The Baking Bible: French Orange Cream Tart
Looking at the recipe, it seems really daunting to bake this custard tart. There's pages and pages of instructions, but really all the steps are pretty easy. And the results are really very delicious.
The cookie tart crust is pretty easy to make. There's an option to make it by hand or in the food processor. With the food processor, turbinado sugar is ground until fine and then the dough is made. By hand, the turbinado crystals are too big so you're supposed to use superfine white sugar. "Screw that," I declared and decided to use Golden Baker's sugar. The caramelly notes the turbinado brings are not to be missed. Then I remembered I have a magic bullet, so screw the golden baker's sugar and I used the bullet to grind the turbinado sugar to what turned out to be a fine powder. Take that, food processor!
The rest of the crust came together in minutes. Rose mentions there should be enough dough left over from rolling and fitting into the tart pan to make 6 hamantaschen, but "screw that" I declared yet again and made one giant sugar cookie. Mark and I split the cookie and ate it with ice cream.
The big deal about the custard is the myriad number of egg yolks it requires. Other than that, it is really simple and quick to assemble. Orange and lemon zest are ground fine with white sugar, technically in the food processor. And you guessed it, I said "screw that" and used the magic bullet. It worked in less than a minute. I love that thing. Then the yolks are beat with the sugary zest mixture in the mixer, the concentrated juices and cream are mixed in and then you're done. The liquidy custard mix gets poured into the prebaked tart shell and baked until the custard is set.
Mark and I sampled the tart this afternoon. Ideally, powdered sugar is bruleed atop the tart with a torch before serving, but I couldn't find either of my torches. So I just heavily dusted the top and called it ready to eat. Mark loved it. I felt that maybe the custard was just a wee bit underdone, and a wee bit too eggy for my taste. The former is probably the reason for the latter, but I also recall the tart had warmed up to room temperature by then. Would it be better chilled? We are going to try it chilled in a bit and see.
UPDATE: SO much better when eaten chilled! The texture becomes perfectly creamy and there's no eggy flavor ruining everything. Eat your tart right from the refrigerator!
The cookie tart crust is pretty easy to make. There's an option to make it by hand or in the food processor. With the food processor, turbinado sugar is ground until fine and then the dough is made. By hand, the turbinado crystals are too big so you're supposed to use superfine white sugar. "Screw that," I declared and decided to use Golden Baker's sugar. The caramelly notes the turbinado brings are not to be missed. Then I remembered I have a magic bullet, so screw the golden baker's sugar and I used the bullet to grind the turbinado sugar to what turned out to be a fine powder. Take that, food processor!
The rest of the crust came together in minutes. Rose mentions there should be enough dough left over from rolling and fitting into the tart pan to make 6 hamantaschen, but "screw that" I declared yet again and made one giant sugar cookie. Mark and I split the cookie and ate it with ice cream.
The big deal about the custard is the myriad number of egg yolks it requires. Other than that, it is really simple and quick to assemble. Orange and lemon zest are ground fine with white sugar, technically in the food processor. And you guessed it, I said "screw that" and used the magic bullet. It worked in less than a minute. I love that thing. Then the yolks are beat with the sugary zest mixture in the mixer, the concentrated juices and cream are mixed in and then you're done. The liquidy custard mix gets poured into the prebaked tart shell and baked until the custard is set.
Mark and I sampled the tart this afternoon. Ideally, powdered sugar is bruleed atop the tart with a torch before serving, but I couldn't find either of my torches. So I just heavily dusted the top and called it ready to eat. Mark loved it. I felt that maybe the custard was just a wee bit underdone, and a wee bit too eggy for my taste. The former is probably the reason for the latter, but I also recall the tart had warmed up to room temperature by then. Would it be better chilled? We are going to try it chilled in a bit and see.
UPDATE: SO much better when eaten chilled! The texture becomes perfectly creamy and there's no eggy flavor ruining everything. Eat your tart right from the refrigerator!
Looks so pretty with all the powdered sugar on top. :) You didn't take photo of that huge cookie?
ReplyDeleteJust gorgeous! I love the look of the powdered sugar. You pose an interesting question if there's a difference in flavor between room temperature and chilled. We ate all our slices chilled so I have no idea. Magic bullets are clever little things, aren't they?!
ReplyDeleteYou know what, my food processor is so old I cannot even buy a new blade for it. So I've been thinking about getting a new one, but screw that! Maybe I should get myself a magic bullet! You've really talked me into it! Back to the tart, I had the same experience as you and I too thought it was completely delicious. One of my favourites to date.
ReplyDeleteYour tart is nice and tall and beautiful! I love your "screw that" moments...thanks for your candour! Learning lots here.
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up! Love that you used your magic bullet to blitz the filling.... wish I would have thought of that. I bet yours turned out less gritty than mine did. If you get a chance, I finally posted my tart and would love if you stopped by.
ReplyDeletePatricia @ ButterYum
http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2015/6/3/tbb-french-orange-cream-tart