I LOVE berries!
Berries can always be used for simple decoration and are common in a lot of fillings. I also like to use berries when I make my icing for cakes. However, there is no other way to enjoy fresh berries in extraordinary way than a fruit tart! You have to make a tart shell and pastry cream, but they are not that hard!

Do you have fresh berries in your refrigerator? How about making an individual fresh berry tart with me?

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Pastry brush

Ingredients for Fruit Tart

Baked tart shell (Click here for the recipe)

Pastry cream (Click here for the recipe)
Desired chocolate (I always prefer dark chocolate.)
Fresh berries (washed and dried)

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Glaze

1. Usually, apricot jam is often used for making glaze (I haven’t look up why yet.) But, any kind of jams will work for glaze. Since I am making fresh berries tarts, I picked a raspberry jam to make my glaze. Boil the jam in a sauce pan and pour over a strainer.
2. Use a wooden spoon and separate seeds and any chunks from boiled jam.

Coating & Filling

3. Melt the chocolate you picked and brush the tart shells (the bottom and side) with the melted chocolate. This step helps you to prevent tart shells becoming soggy and it also upgrades the taste! =]
4. Spread the pastry cream in the tart shells in an even layer.

Arranging Berries & Finishing

5. Arrange the berries over the surface of the pastry cream. Make sure that you try to fill the entire tart shell as the pastry cream is invisible.
6. To coat berries, lightly brush with the raspberry glaze that we prepared earlier. This
gives a shinny delicious look.

Garnish with fresh mint and serve or eat within 12 hours!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Do not put components together more than 12 hours before you serve. Although we brushed the shell with melted chocolate to keep it from becoming soggy, the shell won’t be as crispy and the fruit won’t be fresh anymore.
2. Store in a refrigerator. Remember, they are fresh fruits! =]

Love the color of berries and mint!

This is a basic pastry cream that you can use for various sweets such as tarts, cream puffs, eclairs, etc.

Once you’ve mastered the basic pastry cream, you can infuse it with other ingredients like vanilla bean, lavender, green tea and so on. I’ve tried several different pasty cream recipes, but I personally think this one is the best so far.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Ingredients for Pastry Cream – Makes about 2 cups

1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar (divided use)
2 cups whole milk (divided use)
4 large egg yolks
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Egg Mixture

1. Combine the cornstarch with the sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Lightly beat 4 egg yolks. (Vanilla extract is in the picture, but you don’t need it yet,
my bad…=])

3. Pour 1/2 cup of the milk and stir well with a whisk.
4. Blend the lightly beaten yolks into the cornstarch and sugar mixture.
5. Stir with a wooden spoon until it is completely smooth.

Making the Milk Mixture

6. In a stainless steel sauce pan or pot, combine the remaining 1 ½ cups milk and a pinch salt. Bring to a simmer (do not boil) and remove the pan from the heat.

Tempering

7. To temper, you can gradually add about one-third of the milk mixture at the time, but I like to drizzle the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture little by litte while I’m whisking, just in case. Don’t forget to whisk constantly!

Cooking the Pastry Cream

8. Return the mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking over low-medium heat, vigorously stir with a whisk until the mixture comes to a boil and the whisk leaves a trail in the pastry cream. (It is hard to see a trail in the photo, but that’s the consistency that you want to have.) It will take a little while to come to a boil – about 5 minutes

9. Remove the pan from the heat as soon as you reach that consistency (if you leave on a stove too long, it won’t be soft and creamy pasty cream), and add the vanilla extract and the butter. Stir well until they are well blended.
10. Prepare an ice bath (water + ice), and transfer the pan to the ice bath. Cover the pastry cream surface with plastic wrap and stir occasionally, until the pastry cream is cool – about 15 minutes.

Store up to 3~4 days in a refrigerator

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Do not cook the pastry cream on high heat. You will end up with a lot of crumbs in your pastry
cream. To get smooth pastry cream, be patient and cook it on low to medium heat. It will take its sweet time, but it is the only way to get a smooth pastry cream. =]
2. I also like the pasty cream with vanilla bean. I will make that one another day.

Some people use ‘Pate Sucree,’ also known as sugar dough for tart shell.
Some people use short dough for their tart shell.
This recipe is a short dough recipe that you can easily make.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

4-inch individual tart pans
Stand mixer
Rolling pin

Ingredients for Tart Dough – Makes 6 4-inch shell

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted,

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Tart Dough

1. In a stand mixer (A hand mixer will work fine as well.) attach the paddle attachment, and add the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract.
2. Mix them on medium speed until you reach the cream stage. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula while mixing. Always!
3. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth about 1 or 2 minutes.
4. Add the cake flour all at once, and mix on low speed until just blended.

Chilling the Dough

5. The dough will be very crumbly as you see on the photo. Just gently press the dough into a disk with your hand. Be careful not to knead the dough as it can become tough.
6. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 to 30 minutes.

If you’re making a fruit tart, this will the perfect time for you to make your pastry cream.

Rolling out the Dough: Preheat the oven to 400 F before you start rolling out.

7. Since I am making 6 small tart shells, divide dough into 6 equal disks.
8. Flour the work surface, scatter a little flour over the top of the dough, and roll it out
into even rounds about 2 inches larger in diameter than your tart pan.
Preheat the oven to 400 F before you start rolling out.

Transferring & Forming

9. To transfer the dough to the tart pan, fold it loosely around the rolling pin, and gently lift and position it over the pan. (No need to grease the pan – tart shells will come out
easily.
10. Gently press down to the inner edge and trip the dough by using your fingertips to press the dough against the sides and bottom of the pan.

Blind Baking

11. Poke holes in the bottom and sides of the dough by using a fork. This will help the dough from puffing up as it bakes.
12. Line with parchment paper or aluminum foil in circle shape.
13. Add enough pie weights (Like most of people, I do not have this special tools, so I used dry beans. Dry beans or rice works just as well.)
14. About 8 – 10 minutes until the dough is just set and the edges look dry. (I think I over baked a little bit, but it was totally fine – I love crispy tart shell!)

Cooling

15. Remove the pan from the oven and remove dry beans.
16. Remove parchment papers.
17. Just push up the bottom of tart pan and you can get the shell out easily.
18. Cool them on the wire rack.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Do not skip the step of chilling the tart dough or you may have a difficult time rolling it out.
2. To patch a hole while you are transferring the dough, gently fill the hole with a small piece from the outer edge and a little bit of water.
3. I personally don’t prefer to freeze doughs or cakes. However, you can freeze tart dough up to 2 months for your convenience. Just defrost it in a refrigerator over night before you form and bake it.

I always have dreamed about making (or molding) my own chocolate, but never did because of ‘tempering.’ In order to get a hardened chocolate that is shiny and smooth, ‘tempering’ must be done properly. I never had a candy thermometer, so I didn’t think about molding my own chocolate.

But, I found out that there is a way to mold my own chocolate without tempering. So, I decided to do this for a fun Valentine’s day post! There are products that are already tempered, so all I have to do is melt and mold them! Look for candy melts by Wilton at a craft store like Joann or Michael’s. You can also find different shapes of candy molds at the store. So, here we go.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Candy molds
Pastry bags
Decorating tips (#1 or #2)

Ingredients

Candy Melts – Dark & White
Food Coloring (Get type)
Nuts (If you desire)

HOW TO MAKE

Melting & Coloring Chocolates

1. Place dark candy melts in a double boiler and melt them in a low-medium heat.
2. Place white candy melts in a double boiler and melt them in a low-medium heat.
3. Add desired food coloring in white candy melts(I used rose pedals) and mix well.
4. Put candy melts in pastry bags with tip # 1 or 2 (very small circle shape).

Designing & Molding

5. Draw lines, dots, or letters as you want and put them in a refrigerator for 5 minutes. (So, the design remains as we want when we fill out molds.)

6. Fill out molds with opposite color, so you can see your design well. Drop the mold lightly for a couple of times to get the air out and smooth the surface with a spatula or a back or knife. Put them in a refrigerator about 30 to 60 minutes or until they get hard.

7. Fill out lolly pop mold and place lolly pop sticks by spinning the stick. Put them in a refrigerator about 30 to 60 minutes or until they get hard.

* To take the chocolates out from a mold, flip the mold – upside down and drop it on a parchment or wax paper. They should come out easily by tapping or dropping.

Custom designed chocolates!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Give enough time to harden chocolates before you take them out of molds. Otherwise, the surface won’t be shinny as they suppose to be.
2. If you made mistakes while molding or melted chocolate was getting hard, just put them in a double boiler and melt them again. The best part of using ‘candy melts’ is that you don’t have to worry about tempering!

Chocolate Lollipops…Ummmm….=]

TASTE REVIEW

I was so amazed by the taste of ‘candy melts.’ I always hesitated to buy them because I wasn’t sure about their quality, but it was very good. Plus, no tempering process makes it so much easier!
Also, chocolate covered nuts were also fantastic – I love any chocolate covered nuts!!!!

I tossed nuts (macadamia nuts & almond) in leftover candy melts and drizzle with white chocolate.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
It’s always good to bake and make something for my loved ones.

Valentine’s Day is coming soon.
I think one of the best ways to express your love is baking these sugar cookies and decorating them with royal icing. Royal icing is good for decorating cookies with because it has good hardness to it. However, personally, I’m not a big fan of royal icing because I don’t like raw egg whites in my icing. =]

I’m trying to find an alternative icing which is easy to work with and tastes good, but for now, I use royal icing to decorate my sugar cookies. I made my icing by combining meringue powder + lemon juice + powdered sugar until I got the consistency that I needed, which is stiff but soft. So, you’ll need to play with the ratios until you’re happy with the icing.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Equipment

Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Piping bag & Decorating tips

Ingredients for Sugar Cookie Dough – Makes 3 dozen (2 1/2 inch) cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Ingredients for Royal Icing

1 tablespoon meringue powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus extra

HOW TO MAKE

Making Sugar Cookie Dough: Sorry, I forgot to take pictures! =(

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.
3. Add egg and milk and beat to combine.
4. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
5. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Rolling & Cutting Dough: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Sprinkle surface (I usually use a wooden cutting board.) with powdered sugar and top of the dough, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick.
2. Cut into desired shape (Of course, heart for Valentine’s Day) by using cookie cutters.
3. Grease your baking sheet with butter or place parchment paper on a baking sheet, and
place cookies. Bake about 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn light brown around the edges.
4. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Decorating Cookies

5. Mix all the ingredients for royal icing by using a small whisk. Then, pipe a outer line with thick royal icing.
6. Then, add more water or lemon juice to royal icing to adjust its consistency and fill out the line.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. If you are using butter to grease baking sheet, make sure that you really grease it well. There were parts that was not greased well, and cookies got ugly when I tried to take them off.
2. I have found three different royal icing recipes that use water, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Which one is the best? I think it just depends on your preference!
3. When you decorate cookies, use the smallest tip (usually #1 or #2). This might seem too small, but it is the right size to write letters and draw as you want.

You can either fill out the top of cookies with royal icing, draw lines and heart, or write a note.

TASTE REVIEW

I didn’t like the icing – I think it’s just me, don’t like royal icing.
However, everyone loved these cookies!
My friends loved the lemon taste of icing although I thought there was too much lemon juice in it.

Sprinkling decorating sugar before the icing gets hard gives another look.

Show your love with your homemade cookies!

Happy Valentine’s Day!