Tarts and Pies Archives - Page 3 of 4

Triple Chocolate Tart with Sea Salt

by Kate | Jun 30, 2017 | 0 comments

My grandmother always told me to eat my beans, she never said I could have them in cocoa form! And just to be safe, I’ll have 3 kinds of ‘vegetables’, you know, for a balanced diet 😉 While you’d maybe think it’s strange to combine salt and chocolate – they are a match made in heaven. The sweet white chocolate, creamy milk chocolate and bitter dark chocolate combined with the sea salt is just sublime. And the best part? You get to go all Jackson Pollock on it afterwards!

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE TART WITH SEA SALT

Makes 1 large tart

Chocolate pastry

¼ cup The Kate Tin Cocoa Powder, plus extra for dusting

200g cake flour

125g butter, chilled and cubed

½ cup icing sugar

3 egg yolks

2 tbsp ice cold water

Filling

300ml cream

105g butter

100g each The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, Milk Baking Chocolate and White Baking Chocolate (300g in total), chopped, plus extra to decorate

Pinch of sea salt

Place the cocoa, flour, butter and icing sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Gradually add the egg yolks and just enough water to form a dough. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll the pastry out to 5mm thick and line a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin, allow the pastry to roughly hang over the sides (we’ll trim it later) and prick the base with a fork. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes then bake blind* at 180C for 15 minutes, remove the paper and weights and bake for another 10-15 minutes until crisp. Trim the pastry edges with a sharp knife and allow to cool. Place the dark, milk and white chocolate each into a medium bowl. Place the cream and butter in a saucepan and heat until just below boiling point. Pour 135g of cream/butter mixture into each type of chocolate and allow to stand for a few minutes to melt. Stir until smooth. Pour the dark chocolate into the pastry case and place in the fridge to set. Once firm, pour over the milk chocolate and set again before pouring over the white chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set completely. Decorate with extra chocolate, if desired and sprinkle with sea salt.

TIP *Baking blind refers to the process of placing baking paper inside the lined tart tin the filling the tart with baking beads, beans or rice to weigh it down and prevent the pastry from puffing up.

Cheat’s Milk Tart Custard Slices with Cinnamon

by Kate | Feb 25, 2017 | 12 comments

This is the best/only custard slice recipe you will ever need, people! Okay so it's kinda cheating - it's made with cream crackers and custard powder but darn does it taste good! And while I've given this version a milk tart twist for National Milk Tart Day (which by the way is on the 27 February) best believe it is equally delicious with the traditional tangy lemon glaze - so I've included a recipe for that too. I was given this recipe by my childhood best friend, Tammy - her mom used to send her to the farm I grew up on with a tin filled to the brim with these creamy slices every Friday after school. We'd sit in our treehouse (which we built ourselves - girl power!) and devour them, sharing them only with each other ('cos no trespasser's allowed!) and getting custard all over our hands - the best part about custard slices is the fact that they squish everywhere and it requires much licking of fingers to get every last bit of the creamy filling!

I must add that the recipe wasn't just given to me - it was carefully handwritten and lovingly placed into a folder along with all my other best friends' favourite recipes (all scribbled down on various coloured paper with different handwriting) for my 18th birthday. It is still one of my most treasured possessions - and the title of the cookbook? 'Katelyn's Favouriteistest Favourite Flop-Proof Recipe Cookbook - Made with love by all her friends' How awesome is that? Pretty awesome - almost as awesome as these custard slices!

Milk Tart Custard Slices

Makes 16-20

1 x 200g packet unsalted cream crackers

½ cup cake flour

100ml maizena or corn flour

20ml custard powder (or substitute with extra Maizena)

pinch of salt

100ml water

1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

3 eggs, separated

1 litre full cream milk

1 cup Natura Sugars Soft Brown Sugar

60g butter

For dusting:

1/4 cup Natura Sugars Demerara Icing Sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Line a 20 x 30cm cake tin with baking paper and arrange a layer of crackers on the bottom. Make a paste with the flour, cornflour, custard powder, salt, water, vanilla, egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the milk. Heat the remaining milk, vanilla, cinnamon stick, sugar and butter and add to the paste while whisking. Return to the pot and cook until the custard is thick, stirring continuously. Whip the egg whites until stiff then fold into the lukewarm custard. Pour the custard over the crackers and place another layer of crackers on top. Allow to set in the fridge until completely cool. Mix the icing sugar and cinnamon then dust the slices. Cut into slices and serve.

TIP To make the traditional lemon glaze (instead of the cinnamon topping), mix 1 cup demerara icing sugar and the juice of 1 lemon together with a little hot water to form a paste and drizzle over the tops of the custard slices.

Great Aunt May’s Family Milk Tart

by Kate | Feb 6, 2017 | 5 comments

It seems every nation has their own version of a custard tart - the Portuguese have pasteis de nata, the British have their vanilla custard tarts, Italians their 'torta di nonna' and our South African milk tart sort of falls somewhere in the middle with it's cinnamon topping. No matter what part of the world you're from, it seems we're all unanimously in love with the combination of a creamy egg custard and a crisp pastry base.

With heritage in mind, I knew there was only one place to go for a proper milk tart recipe in honour of National Milk Tart Day which is today! So I dug out my Great Aunt May's tattered recipe book (I've written about her before). There, right in the very front, was our family recipe for milk tart. There are no notes on where it came from, but I found the same recipe scribbled in the margins of my grandmothers book so I know it's a family favourite!

The pastry is an interesting one - it contains oil, which is a little odd for me, but ensures a ridiculously crumbly pastry. From her other recipes, I can tell Great Aunt May loved a good shortcut, and this one is no exception. This pastry? It doesn't need to be blind baked! Yes, you read correctly. Can I get a hallelujah on that?! 'Cos if you've ever had to fuss with beans and baking paper and all that nonsense, you'll be rejoicing with me now!

The filling is lusciously velvety with just the slightest quiver - I prefer my milk tart a bit softer than most so if you like yours more set, then just increase the cornstarch. This recipe also makes the sweetest little mini milk tarts - I made these using an old-fashioned madeleine tin which belonged to my grandmother. It seemed totally appropriate for the occasion.

My Family Milk Tart

Recipe by Great Aunty May

Makes 1 large tart or 24 small tartlets

No-fuss pastry

110g butter, softened

2 tbsp (30ml) castor sugar

2 tbsp (30ml) vegetable oil

1 egg

2 cups (500ml) cake flour

1 tsp (5ml) baking powder

pinch of salt

Filling

600ml milk

2 tbsp (30ml) cornstarch/cornflour

1 tbsp (15ml) cake flour

4 tbsp (60ml) sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for dusting

Cream the butter and castor sugar until light and fluffy. Add the oil and egg and beat well. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt to form a soft pastry. Press a thin layer of the pastry into a greased standard pie dish. Prick the bottom and bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool. For the filling, bring the milk to a boil (I added a cinnamon stick and bay leaf to mine). In the meantime, whisk together the cornstarch, flour, sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and cinnamon and a little of the milk to make a creamy paste. Pour the hot milk over the paste, whisking continuously then return to the heat and cook until thickened. Whisk the egg whites until stiff then whisk into the still-warm filling. Pour the mixture into the baked tart case and sprinkle with extra cinnamon.

Blueberry and Lavender Cheesecake

by Kate | Oct 12, 2016 | 2 comments

I’m not one to hold on to so-called ‘secret’ recipes but this one, I keep close. Well, until now. In fact I’ve been prolonging the day I’d share this recipe with anyone because it is just that good. It also required a lot of hard work to get it which is why I'm so precious about it. And we all know anything worth having is worth waiting for! I first made this recipe as a student chef in the restaurant I used to work for. The recipe was kept under lock and key and your grimy commis chef hands were only allowed to touch it after 6 months of working in the kitchen! So you can only imagine the skip in my step when I was finally permitted to make it - I promptly memorised the recipe, of course, just incase the honour was revoked!

In it's original form, it's a luscious, rich, silky, velvety baked cheesecake laced with white chocolate and a pinch of cardamom but without the spice, it can be whatever you want it to be. And for the Spring issue of Food & Home Entertaining Magazine, I wanted it to have bursts of blueberry and a gentle lingering of lavender. Holy moly is this a good combination! So now that I've shared the most secret recipe I have, you NEED to make this. Don't make me revoke the honour 😉

Blueberry, White Chocolate and Lavender Cheesecake

Serves 10-12 A LITTLE EFFORT 90 minutes

400g digestive biscuits

100g salted butter, melted

pinch of fresh lavender flowers

800g full cream cream cheese, room temperature

300g crème fraîche, room temperature

180g Natura Sugars Golden Caster Sugar

40g cake flour

4 large eggs

200g The Kate Tin White Chocolate, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of 2 lemons

pinch of lavender flowers, finely chopped, plus extra to decorate

250g frozen blueberries, plus extra for decorating

Preheat the oven to 120°C (or 100°C fan-forced) . Line the bottom of a 30cm springform cake tin with baking paper then grease the sides. Wrap the outside of the tin in foil to make it waterproof. Combine the biscuits, butter and lavender in a food processor and process until fine crumbs then press into the bottom of the lined tin. Place the cream cheese, crème friach, sugar, flour, eggs, white chocolate, vanilla, lemon zest, lavender and half the bluberries in a food processor and process until smooth then pour over the crust in the cake tin and sprinkle with the remaining blueberries. Place the cake tin on a folded tea towel (to stop it slipping) in a large roasting dish and fill with enough hot water until the water reaches halfway up the sides of the cake tin. Bake for about 1 hour or until the cheesecake is just set with a slight wobble in the middle (like set jelly). Allow to cool completely at room temperature in the bain marie then remove from the waterbath and refrigerate until set. To serve, unmould the cheesecake by running a knife dipped in hot water around the edges. Top with extra blueberries and lavender flowers.

TIP Lavender can be very powerful so use it sparingly for a gentle fragrance.

Cheat’s Chocolate Caramel Tarts

by Kate | Jun 24, 2016 | 0 comments

#SPONSORED

I’m all for cheat’s anything when it comes to eating - especially when it comes to cravings! The quicker I can get from the making part to the eating part, the better! A few weeks ago, I discovered a ground-breaking new way of making shortcrust tart cases. While I’m all for making pastry from scratch and resting, rolling and blind-baking, sometimes, you just want to eat more than you want to bake and that’s okay – which is why this recipe will change your life. Shortbread biscuits, people. The answer was there all along – duh! Simply crush up the biscuits with some butter, press them into the tart cases and bake for 10 minutes and hey, presto (as they say), you’ve got tart!

While I’m all for shortcuts, the one thing I don’t cut the corner on is proper caramel sauce – nothing from a bottle or ready-made can EVER replace a proper homemade caramel sauce. I like to use sugar with flavour AND sweetness, and while boring white sugar gives you the latter, my favourite unrefined, Natura Light Muscovado Sugar, gives you both – double whammy! And because just two layers of deliciousness is never enough, I’ve topped these tarts with dark chocolate (the good stuff) and a sprinkling of sea salt for some salty crunch. Cheating never tasted THIS good!

Cheat’s Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Tarts

Makes 4

200g (half a packet) shortbread biscuits (I used Eet Sum Mores)

1 tbsp melted butter

165g Natura Light Muscovado Sugar or Natura Soft Brown Sugar

¼ cup water

½ cup cream

25g butter

200g good-quality dark chocolate, melted (I use AFRIKOA 70% Dark Chocolate)

sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Grease 4 x small spring form tart tins. Place the shortbread biscuits in a food processor and pulse until very fine – almost powdery consistency. Add the butter and mix to form a consistency similar to wet sand. Use a teaspoon to press the biscuit crumbs into the prepared tart tins to form a pastry case then bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool thoroughly. To make the caramel, place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until the mixture reaches 140C on a thermometer or until soft crack stage – when a little caramel dropped into a cup of water forms a soft ball which gets hard after a minute. Add the cream and butter and swirl until combined. Remove from the heat and pour into the baked pastry cases. Allow to cool completely then spread with the melted chocolate. Sprinkle a few sea salt flakes on top and allow to set – if you can wait that long that is!

Disclaimer: This post has been created in collaboration with Natura Sugars, however, I only work with brands I think are awesome and that I actually use myself.

Granadilla Fridge Tart

by Kate | May 30, 2016 | 5 comments

Unless you've been living under a rock, by now you would've seen my dear friend Zola Nene's smiling face either on Expresso Morning Show or on every bookshelf in the country with her beautiful new cookbook, Simply Delicious. It's a collection of incredibly good-looking food interwoven with stories of her childhood and her food journey. One of the things I love most about Zola's food is how unpretentious it is - and this tart is a great example. Even though she is a trained chef, she has no airs and graces about using a packet of jelly mix, a tin of condensed milk and some crushed biscuits when it's needed - basically, she's one of us, guys! When I saw this recipe, I was immediately transported back to being a kid - my mom used to make a recipe just like this, but with pineapple instead of granadilla and I think we all have a version of this fridge tart somewhere in our childhood!

Even though Zola and I both grew up in George (which basically means George people are insanely cool btw), and went to the same high school AND chef school , we only became food soul mates 8 years ago when, thanks to a happy coincidence, we worked together at Top Billing and Expresso Morning Show. Zola is one of those people who is just incredibly fun to be around and her passion for food is infectious! Like me, she understands that cravings give life direction and together, there is nothing we wouldn't do to satisfy a demanding craving - we once walked what felt like 100km around Durban in search of a curry - I think we're both still recovering from that! Not to mention that we never got that craving satisfied! Whether we were doing cooking classes together, shooting inserts, braving deadlines or travelling across the country, there would always be lots of laughter, general silliness and always, always good food! Not-surprisingly, our catch-ups always revolve around eating - whether it's visiting a new restaurant, driving across town for a flaky pastry or having a heated debate about some new food trend, the one thing I can rely on is that Zola will ALWAYS order dessert with me and if that isn't yet another reason to love her then I don't know what is!

Granadilla Fridge Tart

Extracted from Simply Delicious by Zola Nene (Struik Lifestyle)

Serves 8

200 g coconut biscuits, crushed

100 g butter, melted

40 g granadilla jelly powder

250 ml boiling water

250 g cream cheese, at room temperature

385 g can condensed milk

pulp of 4 granadillas

Mix the crushed biscuits and butter, press into a 23-cm tart tin and refrigerate. Dissolve the jelly powder in the boiling water and set aside to cool. Combine the cream cheese and condensed milk in a bowl and then add the cooled jelly. Pour the mixture into the chilled tart base and allow to set in the fridge. Slice the tart and spoon some granadilla pulp over each helping.