Baking : Bake to Beat The Heat

Live Mint :Pamela Timms: Sat, Jun 01 2013. 01 29 PM IST

This is the time of year when some of my favourite baking ingredients—the plums, cherries, peaches and apricots from the mountains—are piled high in Delhi’s markets, practically begging to be turned into beautiful desserts.

Unfortunately the arrival of the soft fruits also coincides with the Capital’s highest summer temperatures, when even the thought of spending too much time in the kitchen can be exhausting. For the past week we’ve been watching the mercury hover around the 45 degrees Celsius mark and most of us have decided to eat salad until September. Not me, though.

It’s probably some kind of culinary version of Mad dogs and Englishmen…but in a funny way, I quite enjoy the challenge of cooking in hot weather.

I admit this recipe looks a bit daunting for any time of the year but in fact most of the stages can be broken down and done in advance. The crème pâtissière is easy to make (and once you’ve got the hang of it you’ll feel like a master patissier!). Then, once you’ve made the pastry shells, filling and syrup, you’ll have the means to produce beautiful summer patisserie on demand—the actual assembling and baking of the tartlets only takes a few minutes. The one concession I have made to the heat is buying ready-made puff pastry—a hot kitchen really is the enemy of good pastry. A good place to buy it is in shops that have an in-store bakery. I buy mine at Modern Bazaar in Delhi.

Using puff pastry for these tartlets gives them a more uneven appearance than those made with shortcrust pastry but the flavour and texture more than compensate for that. They are a blissful cross between a fine dessert tart and a Danish breakfast pastry. Which of course means you can eat them at any time of day.

If nothing else, baking these tartlets should distract you from the heat for an hour or so. 

Eating them definitely will.

Apricot and Ginger Tartlets

Makes 12 4-inch tartlets

Ingredients

For the ginger syrup

1 cup caster sugar

1 cup water

A finger-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely julienned

For the crème pâtissière

2 eggs

Half a vanilla pod, split in half lengthwise

100g caster sugar

3 tbsp custard powder

500ml full cream milk

1 tbsp (about 20g) soft unsalted butter

For the almond crème pâtissière

200g crème pâtissière (you won’t need all the mixture above)

100g ground almonds

100g caster sugar

20g all-purpose flour

100g soft butter

2 eggs

500g puff pastry

6 fresh apricots

Method

Bake to beat the heat

Get into the hot kitchen, and make use of the season’s soft fruits

• 
  

  First make the ginger syrup. Put the caster sugar and water into a small pan. Add the ginger and bring to boil. Let it bubble for a few minutes until the syrup has thickened slightly. Leave to cool. Photographs: Priyanka Parashar/Mint
• 
  

  Put some ice in a bowl, then set another bowl over it. Put a sieve over the top bowl.
• 
  

  Break the eggs into a bowl and scrape in the vanilla seeds.
• 
  

  Whisk with either a hand-held or free-standing mixer for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Slowly add the sugar and whisk on medium speed for a couple of minutes until it thickens.
• 
  

  Sieve in the custard powder and whisk for about 30 seconds. On the slowest speed, add the milk until completely combined.
• 
  

  Pour the mixture into a large, thick-bottomed pan and heat gently until it starts to simmer gently, stirring constantly with a hand whisk to stop the mixture from sticking.
• 
  

  Keep stirring and let the mixture bubble gently for 2-3 minutes until it is very thick, then pour it through the sieve over the ice bath and gently press it through. Whisk in the soft butter with the hand whisk.
• 
  

  Cover the crème pâtissière with a piece of plastic wrap touching the surface so that a skin doesn’t form. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour—the cream will keep for up to four days.
• 
  

  Sieve the ground almonds, sugar and flour into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk the butter until it’s very soft. Whisk in about one-fourth of the almond/sugar/flour mixture.
• 
  

  Whisk in one egg with another one-fourth of nut mixture, then add second egg with the rest of the nut mixture. Whisk in pastry cream until mixture is completely smooth. If not using immediately, cover the bowl with cling film.
• 
  

  Roll out the pastry thinly—about one-eighth of an inch.
• 
  

  Cut out circles five-and-a-half inch in diameter.
• 
  

  Carefully line each tartlet tin with a circle of pastry. Put the tins on a tray, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
• 
  

  Now bake the pastry shells blind. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cut out six circles of baking paper and place one on top of each pastry in the tins, then pour some dried lentils on to each paper (this stops the pastry puffing up).
• 
  

  Bake the pastry shells like this for 10-15 minutes until pastry is starting to brown. Take tray out and remove papers and lentils. Return pastry shells to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes until they’re golden brown. Leave on a rack to cool completely.
• 
  

  To assemble and bake the tartlets, preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and put the pastry shells on a baking tray. Cut the apricots in half and remove the stones. Cut each half into four slices.
• 
  

  Spoon or pipe about 2 tbsp of the almond pastry cream into each pastry shell. Arrange the apricot slices on top of the almond pastry cream.
• 
  

  Bake the tartlets for about 15 minutes until the cream is set and the pastry is nicely browned.
• 
  

  Remove from the oven, then, while the tartlets are still hot, gently brush some of the ginger syrup over the apricots, cream and top of the pastry.
• 
  

  Delicious, warm or at room temperature.

◀

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

▶

First make the ginger syrup. Put the caster sugar and water into a small pan. Add the ginger and bring to boil. Let it bubble for a few minutes until the syrup has thickened slightly. Leave to cool.

Make the crème pâtissière: Put some ice in a bowl, then set another bowl over it. Put a sieve over the top bowl. Break the eggs into a bowl and scrape in the vanilla seeds. Whisk with either a hand-held or free-standing mixer for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Slowly add the sugar and whisk on medium speed for a couple of minutes until it thickens. Sieve in the custard powder and whisk for about 30 seconds. On the slowest speed, add the milk until completely combined.

Pour the mixture into a large, thick-bottomed pan and heat gently until it starts to simmer gently, stirring constantly with a hand whisk to stop the mixture from sticking. Keep stirring and let the mixture bubble gently for 2-3 minutes until it is very thick, then pour it through the sieve over the ice bath and gently press it through. Whisk in the soft butter with the hand whisk.

Cover the crème pâtissière with a piece of plastic wrap touching the surface so that a skin doesn’t form. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour—the cream will keep for up to four days.

Make the almond crème pâtissière: Sieve the ground almonds, sugar and flour into a bowl. In another bowl, whisk the butter until it’s very soft. Whisk in about one-fourth of the almond/sugar/flour mixture. Whisk in one egg with another one-fourth of the nut mixture, then add the second egg with the rest of the nut mixture. Whisk in pastry cream until the mixture is completely smooth. If not using immediately, cover the bowl with cling film; you can refrigerate for up to four days.

Bake the pastry shells: Roll out the pastry thinly—about one-eighth of an inch—and cut out circles five-and-a-half inch in diameter. Carefully line each tartlet tin with a circle of pastry. Put the tins on a tray, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Now bake the pastry shells blind. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cut out six circles of baking paper and place one on top of each pastry in the tins, then pour some dried lentils on to each paper (this stops the pastry puffing up). Bake the pastry shells like this for 10-15 minutes until the pastry is starting to brown. Take the tray out and remove the papers and lentils. Return the pastry shells to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes until they’re golden brown. Take the pastry cases out of the tins and leave on a rack to cool completely. If not making the tartlets immediately, store in an air-tight container.

To assemble and bake the tartlets, preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and put the pastry shells on a baking tray. Cut the apricots in half and remove the stones. Cut each half into four slices. Spoon or pipe about 2 tbsp of the almond pastry cream into each pastry shell. Arrange the apricot slices on top of the almond pastry cream, then bake the tartlets for about 15 minutes until the cream is set and the pastry is nicely browned. Remove from the oven, then, while the tartlets are still hot, gently brush some of the ginger syrup over the apricots, cream and top of the pastry.

Delicious warm or at room temperature.

Pamela Timms is a Delhi-based journalist and food writer. 

She blogs at Eatanddust.com.