More Than Sweet

pastry chef

Chocolate tart with plum & rose

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CHOCOLATE TART WITH ROASTED PLUM COMPOTE & TOASTED ROSE PETALS
PATE SUCRÉE

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

ALMOND FRANGIPANE

50g butter at room temperature
50g sugar 
1 medium egg at room temperature (about 50g) 
65g almond flour 
Generous pinch of salt 

SLOW ROASTED PLUM COMPOTE

500g fresh or frozen plums, halved, pits removed 
100g sugar 

THE PLUM, I SUPPOSE GANACHE FILLING

180g fruity 70% dark chocolate (I used Xoco Gourmet‘s Mayan Red)
200g heavy cream 
2 Tbsp. Empirical Spirits “The plum, I suppose” (substitute with Slivovitz, plum or sloe gin)
Pinch of salt

Dried rose petals

Slow roasted plum compote: Preheat the oven to 140C. Mix the plums with the sugar and place in a single layer an ovenproof dish and bake for 1,5 hours until the plums are tender and starting to caramelise. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Tart shells: Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and prebake the tart shells for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Almond frangipane: Beat the butter and sugar together until light and airy, add the egg and beat until combined. Stir in the almond flour and salt and spread a thin layer of frangipane into the cooled tart shells.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the frangipane is golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Chocolate ganache: Finely chop the chocolate and add to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until it is very hot, but not boiling, and pour over the chocolate. Leave for a minute or two, then slowly stir from the center out to emulsify. Add the spirit and season to taste with a pinch of salt.

To assemble: Add a thin layer of plum compote on top of the frangipane and pour over the chocolate ganache. Leave to set.

Toast the rose petals on a hot pan until fragrant, then crush and sprinkle over the set chocolate ganache.

Pear tart with Pastis and bergamot

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Pear tart with pastis and bergamot
Pear tart with Pastis and bergamot

Makes 6 tarts

Pate Sucrée

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Hazelnut sponge

60g hazelnuts
50g + 25g cane sugar
20g egg yolk
75g egg whites
50g butter, melted
35g all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 generous pinch of salt 

Bergamot olive oil ganache

160g citrusy, fruity dark chocolate, chopped
20g glucose syrup  
75ml heavy cream
100ml bergamot olive oil (I recommend this)
Pinch of salt 

Pastis poached pear

4 ripe, but firm pears
500ml water
125ml Pastis
125g sugar

Tart shells: Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

Hazelnut sponge: Preheat oven to 175C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Toast the hazelnuts until golden brown, about 15 minutes, and leave to cool before grinding to nut flour.

Mix together the hazelnut flour, 50g of cane sugar and egg yolk in a bowl and whisk in the melted butter. 

Sieve together flour, baking powder and salt and mix into the batter. Whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g of sugar to soft peaks and fold into the batter until the batter falls from the spatula. 

Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out to about 1cm thickness. Bake for 5-6 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack. Cut out 6 rounds of cake that fit inside the cooled tart shells.

Bergamot olive oil ganache: Add the chopped chocolate to a heat proof bowl. Bring cream and glucose to a boil over medium heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir with a spatula in the centre until the chocolate is melted, and continue to stir while slowly drizzling in the olive oil. If mixture begins to split, emulsify using an immersion blender. Season with salt to taste. Pour the ganache into a piping bag and pour over the hazelnut sponges in the tart shells. Leave to set.

Poached pear: Heat the water, Pastis and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved and remove from heat. Slice the pears thinly on a mandolin and add to the warm liquid and cook until just tender, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain excess liquid from the pears. Cut out discs of pear and arrange on the ganache tarts.

Serve immediately.

Chai custard tarts with blueberries

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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.

Mango tart with vanilla, bourbon & toasted chamomile

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Mango tart with cinnamon sponge, mango-bourbon jam, vanilla cremeux, toasted chamomile and lemon thyme
MANGO-BOURBON JAM

500g mango, diced (about 2 mangoes)
3 Tbsp. bourbon
1/2 cinnamon stick
300g sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Pinch of salt

Place mango chunks and cinnamon stick in a pan with the bourbon and cook over medium heat until the mango is softened and tender. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook until the jam reaches 105C on a thermometer. Season with salt to taste.

Remove from heat, leave to cool for 5 minutes then discard the cinnamon stick and pour hot jam into a sterilised 500ml jam jar. Leave to cool overnight.

The jam is delicious with greek yogurt, on buttered toast, or sandwiched between two linzer cookies. I may or may not have just eaten it by the spoonful.

PATE SUCRÉE 

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells. 

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

MADAGASCAR VANILLA BEAN CREMEUX 

125ml heavy cream
125ml whole milk 
4 egg yolks
35g sugar 
1 Madagascar vanilla bean 
3 leaves gelatine
Pinch of salt 

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and mix with the sugar, beat with egg yolks until pale and very airy. Bring milk and cream to just below boiling with the empty vanilla bean, remove from heat and pour 1/2 into the egg mix while whisking rigourously.

Return to heat and warm up to 85C while whisking continuously. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and stir into the hot custard, until it is fully dissolved.

Season with a pinch of salt. Strain into a clean bowl and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface to prevent a skin forming. Chill until fully set.

CINNAMON SPONGE

60g almond flour
50g + 25g cane sugar
20g egg yolk
75g egg whites
50g butter, melted
35g all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon 
1 generous pinch of salt 

Preheat oven to 175C and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Mix together the almond flour, 50g of cane sugar and egg yolk in a bowl and whisk in the melted butter.

Sieve together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix into the batter.

Whisk the egg whites with the remaining 25g of sugar to soft peaks and fold into the batter until the batter falls from the spatula.

Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and spread out to about 1cm thickness. Bake for 5-6 minutes and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut out 6 rounds of cake that fit inside the cooled tart shells.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

3 ripe mangoes cut into 1x1cm cubes
Chamomile tea
Lemon thyme

Toast the chamomile tea in a pan over medium heat until toasty and fragrant, a few minutes. Remove from heat and grind to a fine powder.

Place the cake rounds inside the tart shells and spoon a little mango jam on top.

Whisk the cremeux until light and smooth and transfer to a piping bag. Pipe on top of the jam and smooth the surface with a spatula. 

Arrange the mango cubes on the tarts and dust with toasted chamomile powder and garnish with lemon thyme leaves just before serving.

GREEN STRAWBERRY & OOLONG DESSERT

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GREEN STRAWBERRY TART WITH GOOSEBERRY AND FENNEL POLLEN & OOLONG MILK TEA ICE CREAM
OOLLING MILK TEA ICE CREAM 

650ml whole milk
65ml heavy cream
4 Tbsp. Oolong tea
65g skimmed milk powder 
100g sugar
40g liquid glucose  
4g ice cream stabiliser 
Pinch of salt 

Mix stabiliser with 15g sugar, set aside. Add milk and cream to a heavy-duty pot and warm up to 80C, add tea leaves and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. Strain off the tea leaves and add milk powder, 85g of the sugar and glucose. Whisk in stabiliser mixture and heat the mixture to 82C while stirring continuously. Remove from heat and leave the ice cream base to age in the fridge overnight. Before churning, emulsify the ice cream mixture using an immersion blender, season with a little salt to taste then churn in an ice cream maker. Freeze for at least an hour in the freezer before serving.

WHIPPED FENNEL POLLEN GANACHE

100g white chocolate, chopped
200ml heavy cream
1 Tbsp. liquid glucose
1/2 tsp. fennel pollen
Pinch of salt

Add the white chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Heat the heat heavy cream with the glucose and fennel pollen and bring to a boil. Pour over the white chocolate and beginning in the centre of the bowl start emulsifying the chocolate and the heavy cream. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, press a layer of clingfilm against the surface and chill overnight in the fridge.

PATE SUCRÉE 

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line six 7,5cm tart rings with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shells for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. Use a fork to prick holes in the bottom of the tart shells.

Preheat the oven to 175C and bake the tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.

SALTED PISTACHIO CRUNCH

50g white chocolate
30g pistachio praline paste
30g feuilletine (or toasted, chopped pistachios)
40g toasted, chopped pistachios
Salt to taste

Melt the chocolate and mix with the pistachio praline paste, fold in the feuilletine and toasted pistachios. Season to taste with salt and spread in the bottom of the tart shells. Leave to set.

GOOSEBERRY COMPOTE

200g green gooseberries, topped and tailed
50g sugar
Juice of 1 lime

Add everything to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the gooseberries are tender. Remove from heat and leave to cool in a bowl.

GOOSEBERRY GLAZE

150ml water 
75g green gooseberries
50g sugar
3g yellow pectin

Whisk together sugar and pectin and set the mixture aside.

Place gooseberries and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Leave to cook for 10-15 minutes, then strain liquid through a fine-mesh sieve.

Measure of gooseberry juice and heat to 45C in a small saucepan, add the pectin mixture and whisk to dissolve fully. Bring to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, turn off the heat pour into a bowl, cool to about 34-35C.

TO ASSEMBLE AND SERVE

300g strawberries, rinsed, hulled and quartered
Floral olive oil in a squeeze bottle
Sweet cicely leaves (or substitute lemon thyme or even cilantro)

Beat the chilled ganache until light and creamy and transfer to a piping bag.

Add a thin layer of gooseberry compote on top of the pistachio crunch layer and pipe the chocolate ganache on top. Use a spatula to even the layer and place in the fridge to set.

Quarter the green strawberries and brush them with a thin layer of gooseberry glaze. Arrange the gooseberries artfully on top of the whipped ganache and decorate with sweet cicely leaves.

Place 7-8 dots of olive oil on the tart and top with a quenelle of Oolong milk tea ice cream.

Paris-Brest in the springtime

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Paris-Brest with caramelised buttermilk mousseline & pickled apple, apple sorbet and citrus herbs

For the sorbet, replace pears with an equal amount of apples.

Caramelised buttermilk mousseline

150ml heavy cream
75g sugar
4 egg yolks
25g all-purpose flour
25g corn starch
350ml buttermilk
150g softened butter, divided

Slowly caramelise the heavy cream on a nonstick pan over medium high heat, scraping the bottom once in a while, until the cream turns a a light caramel color.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, flour and egg yolks until no lumps remain. Whisk in buttermilk and caramelised heavy cream. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook while whisking rigorously for a few minutes to thicken the cream and cook out the starches. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 75g of butter until combined, cover with clingfilm and let cool. When the cream is room temperature, whisk in the remaining 75g butter and transfer to a piping bag with an open star nozzle. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Pickled apple

2 apples, peeled and cut into small balls
100g sugar
100ml water
1 Tbsp apple vinegar
A few sprigs of verbena, lemon balm and lemon thyme

Bring sugar, water, vinegar and herbs to a boil, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes then add apple balls. Leave for 5-10 minutes, check to make sure apples are not mushy, then remove apple balls from pickling liquid.

Vanilla choux

Makes 6 choux rings

80g whole milk 
80g water
65g butter
5g sugar 
2g salt 
100g strong bread flour, sieved
140-160g whisked eggs 
*1 empty vanilla bean leftover from other purposes 
2-3 Tbsp. icing sugar
Flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 175C.

Add milk, water, butter, vanilla bean if using, sugar and salt to a pan and warm up over low heat until butter is melted. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and remove from heat as soon as the milk mixture is boiling. Remove vanilla bean and rigourously whisk in flour until a homogenous paste, return to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes. Be careful not to scrape off the thin film that forms on the pan.

Transfer dough to a bowl and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Beat in egg a little at a time, you might not need all of it, until dough falls off the spoon in a V. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe six 7,5cm circles on a piece of parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffy and golden brown all over. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

To assemble and serve
Floral olive oil
Icing sugar
Lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme

Cut choux rings in half, pipe caramelised buttermilk mousseline on the bottom half and arrange pickled apple balls on top of the mousseline. Place the upper half of the choux rings back on top of the apples and dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a few extra apple balls, fresh herbs, dots of floral olive oil and citrus herbs