Tarts for Easter!

I love Easter. Why? It's my excuse to host brunch and start drinking first thing Sunday morning. :) I purchased a French pastry cookbook from a great second-hand bookstore in Dupont called, Second Story. I've been itching for an excuse to experiment with it - the first selection, Daisy Tarts for Easter!

Tarts and Tulips

The recipe came from the book The Roux Brothers on Patisserie. I'd been looking for a french pastry book for a while. This one has some mouth-watering pictures, instructional pictures and so is well written that I've been reading it like a storybook!

Daisy Tarts:

I used frozen puff pastry dough for the base (yup, I cheated) and rolled it out really thin on a floured surface. Then I googled daisy shapes and printed one off the web. I edited the shape a bit, cut it out and then traced the paper on the dough with a knife. Careful when you take away the scrap dough, the daisy shape can be pulled out of shape very easily.

tracing the tart base

The sides of the tart are built up with Choux Paste. I used the recipe in the book, but I think next time I'll just use the same recipe I used for the cream puffs.

Trace the edges that you'll build up with the choux paste with egg wash. The Patisserie book suggested 1 egg white and 1 tbsp of milk for egg wash. Fill a pastry bag (with a wide tip) with the Choux paste and trace the outside of the daisy tart and the sections. I made some mini tarts too. Here's a pic of this stage. Don't forget to fork the puff pastry so it doesn't puff up!

Then bake at 350 degrees check after 15 minutes, could bake for another 10 minutes or so depending on the size. The oven in my apt runs a bit hot so I might suggest 375 degrees - check the puff pastry box for recommendations.

The recipe calls for filling them with Chantilly Cream. It sounds so delightful but it seems to be just french for whipped cream. The book gives two ways to make it. I made it the traditional whipped cream way but maybe I'll try the other way with sherbert syrup to see if that's any different.

Chantilly Cream
1 cup whipped cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cap full of vanilla extract
Whip ingredients together until you can make peaks in the bowl.

I also liked the idea of cream cheese filling so I made this recipe up.
Cream Cheese Filling
4 oz of cream cheese (half the package)
1/4 cup whipping cream (approximately, add until right consistency)
2 tbsps of powdered sugar (approximately, add until slightly sweetened)
Whip the ingredients until you have a creamy mix and fill in a pastry bag. This recipe makes enough for one daisy tart. The final step is to fill the tart shells with cream and put sliced fresh fruit in the sections!

the minis!

Note: I made the shells the night before and made the cream and fruit the same day. I had some leftovers the day after easter, they still tasted good but same day was better.

Easter brunch was lovely. We had mimosas, tarts, hashbrowns, candian bacon, croissants (not homemade), more fruit and a yummy vegan cramalized onion quiche that Kate made.

the easter spread!