Passport
Baker
Annette & Vernette
Location
Wisconsin
Baking Challenge
Designer Fruit Tart
Give your tarts a name based on the flavors and decoration – and tell us about your recipe.
Editor’s note: Annette and Vernette’s baking story is unique. Annette will be submitting two entries each week: One for her, and one for her 94-year-old mother, Vernette. Vernette’s arthritis prevents her from baking herself; Annette will be baking to Vernette’s specifications. From Annette: “When I asked my mother about what kind of tart she wanted to make for this week’s challenge she said, "Strawberry." I asked if she would like another filling added and she said, " no." So that is what I made for her part of the challenge. I decided to make a designer tart with a pudding and whipped cream filling. I added free formed stars to my mother’s tarts and the blueberry star to my tart for the Fourth of July.
Now that you survived this challenge, what words of wisdom do you have to share?
This week was one of the hardest challenges so far for two reasons: my crust doesn’t always turn out and whipping real whipped cream terrifies me. I looked up Paul Hollywood’s short crust recipe and watched a video of him making it. I thought, he makes it look easy! Then I looked at the recipe. The recipe was in METRIC! Math is not my strongest skill and after trying to convert it to cups and teaspoons, I found that math is *still* not my strongest skill. After making the recipe I KNOW that math is not my strongest skill. The video said to use soft butter; all the other videos said to use hard butter. I used soft. After adding all the other ingredients it was a soft mess, so I added more flour, and never did add any water. I chilled the dough and it did roll out well. For the large tart all of the videos said to bake it with parchment paper inside the tart and weighed down with rice or beans. I didn’t. My tart walls started to collapse in one section while baking and when I tried to put that section back up, it worked somewhat. I added real whipped cream to my tart filling, I chilled the bowl and the whisk, but what really gave me confidence to try whipping cream was a video saying if you go too far whipping cream you can bring it back by adding a little more cream, I didn’t need to try it, thank God! If you want the recipe for Paul Hollywood’s short crust, look it up and sharpen your math skills. I won’t give you my version of Paul’s short crust recipe because why should I have all the fun!
Tell us about how you added a Wisconsin twist.
STRAWBERRY TART RECIPE |
Ingredients: Paul’s frustrating short crust, strawberry spread.
Instructions: Bake the tarts in muffin cups. I added strawberry spread because it is mostly fruit cooked down to a spreadable consistency. I added the spread a few minutes before the tarts were done baking. Decorate as you wish. Enjoy!
DESIGNER FRUIT TART |
Ingredients: Paul’s frustrating short crust, small package of vanilla instant pudding, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, powdered sugar, strawberries, blueberries.
Instructions: Make and bake the tart according to the recipe, let cool. Mix the instant pudding with the milk and vanilla, chill until set. Chill bowl and whisk. Add heavy cream to chilled bowl. Whip till soft peaks start to form, add the vanilla and small amounts of powdered sugar while whisking. Stop whisking when stiff peaks form and fold in powdered sugar to taste. Gently fold in instant pudding, pour into cool tart shell, garnish with fruit. Chill for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!
How did you do?
Feeling humbled.
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