Tarte croustillante aux abricots

Pâte à sablé Breton

This is a pastry that works so well left on its own and stamped out to make crumbly, buttery biscuits. In the Brittany region of France, it is made into a whole, simple cake or individual biscuits, glazed with egg yolk and scored with a criss-cross pattern. The pastry also marries successfully with other components, such as in the Tarte Croustillante aux Abricots.

70 g/5 tablespoons butter, softened
60 g/5 tablespoons sugar
1½  egg yolks
100 g/¾ cup plain/ all-purpose flour
a pinch of baking powder
a pinch of salt
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
finely grated zest of 1 orange

several ovenproof cookie cutters plus a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, or a deep, 18-cm/7-in tart pan

Makes enough to line a deep, 18-cm/7-in tart pan.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer or in a bowl with an electric whisk until pale – about 5 minutes.

With the whisk running, gradually add the egg yolks, mixing until fully incorporated.

Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, salt and citrus zest until fully incorporated. The dough will be very buttery and wet.

Bring the dough together into a ball with your hands. To roll it out, place it between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough until about 2-cm/¾ inch thick. Refrigerate overnight, still between the sheets of paper.

The next day, preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F) Gas 4.

If you are making biscuits, stamp out rounds from the chilled dough with the cookie cutters. Transfer each round, still in the cookie cutter, onto the prepared baking sheet. You need to cook the biscuits inside the cutters because the high butter content makes them spread during baking.

Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until they are wonderfully golden brown, coming away from the cutters and sinking ever so slightly in the middle.

Allow the biscuits to cool completely on the baking sheet and inside the cookie cutters.

Keep in an airtight container before using.

Crème pâtissière

This is without question the most luxurious cream on the planet! The basis of so many classic French pastries, this is rich, sweet, smooth and velvety – and simple to make too. My way of making it isn’t strictly traditional but it does ensure a thick, stable crème. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you can experiment with flavourings to adapt it to a particular cake.

1 vanilla bean
500 ml/2 cups milk
100 g/½ raw cane sugar
4 egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornflour/cornstarch
3 tablespoons custard powder/vanilla pudding mix (or additional cornflour/cornstarch)
2 tablespoons butter

Makes about 750 g/1½ lbs.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise using a small, sharp knife and scrape the seeds out into a large saucepan. Drop the bean in too and pour in the milk. Bring to the boil over low heat.

Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, egg yolks, cornflour/cornstarch and custard powder together with a balloon whisk until smooth and creamy.

Pour half the boiled milk into the mixing bowl containing the egg mixture and whisk together. Now pour the contents of the bowl into the saucepan where the remaining milk is. Fish out the vanilla bean with a slotted spoon.

Over low heat, whisk the mixture until it thickens and starts to bubble.

After 5 minutes, the heat will have cooked the cornflour/cornstarch and custard powder and become thick and rich.

Finally, add the butter and whisk it in until melted to further enrich the crème and make it extra glossy.

Transfer the crème pâtissière to a bowl and immediately place a sheet of clingfilm/plastic wrap over the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool completely before using.

VARIATIONS

Chocolate: replace the cornflour/cornstarch and custard powder with 3½ teaspoons cornflour/cornstarch, 3 tablespoons plain/all purpose flour and 3½ teaspoons cocoa powder. Follow the recipe as above, adding the cocoa powder at the same time as the cornflour/cornstarch. At the end, stir in 25 g/1 oz melted dark chocolate.

Mango and passionfruit: replace the milk with a mixture of mango and passionfruit purées, or a combined mango and passionfruit smoothie.

Praline: add 50 g/¼ cup praline paste (available online) to the milk.

Boozy: stir in 1 tablespoon rum or Grand Marnier at the end.

Apricot: first make an apricot purée. Put 225 g/1½ dried apricots, the juice of 2 lemons, 200 ml/¾ cup orange juice and 100 g/½ cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then transfer to a blender or food processor and process to a purée. Pass the purée through a sieve to make it extra smooth. To make the apricot crème pâtissière, replace half the milk with the same amount of apricot purée. Store any remaining purée in an airtight container in the fridge.

Crème diplomate

Sometimes crème pâtissière can be too thick or rich for a delicate dessert pastry, so this cream is perfect. It’s crème pâtissière carefully mixed with lightly whipped cream to give a still luxurious, velvety cream but that little bit fluffier.

250 ml/1 cup whipping cream
250 ml/1 cup double/heavy cream
500 g/2 cups storebought crème pâtissière, or 1 x quantity Crème Pâtissière (as above)

Makes about 1 kg/2 ¼ lbs.

Put the whipping cream and double/heavy cream in a stand mixer or use a mixing bowl and an electric whisk. Beat until soft, billowing peaks form.

Be careful not to over-whip it otherwise it will become thick and grainy and it will split when mixed in with the crème pâtissière.

Gently fold the whipped cream, in stages, into the crème pâtissière until smooth and irresistible.

Refrigerate until ready to use (or eat straight from the bowl!).

** BOOK GIVEAWAY **  [CLOSED] – WINNER: Mina S

We have 1 copy of Pâtisserie at Home to give away.

To ENTER THE DRAW TO WIN A COPY simply post a comment below. Anything will do. You can just say hello, if you like. Or you could share your best baking tip.

COMPETITION CLOSES ON 10 OCTOBER, 2013 at 11.59PM.