toasted chamomile

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.