Cardamon Creme Brulee Tarts with Roasted Rhubarb

This is the final post for rhubarb week and I have saved the best for last. I have actually had this recipe in my back pocket for at least a year actually, waiting for the right time of year to post. Rhubarb was a regular feature in my childhood, as a family we grew it in our garden and regularly had it for dessert after Sunday lunch. The main difference between then and now is that our homegrown variety was definitely not forced rhubarb, it was thick, green, stringy and so incredibly sharp, almost sour in flavour. Whilst this style of rhubarb was far from my favourite it was something my mum loved. When I made these tarts for her she begged me for the recipe, and because I am a terrible son, who is ridiculously forgetful, it took me a whole year to send her the recipe. I would like to think it is worth the wait but that is just my big head showing! 

Now lets talk about the tricky part of this recipe. The creme brûlée filling is made on the stovetop, slowly stirring a custard until thickened which is theoretically simpler than baking. But and it is big but mastering the finished texture is a little tricky to get spot on. I would actually suggest that rather than using a temperature you should use visual clues. You need to cook the custard slowly for about 10-15 minutes or until the whisk creates tracks in the custard. If you undercook the custard it wont set as firm and wont give you that fabulous set custard of a creme brûlée. 

Buckwheat Pastry
220g buckwheat flour
30g caster sugar
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1 large egg yolk

Cardamom Creme Brûlée
1/2 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1tsp ground cardamon
500ml double cream
6 large egg yolks
45g caster sugar, plus extra for brûlée topping

Roasted Rhubarb
1 batch roasted rhubarb (recipe here)
3 tbsp roughly chopped pistachios

To make the creme brûlée filling scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod and place into a bowl along with the cardamon, egg yolks and sugar, whisking together. Place the cream into a pan and bring to a simmer. Pour the cream onto the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and stir constantly with a whisk (dont whisk vigorously, just stir gently, regularly scraping the bottom of the bowl) for about 10-15 minutes or until the custard has thickened the mixture should be the texture of a thick pouring custard. Remove the bowl from the pan and press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate overnight.

To make the pastry place the flour, sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk to the processor and pulse to combine. Squeeze some of the mixture together and if it holds its shape it is ready but if it crumbles apart pulse in a little water, a teaspoon at time until the dough holds together (normally it takes about 1-2 tbsp to bring the pastry together). Tip the dough out onto the work surface and bring together with your hands, forming into a short, fat sausage shape. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least an hour before using.

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line a baking tray with parchment paper. 

To form the tart shells remove the pastry from the fridge and cut into six discs. Roll each disc of pastry between parchment paper until about 2-3mm thick. Gently drape the pastry into a 10cm loose bottomed fluted tartlet tin, pressing into the corners. Trim off the excess and place onto the baking tray. Repeat with the remaining pastry and refrigerate for an hour or until firm. Line the tart shells with a piece of crumpled parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove the parchment and the baking beans and bake the tarts for a further 5-10 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Once the pastry has cooled remove the creme brûlée filling from the fridge and divide between the tart shells. Top the tarts with a even layer of caster sugar and using a kitchen blowtorch caramelise the sugar. Place the tarts into the fridge for about an hour before serving (any longer and the crisp layer of sugar will start to melt). Preheat the oven to 190C (180C fan). 

Whilst the tarts are chilling roast the rhubarb as in this recipe here.

To serve top each tart with a few pieces of the rhubarb, with a little of the syrup, and a sprinkling of pistachios.

Berry and Passion Fruit Tart

First off let me apologise, mainly because this tart is a bit of a bugger to make. Difficult? Not especially, its just a bit fiddly and has the tendency to break at a crucial point (more on that later). Secondly it's not particularly seasonal. Normally I wouldn't post a recipe full of beautiful berries until they were in season but the idea for this recipe has been an itch I just had to scratch. Its a fairly standard fruit tart with one major difference, there is a big hole in the middle. It might only an aesthetic thing but I'm completely smitten with the way it looks, somehow both more elegant and refined than the normal round affair. The initial idea came from a picture of a Christophe Michalak recipe who had used the shape for a beautiful raspberry tart. I wish it was as easy as using a specially designed tart tin but I had to get a little bit more improvisational to make this, so more apologies if this is using equipment you don't have (I promise i'll get back to my usual approachable recipes next time, indulge me this once).

I guess it is appropriate that I am posting this today as on Monday I am escaping London, if only briefly, for a quick trip to Paris. A couple of days to wander the streets, indulge in a few (maybe a few too many) pastries and generally lose myself a bit. 

For my version of this tart I wanted a riot of colour and flavour so the custard is boosted by passion fruit and the berries are a jumble of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries and redcurrants with some pistachios to gild the lilly. 

That tricky part I mentioned? Well that happens to be the hole, well actually the wall of the tart around the middle. I find my sweet pastry recipe pretty resistant to shrinkage but even a little bit of shrinkage can be a pain in this recipe, if the tart shell shrinks as it bakes the middle can pull apart from the base and even break in half. In one of my tests of the recipe when it did shrink I found it could still be rescued (use beaten egg yolk as a glue to patch it back together, baking for a couple extra minutes until hardened) but bear this in mind when making and make sure to read the tips at the end of the recipe. 

Berry and Passion Fruit Tart
Sweet Pastry
200g plain flour
20g ground almonds
35g icing sugar
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1 large egg yolk
approx 1/2 tbsp ice cold water

Passion Fruit Pastry Cream
285ml whole milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 large egg yolks
1 large egg
135g caster sugar
35g cornflour
3 passion fruit
250g mixed berries (I used blackberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries and redcurrants)
pistachios, to garnish (optional)
 

To make the pastry place the flour, almonds, icing sugar and salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse in short bursts until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. In a small bowl mix together the egg yolks, water and vanilla, add to the food processor and pulse until the pastry just starts to come together. Dont mix until the dough forms a solid mass as this will overwork the pastry and make it tough and risk it shrinking more as it bakes. Tip the dough out onto the worksurface and use your hands to bring together into a uniform dough, forming into a disc and wrapping in clingfilm. Refrigerate the dough for about an hour before using.

To make the pastry cream place the milk into a medium sized saucepan and bring to the boil. In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, egg, sugar and cornflour. Pour over the milk and whisk together to combine. Pour the custard back into the pan and over medium/high heat cook until thickened, whisking constantly. Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl and set aside. Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop the flesh into a sieve set over the pastry cream, pushing on the seeds to release the juice. Discard the seeds and mix the juice into the pastry cream. Press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate until needed, at least an hour. 

Take the pastry from the fridge and cut off a small strip and set aside. Roll out the main pastry on a floured worksurface until about 2-3mm thick. Use to line a 9 inch tart ring, trimming off any excess. Use a 3 inch pastry ring to cut out a disc of pastry from the centre of the tart. Roll out the small strip of pastry until it is about 2-3mm thick and long enough to roll around the pastry ring. Trim the strip so it is the same height as the tart shell. Lightly brush the pastry ring with butter and attach the pastry strip to the ring and press into the hole in the middle of the tart shell. Place the tart shell into the fridge for 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line the tart with a crumpled piece of parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice (it is easier if the paper has a hole in the middle). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes then remove the parchment and the baking beans and bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before very carefully removing the pastry ring from the centre of the tart. Spread the chilled pastry cream into the tart shell and top with the berries (my preference is to cut the cherries in half but i'll leave that up to you). Finish with a light dusting of icing sugar and a few pistachios. 

Like most fruit tarts this is best served on the day it is made but if you cover with clingfilm and refrigerate it will be good for a couple days longer. 

Tips: This recipe will succeed on the quality of the pastry so to prevent it from shrinking there are two things to bear in mind. When adding the water be careful about adding the right amount. Water evaporates from pastry as it bakes and contributes to shrinkage, so adding too much can make it shrink further. Secondly be very careful not to overwork the pastry. The more you handle it the tougher it can end up and the more it will shrink. 

Mince Pies

It is finally December so I am letting the grinch have his happy ending and slowly getting into the festive spirit. I have been working on Christmas for probably half of this year, imagine pretending it is Christmas for photoshoots in the middle of summer, or writing recipes for Christmas leftovers when everyone else is sunning themselves on a beach somewhere. To some people that sounds like heaven but I like to keep the holidays special, celebrating Christmas even a day before December the 1st just seems wrong. This recipe might seem familiar to some of you, those who have been reading The Boy Who Bakes for years, because I first posted it way back in 2011, unfortunately when I moved my site over to the new design my hosting company deleted my entire blog and with it all the recipes So to make friends and influence people, here is that recipe.

No apologies but this recipe is not the most classic version mince pie, actually its basically the gilded lily of mince pies. Traditionally made with a simple shortcrust pastry I use a sweet pastry, rich with vanilla beans, and as buttery as can be. The filling might be a traditional mincemeat but lurking underneath that dried fruit is a little nugget of almond paste, which just makes a rich tart that bit richer, and trust me it’s delicious! My family have been making a version of these pies for years, since I was little, and in my eyes they're hard to beat. 

If you want to make a big batch of these, the great news is that they freeze wonderfully. Simply bake and cool fully before freezing on a parchment lined tray until solid, then bagging or boxing up (done this way they shouldn't freeze together as a block). Made at the start of the month you can have warm mince pies whenever you want through the christmas season.

Mince Pies
Makes 15-20

Filling
600g Mincemeat, shop bought or homemade
200g marzipan or almond paste, shop bought or homemade
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Sweet Pastry
1 vanilla pod
400g plain flour
35g ground almonds
75g icing sugar
pinch of salt
250g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
2 large egg yolks
approx. 1 tbsp ice cold water

To make the pastry cut the vanilla pod in half through the middle and scrape out the seeds. Add to the bowl of a food processor along with the flour, almonds, icing sugar and salt. Pulse a handful of times until everything is mixed evenly. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and the water and pulse briefly just to distribute, but stopping well before the dough comes together as a ball (the finished texture should be crumbly). Tip the dough out onto the work surface and use your hands to bring together into a uniform dough. Divide the dough into two batches, flatten into discs and wrap in clingfilm, refrigerating for at least an hour or until firm. 

Roll out a piece of the dough on a lightly floured worksurface, rolling to about 3mm thick. Use an 8cm round cookie cutter to cut out as many discs as you can, setting the trimmings aside. Use the pastry discs to carefully line the holes of two 12xhole bun trays. Repeat with the second piece of dough, cutting out 6cm lids. Briefly knead the scraps of dough back together and re-roll cutting out extra discs for more pies. Take the almond paste and roll into small balls, pressing into flat discs and pacing into the base of each pie. Fill each pie level with mincemeat, don't overfill as the pies have a tendency to leak and glue themselves to the tins if you do. Dip your finger in the egg and run around the edge of each mince pie and top with a lid, pressing gently together to seal. Use a knife or a fork to press a couple holes into the lids and finally brush the lids with the remaining egg. Chill the pies for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Once the pies are chilled bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is a golden brown. Allow to cool in the trays for 10 minutes before carefully lifting out and setting onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Kept in a sealed container these will keep for a week.

Notes: 
You can use homemade mincemeat if you like or even just improve a shop bought version. I like to add some diced stem ginger to shop bought mince meat just to make it a little extra special. 

This recipes use a traditional shallow bun tin, if you use a muffin tin your pastry bases will need to be a little bigger so you will make less, around 15. 

Blueberry and Blackberry Tarts with Lemon Verbena

There is something magical about the bounty of fruit that is available over the summer, I obsess about cherries and get over excited about strawberries, my eyes are just so much greedier than my stomach. I would enjoy nothing more than simply lazing away the summer, baking and eating my way around the greengrocers, making a mixed berry sorbet for this week's dinner party, a cherry pie for the BBQ or maybe a peach and vanilla jam to see me through the colder months. The reality is, at least this year, a little different. The lot of a food writer is to develop recipes in advance, Valentine's Day dishes in December and Christmas recipes in the middle of July, so whilst you are in the park enjoying a picnic I’m in the kitchen pretending it’s snowing, Christmas songs playing in the background to keep me company. Because of this I crave everything seasonal. I bought a bunch of flat peaches with the idea of making some fresh summery dessert, but instead they sat on the kitchen counter, patiently waiting, but ended up as the topping for my breakfast granola. Rainier cherries were dealt the same fate, I just didn’t have time. Sometimes though an idea pops into my head that itches away so much that it begs to be made. This tart sprung to mind after seeing an Instagram picture from Tartine Bakery of blackberry and blueberry tarts, they were so beautiful, so pretty that I had to try them. 

In my new flat I've decided to have a little windowsill garden, well attempt one at least, my track record with living things is sketchy at best, I can kill even the hardiest of herbs. So far the garden is on the small side, home to just a few herbs, amongst them my current favourite, lemon verbena. The flavour is almost like a lemon sherbet, not sharp like the citrus itself, but herbal and punchy in flavour, delicious infused into ice cream, or made into a syrup for cocktails (some might describe it as artificial or soapy but if used correctly and not compared with lemon itself I think it is absolutely beautiful). For this recipe I decided to infuse the flavour into a lightened pastry cream, a nice pairing for the sweet and sharp fruits that decorate the tart.

(Note: Turns out Tartine makes the same suggestion for using lemon verbena in the custard, they have a recipe in their first book for a blackberry and rose geranium tart and in the introduction they make a suggestion for a blueberry and lemon verbena tart, very similar to the ones I saw in the picture and effectively for what appears here.)

Blueberry and Blackberry Tarts with Lemon Verbena

Makes 8

Sweet Pastry 
200g plain flour
20g ground almonds
40g icing sugar
1/2 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
125g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
1 large egg yolk
approx. 2 tsp ice cold water

Filling
500ml whole milk
10 lemon verbena leaves
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
4 egg yolks
50g cornflour
300g blueberries
150g blackberries
Borage flowers (optional)
200ml double cream

To make the sweet pastry place the flour, almonds and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Scrape the beans from the vanilla pod and add to the food processor along with the butter (if using vanilla paste add this instead). Process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs then add the egg yolk and two tsp of ice cold water, pulse briefly until the mixture just starts to come together as a dough. Tip the mixture out onto the work surface and use your hands to bring together into a uniform dough, avoid overworking the dough and this will make the pastry tough and lead to it shrinking when it bakes. Form the dough into thick short sausage and wrap in clingfilm, refrigerating for a few hours before baking. 

To make the pastry cream place the milk, verbena leaves and half of the sugar into a saucepan and bring to the boil, remove from the heat and allow to infuse for about 20 minutes. Place the pan back on the heat and bring back to the boil. Meanwhile place the eggs, yolks, cornflour and the remaining sugar into a large bowl and whisk together until smooth. When the milk is at a boil pour through a fine sieve onto the egg mixture and whisk together to combine. Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium high heat, whisking constantly until the mixture is very thick. Immediately scrape the custard into a clean bowl and cover with a piece of clingfilm, pressing onto the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming, placing the bowl into the fridge until fully chilled. 

Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and cut into 6 slices. Roll each slice on a slightly floured work surface until about 3mm thick. Use the discs of pastry to line six 8cm wide tart tins (I use Matfer tart rings for a more professional look), trimming off the excess. Use the trimmings to repeat, using the pastry to line two further tart tins. Place the tarts shells onto a parchment lined baking tray and refrigerate for at least an hour or until firm.

When ready to bake and assemble preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and line each tart shell with a crumpled sheet of parchment paper, filling with baking beans or rice. Bake the tarts in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes before removing the parchment and beans and baking for a further 5-8 or so minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Allow to cool before filling. To finish remove the chilled pastry cream from the fridge and beat to loosen. Very lightly whisk the cream until it is thickened but not yet holding soft peaks and in three additions, fold into the pastry cream. To assemble fill each tart shell with the lightened pastry cream (also known as crème légère or crème diplomat ) and top with a mix of blackberries and blueberries, decorating with the borage flowers if using. 

These tarts are best served within a few hours of serving as the pastry will begin to soften, if you need them to last a little longer brush the inside of the tarts with beaten egg yolk as they come out of the oven and place back into the oven for a minute or so to dry, this helps create a seal that will keep the pastry crisp for longer.