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.

The Swan

With all my pleasure, I would like to try something more challenging for the sake of improving my baking skill. Considering being single gives me a lot of flexibility and free time now. Why not do something fruitful yet enjoyable, like creating these swans?

So I flipped through this favorite book of mine "Le Cordon Bleu Dessert" and settled my eyes on page 173. Such beautiful choux swans. I know if I ever see it in the bakery display I would definitely fall in love with it and never leave without buying at least a pair. So here I go messing up my kitchen all over again, following each and every step out of the book, making adjustments whenever it is necessary for my own convenience, and hoping at the end of the sweats I achieve the desired outcome: swans that are at least adorable? :-)



I would like to dedicate this post to Lisa Michelle of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives for sharing the same "moving on" sentiment. "Let's bake, smile and move on!!" Also to Fitri of Rumah Manis for seeing the brighter side of life. "You rock, girl!"

THE SWANS
Makes 10 pieces.



1. Creme Patissiere

Ingredients:
- Milk > 350 ml
- Egg yolks > 3.5
- Granulated sugar > 90 grams
- All purpose flour > 18 grams
- Corn flour > 18 grams
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Boil milk in the saucepan. Remove from fire and leave to cool slightly.
- Whip egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Fold in all purpose flour, corn flour, and vanilla powder.
- Slowly pour milk into the egg yolk mixture and combine to form custard.
- Place custard back into saucepan and cook at low heat while stirring continuously until it is thick. Leave to boil for one minute. Keep stirring.
- Pour into shallow container and cover with cling film. Leave to cool.
- When it is cool, beat with electric mixer until smooth. Set aside.



2. Choux

Need 2 baking trays lined with baking paper.

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour - sift > 75 grams
- Salt > ½ teaspoon
- Granulated sugar > 8 grams
- Milk > 65 ml
- Water > 60 ml
- Salted butter > 50 grams
- Eggs – beat moderately > 1.5



Method:
- Combine sifted flour and sugar. Leave aside.
- Heat water, milk, and butter in a pan until butter is completely melted. Bring to boil.
- Remove from fire immediately. Pour flour and sugar mixture into the boiled milk mixture.
- Stir mixture until forming a paste that leaves the sides of the pan clean. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven at 200C.
- Fold eggs into paste in a few additions while beating in slow speed.
- When the whole eggs are added, change speed to high and beat until paste becomes smooth and glossy.
- Fill paste into the piping bag fitted with a big star nozzle. For the swan’s body pipe a long teardrop shapes with the length approximately 6 cm. Allow space in between piping. Leave some choux paste for piping swan’s neck.
- Bake at 200C for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 180 degree Celsius and bake for another 5-10 minutes choux is cooked and golden brown. Choux will grow to the length of 8 cm.
- Meanwhile pipe swan’s neck by cutting the tip of the piping bag with a small hole. Pipe number 2 with a long neck and a short pull at the end to form the swan’s beak.
- Bake later at 180C until golden brown.
- Cool both.



3. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Crème patissiere > 1 recipe
- Melted chocolate > enough to draw swan’s eyes and beaks
- Icing sugar > just enough for dusting

Method:
- Draw eyes and beaks with melted chocolate on the swan’s neck pieces. Leave to set.
- Cut the teardrop choux into half horizontally. For the top piece, halve lengthwise to make wings.
- Fill crème patissiere into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe the lower piece to form the swan’s body. Attach the wings with the wing tips pointing upwards.
- Dust with icing sugar especially the wing area.
- Attach the neck piece to the body.
- Serve with chocolate sauce.