Mixed Berry Tart

STRAWBERRY PATISSERIE CREAM
1/2 Vanilla Pod
300 ml Milk
3 Egg Yolks
55 g Caster Sugar
35 g Plain Flour
2 tb Raspberry Liqueur

-TOPPING FOR TARTS-
225 g Raspberries
125 g Blueberries
2 ts Icing Sugar; (sieved)
8 Sprigs Fresh Mint or Sweet
-Cicel

1. Make the pastry and then chill in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour or so
whilst you make the patisserie cream.

Pastry

2. Put lemon juice, egg and chilled water into a small basin. Beat together
and chill until needed. The mixture will thicken slightly.

3. Sieve the flour, salt and icing sugar into a large wide bowl.

4. Add butter, cut into small cubes. Rub butter in the flour (using
fingertips) until it resembles breadcrumbs. Keep your hands cool.

5. Add liquid all at once and draw the mixture together with a knife until
it binds.

6. Knead gently on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Cover with cling
film and rest in refrigerator for 1/2 hour before attempting to roll out.

7. Roll out thinly and cut to fill 8 x 10cm tart tins. Prick bases with
fork and chill again. (This enables the pastry to retain its shape when
baked).

8. Fill with foil and baking beans and bake blind at 200?c / 400?f / Gas
Mark 6 for 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Reduce oven temperature to
180?c / Gas Mark 4 and cook for a further 10 minutes or so until pastry is
cooked through and lightly golden. Leave to cool.

Patisserie Cream

9. Blend egg yolks in a large bowl with caster sugar and flour until
smooth.

10. Split vanilla pod in half and scrape out seeds. Pour milk into a pan
with vanilla seeds and pod and bring to boil.

11. Pour boiling vanilla milk over the blended yolks, whisking vigorously.
Rinse pan.

12. Pour cream mixture back into pan and cook out over a medium heat,
stirring constantly until mixture is thickened and the flour is cooked
through (4 – 5 minutes).

13. Remove from heat and stir in the liqueur.

14. Pour into a clean container, cover the surface with greaseproof paper
or cling wrap to prevent a skin forming, and chill in the refrigerator
until needed.

Finishing Tarts

15. Fill the cases with patisserie cream. Top with the berry fruits. Dredge
with a little icing sugar and top with a sprig of mint or sweet cicely.

16. Serve with a little berry coulis