour in eggs and butter.
- Use hand bring the ingredients into the center and knead until smooth.
- Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 160C.
- Remove dough from fridge, roll out with rolling pin to 2mm thickness.
- Line tart cups with dough and press thoroughly until neat.
- Poke some holes at the bottom with a fork. Chill in fridge for 20 minutes.
- Line the interior of the cups with parchment paper or aluminium foil. Fill it with small beans to weigh down the crust.



- Bake at 160C for 35 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from oven. Put away parchment paper and beans.
- Brush a thin layer of egg yolk and continue baking for 5 minutes.
- Leave to cool.

2. Cream Filling

Ingredients:
- Egg yolk > 1
- Granulated sugar > 38 grams
- Corn flour > 15 grams
- Salt > 1/8 teaspoon
- Whole milk > 240 ml
- Whipping cream > 240 ml
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon
- Salted butter – room temperature > 10 grams



Method:
- Beat egg yolk with a fork in a bowl. Set aside.
- Combine sugar, corn flour, salt, whole milk, whipping cream, and vanilla essence in a saucepan. Whisk constantly and bring to boil at medium heat. Continue cooking and whisking for 1 more minute.
- Pour half of this hot milk to the egg yolk. Whisk quickly to combine.
- Transfer back to the saucepan and bring to boil. Cook for 6 more minutes. Continue whisking.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter.
- Pour cream filling into a bowl or plate and cover with cling film. Leave to cool before refrigerating for 2 hours.



3. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Canned longans – drain, halve > 20
- More canned longans - drain > 24

Method:
- Fill crust with 1/3 portion of cream filling. Top with 2 longan halves. Cover with 1/3 portion of cream filling. Press in 3 more longan halves.
- Fill the last 1/3 portion of cream filling in a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe on top of pie as the top layer.
- Decorate with more 3 whole longans.