Mini raspberry tarts

If you’ve ever wanted to make those little tarts that you see at the best patisseries, which look as though they’re studded with jewels, then Guillaume Brahimi's recipe is for you – perfect mouthfuls of delicious custard cream and fresh raspberries.

• makes

  24

• prep

  40 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Mid

Ingredients

Sweet shortcrust pastry

• 150 g unsalted butter at room temperature, diced
• 80 g icing sugar
• 35 g almond meal
• 1 egg
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
• 250 g (1⅔ cups) plain flour

 

Crème pâtissière

• 125 ml milk
• ½ vanilla pod, seeds scraped  
• 2 egg yolks
• 1½ tbsp white sugar
• 2 tsp plain flour, sifted
• 1 tsp cornflour, sifted

 

To serve

• 125 ml cream
• 2 x 150 g punnets raspberries
• icing sugar, to dust (optional)

Chilling time 50 minutes

Instructions

Combine the butter, icing sugar and almond meal in a large bowl and mix with your fingers until well combined. Add the egg, vanilla seeds and flour and mix to a dough. Press into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes and as long as overnight. 

Butter 24 mini tart tins of about 4 cm diameter. Roll the pastry out to 5 mm thick on a lightly floured work surface. Use an upside-down tart tin to cut out 24 circles of pastry. Lay the circles in the tins and press gently to extend the pastry up the sides of the tins. Place the tarts on a tray and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes while you make the crème pâtissière.

Combine the milk and scraped vanilla pod and seeds in a medium saucepan and heat gently until hot. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until pale. Add the flours and whisk well. Gradually pour over the hot milk, whisking all the time, then return the mixture to the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly for 5 minutes, or until thick. Remove from the heat and push the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl to remove the vanilla pod and any lumps. Make sure you scrape all the vanilla seeds from the bottom of the sieve back into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Bake the tart shells for 10 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold it into the cold crème pâtissière.  Spoon or pipe the crème into the cooled pastry shells. Top the tarts with a generous amount of raspberries sitting upside-down in the crème. Dust with icing sugar if desired.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.