tartelette aux fraises

Strawberry season is in full swing,

one of my favorite time of the year!

About 5 years ago, I shared my tarte aux fraises,

well since then, I have learned some basic French pastry

at L'academie de cuisine,

and I have refined my technique for tarte.

Now I made tartelette (little tarte),

everything is better in single serving,

like cupcakes are better than cake!

Oh so pretty and tasty!

Here is my new version, with a better crust and a better creme patissiere.

First the "pate sucree"

8 oz of butter, room temp

4 oz of sugar

1/2 tsp of vanilla

1 egg

12 oz of flour (regular)

1/4 tsp of salt (I skip this as I only cook with salted butter)

Cream butter and sugar together, add vanilla then the egg.

Finally add the flour all at once mixing on low speed until just combined,

then work the dough on the counter until it is well mixed.

Divide the dough into 2 portions, about 1/2" thick round,

wrap them in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1h.

(it can be done the day before to save some time).

Roll the dough and put in the greased tart pan,

the refrigerate again.

Cut some parchment paper (coffee filter paper would work great for the small one)

and fill with some pie weights or rice/dry beans.

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, remove the weights and paper

and bake for another 5-10 minutes until golden brown color

Mine cooked a minute or 2 extra, but it was still really tasty!

For the "creme patissiere"

I used to make it with corn starch, but I think it tastes better with flour, just takes a little longer.

1 cup of milk (supposed to whole but only have 2% at home and it works just fine)

3 egg yolks

4 oz of sugar

1 oz of flour

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Heat the milk to simmer.

In separate bowl, whisk egg yolk and sugar, then add flour and salt.

Slowly add the simmering milk to the egg mixture.

Return the mixture ti the pot and cook it over medium heat, whisking constantly.

Bring to a boil. Still whisking continue to boil until 

the pastry cream is thick and shiny (about 5 minutes)

Remove from heat and add the vanilla.

Strain the hot cream into a clean container

and cover it immediately with plastic wrap to avoid forming a skin.

Refrigerate to chill.

When both the crust and the cream are cold,

it is time to assemble the pies.

To give the strawberries an extra juicy look,

I heated up some strawberry jam with a little water, stained it

and brushed it over the fruit.

I tried a few different ways to put the strawberries on the tartelettes.

And for the one who does not like strawberries,

it totally work with raspberries,

tartelette aux framboises for Brick Master.

We will be enjoying some this week end

for Mother's day.