“The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.”
Anatole France
I’ve never delayed a Daring Baker challenge this long before, and it gave me palpitations! Seriously, in my 3 years as DB, I’ve usually hit the ground running within the first week. This time around things just don’t seem to want to fall into place. My blog was throttling me, in addition to a million other things {you really don’t want to know, and life goes on!} Well, I completed the challenge a few hours ago , and happily so!
The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz.
I didn’t to the maple mousse as authentic maple syrup is very expensive here, and not easily available. The other bit of the challenge was the edible container. Heavens knows I had thoughts, many edible delicious thoughts, but summer in India is treacherous. With daytime highs already hitting 40C, melting mousses is more the call! My thoughts of sugar cookie boxes, cream rolls, spun sugar, chocolate coffee mugs with an espresso mousse, a pistachio meringue with lemon curd mousse all laid to rest! I liked Evelynes idea of nut bowls, and of course got mighty distracted.
I eventually googled my way and found Mollie Katzens Strawberry Meringue Tart with Walnut Shortbread Crust. It looked absolutely gorgeous and I had 2 boxes of strawberries on hand. I was fascinated by the beautiful meringue on top. Once I got the tart shells baking {walnut shortbread tart shells = edible containers!}, I put the berries to simmer… It was only half way through that I realised I was actually making a strawberry curd, very similar to a pastry cream. It did look deep pink and gorgeous once done, and I happily ladled it into my very delicate edible containers. One word of caution on the tart shells – they are very delicate {and very delicious too!}. Maybe the dough was overly soft as the weather is so warm here. I would probably add another 1/4 cup flour next time around, or would use this walnut shortcrust pastry dough that I used in these Dark Chocolate and Sour Orange Walnut Tartlets
. I happily spooned my very cheerful looking strawberry curd into the tart shells and offered a small taster to Mr PAB. He doesn’t mince his words unfortunately, and I hated him when he said it wasn’t the best. I could have strangled him as posting date was around the corner; he looked positively unhappy. He suggested it might taste better after chilling in the fridge for a bit, and I knew this wasn’t looking good! {He said it had a slight eggy flavour. For me, that is just doesn’t work at all!!}Turned the oven off, pushed the whites away; sadly there was going to be no meringue! Off to my beloved kitchen, mind working overtime, I began whipping cream. I would do a whipped strawberry curd cream filling, and all would be well with the world again! In went a dash of sugar {and vanilla bean powder to it as well}, and it was whipped it to medium stiff peaks. I then folded half the strawberry curd into it. I can say I felt much better, and one lick of the spatula told me that the sun was shining again!! Mr PAB gave this version a beamer!
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Strawberry Meringue Tart with Walnut Shortbread Crust
Course: Dessert | Serves: 6 |
CRUST
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling dough)
teaspoon salt
STRAWBERRY CURD
{1/2 quantity required for this recipe}
3 small eggs yolks
400gms strawberries, sliced
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/8 cup cornstarch or arrowroot
1/2 cup sugar {might require more if strawberries are tart}
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lime
1/3 cup fresh lime juice {3-4 limes}
200ml low fat cream, chilled
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla powder {optional}
Instructions:
For the crust:
Preheat oven to 190C.
Place walnuts plus 2 tablespoons sugar in food processor; process to powder with series of bursts. Add remaining sugar and butter; process 3 minutes more. Add flour and salt; process just until dough holds together.
Press dough into flattened disc {if dough is too soft, chill for 20 minutes in refrigerator}.
Gently press dough into six 3-inch loose bottomed tart pans, or a 9-inch tart pan with removable base; press dough down and ease dough into corners and up sides. Prick dough all over with fork. {Use extra dough to make sides thicker.)
Place sheet of parchment or foil in crust; weigh it down with pie weights or dried beans, and bake in lower third of oven 15 minutes. Remove parchment or foil and pie weights; continue baking crust until deep golden all over {10 to 12 minutes longer}. Cool completely before filling.
For the strawberry curd:
Place strawberries in medium-size saucepan. Without adding any liquid, cover and cook 5 to 8 minutes over medium heat until soup-like {watch carefully so not to stick or burn}; set aside.
Meanwhile, in larger saucepan, combine cornstarch or arrowroot, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and lemon zest. Stir in lime juice, whisking until uniform.
Whisk egg yolks with scraped vanilla bean until smooth, then drizzle yolks into cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly. Continue beating mixture and slowly pour in hot strawberries and their liquid.
Place saucepan over medium heat; bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly {but not too fast} with wooden spoon until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool, about 30 minutes.
Assemble:
Whisk cream with sugar and vanilla powder to medium stiff peaks. Fold in the strawberry curd {just half the above quantity, reserve rest for later, else make 1/2 quantity} gently with a spatula.
Spoon into tart shells, and chill for about 2 hours before serving.
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