That's very hard to resist in getting some blueberries when it's on sale. I just love it so much. Without thinking about what to do with it and I buy it first. Then, I came out with this recipe which is a very rich, buttery yet flavourful pastry, that's sound quite naughty and yes I think I'm quite naughty recently as for some reason I've been good for some time :)
This is something that the 'English favorites' and also my Mr. favorite. His every bite will naturally came out with an "uhmmmm......" kind of yummy voice and make me feel so happy that I've made it real good, it's just a very encouraging kind of voice. I've control the sweetness of the entire pastry which is from the tart to fragipane as well as the crumble. The sweetness from the blueberry is very fresh and juicy. I find that all ingredients are just so friend to each other which the ground almond fragipane enhance the flavour and the crumble toppings give it a bonus texture. Smell good and taste good!
English would love to serve it warm with custard, cream or vanilla ice cream. I only have the mango ice cream which I made earlier so I serve it with a dollop of the leftover ice cream. Our stomach was stuffed after finished a portion as it's a real rich pastry!
Recipe:For the shortcrust pastry:
2 eggs
2 tbsp cold water
225g plain flour
20g sugar powder
110g butter, cold and diced
- Separate the eggs. Add 2 tbsp cold water to the egg yolks and stir with a fork. (You can use the egg whites for another dish or freeze them.)
- Place the flour and sugar powder into the bowl of a food processor, followed by the cold butter and the salt.
- Turn the processor on and pulse several times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add two-thirds of the egg yolk/water mixture and pulse again. If the mixture is still too dry, add the remaining egg and water mixture (you may not need to use all of it). Be careful not to overwork the pastry. Stop pulsing when the mixture has the consistency of chunky breadcrumbs.
- Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a smooth dough, but don't knead.
- Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 10-15 minutes. You can keep the pastry at this stage for 2-3 days if not using it immediately.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge. On a clean, floured work surface, roll it out with a floured rolling pin until it's slightly larger than the flan ring. Using the rolling pin, lift the pastry and lay it over the flan ring.
- With your fingers, lightly press the pastry into the sides of the ring. Run a rolling pin over the top of the ring and pull away the excess pastry at the edges. Using your fingers, gently press the pastry up to slightly build up the height of the pastry at the edges. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork. Place in the fridge to relax for about 30 minutes.
For the Fragipane:
142g ground almond
25g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g butter
90g caster sugar
In a food processor, blitz the whole almonds to a fine powder and put into a bowl. Then blitz the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add this to the almonds with the lightly beaten eggs and fold in until completely mixed and nice and smooth. Spread the batter on the ready pastry case then place in the fridge to firm up slightly.
For the Crumble:
55g ground almond
140g plain flour
85g polenta (not quick cook)
140g butter, diced and cold
90g brown sugar
splash of water
- Place the almonds, flour, polenta, butter and sugar in a food processor and pulse briefly several times, just to mix. The mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs.
- Tip out into a bowl and add a splash of water. Use a spoon to mix briefly - it should be quite clumpy.
To assemble the tart:
Place the blueberries on top of the ready pastry with fragipane then sprinkle over the crumble. You might not need to use all the crumble. Store them in a zip bag and place in the freezer for future use. Place the ready tart into the 180C preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes. Place it on a wire rack to cool down before unmold. Carefully unmold the tart. If you find the bottom is still soggy, put them back into the oven and bake until harden. Place a piece of aluminium foil to cover the top to avoid burning the crumble.
The tart could store in the fridge or room temperature. I store some leftover in the fridge then reheat in the oven at 150'C for about 10 minutes until it's slightly warm up. Serve with a dollop of ice cream, enjoy!
