dessert recipes Arkiv - More Than Sweet

Chai custard tarts with blueberries

Sweet shortcrust

250g all purpose flour
135g butter
A pinch of grated nutmeg
90g sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Rub together the flour, butter and nutmeg until the texture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and whisk together the egg yolk and whole egg. Slowly add the eggs to the mixture and gently knead just until the pastry forms a ball. Wrap the pastry ball in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Roll out the dough until 2-3mm thickness and line six 10cm tart rings with the pastry. Return the tart shells to the refrigerator for 15 minutes, while you preheat the oven to 175C.

Prebake the tart shells until golden brown, remove from oven and turn the heat down to 120C.

Chai custard

500ml cream
1 Tbsp. chai spice
75g sugar
160g egg yolks
Pinch of salt

3 Tbsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. bitter cocoa

Bring the cream to a boil and dissolve the chai masala in the warm cream. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks and pour in the warm cream while whisking. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a jug and skim off any foam forming on top.

Pour the custard into the tart shells and sieve over a mixture of cinnamon and cocoa powder.

Bake the custard for 20 minutes, or until the custard is just set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature.

Blueberry gel

100g wild blueberry purée
20 gr sugar
25g water
1 tsp. lemon juice
1g agar agar
1/4 leaf gelatine

Soak the gelatine in cold water. Bring blueberry purée, sugar, water, lemon juice and agar to just below boiling. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and dissolve in the warm liquid. Fully set in the fridge and purée to a smooth gel. Transfer to a squeeze bottle.

To assemble and serve

Fresh blueberries
Fresh herbs (I used a mixture of orange marigold leaves, lemon verbena and lemon thyme)

Pipe dots of blueberry gel on the cooled tarts and place fresh blueberries on top. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve.

Olive oil gelato

700ml whole milk
65g skimmed milk powder
100g granulated sugar
40g liquid glucose
4g ice cream stabiliser
125ml fruity olive oil
A generous pinch of salt

Start by mixing the stabiliser with 15g sugar, then set the mixture aside. Add whole milk, skimmed milk powder, the remaining sugar and liquid glucose to a heavy-duty pot. Warm the mixture up to 40C, before whisking in stabiliser mixture and warming up to 84C while stirring continuously. Remove from heat and emulsify using an immersion blender until homogenous. Pour ice cream mixture into a lidded container and age in the fridge overnight. Aging the ice cream mixture will improve both texture and flavour of the ice cream. Next day add the olive oil to your ice cream mix and blend using an immersion blender. Season with a generous pinch of salt to your taste, then churn the ice cream mixture in an ice cream maker.

Transfer ice cream to a lidded container, then freeze for at least an hour. If frozen for longer, thaw the ice cream in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, before serving. The olive oil gelato is delicious with chocolate desserts, fresh fruit or on its own, I love it sprinkled with the olive oil crumble for a bit of crunch.

Note: If you don’t have an ice cream maker at home, you can still make a delicious ice cream. It just takes a little longer, and a bit more work on your part. Instead of churning in the machine, pour the mixture into a suitable container and freeze for 30 minutes. You then whisk the mixture with a hand mixer or whisk to break all the ice crystals that are forming. Repeat this process every 30 minutes for 2-3 hours, until the ice cream is smooth and without any ice crystals left. Freeze for at least an hour before serving.