Recipe: Strawberry Custard Tarts...totally irresistible!

In this festive season full of laughter and joy, what would you associate the color red with? Santa Claus? Presents? Christmas party? For me, red is the color of festival, happiness and energy, and it just so happened to be the color of a couple of my favorite fruits too! Aww...just take a look at these beautiful strawberry custard tarts... tell me if you know anybody who won't get fanatical seeing red like this- a shrink may well be needed :P

So here is the recipe of this cheerful and luscious dessert that could stir up your festival mood right away (yea! put even more brandy in :P)~ try this for New Year ^^

Strawberry Custard Tart (yields 6 - 5" tarts)

Ingredients:

- 3 dozens Strawberries (6 on top of each tart - variable depending on personal preference)

- 6 thin slices vanilla-flavored chiffon cake (Optional - for placing inside the custard layer)

Tart base

- 80g unsalted butter (soft to touch at room temperature)

- 150g cake flour

- 35g sugar

- 1 egg yolk

- 2g salt

Custard

Part A)

- 300ml milk

Part B)

- 2 egg yolks

- 60g sugar

Part C)

- 50g cake flour

- 10g corn starch

- 100ml milk

Part D)

- 30g unsalted butter

- 20ml brandy (or rum) <-- Trust me this can't be skipped!!

Gelatin dressing (this is optional but it's so much more shiny and bubbly with the dressing on!!)

- 2 tbl spoon gelatin powder

- 20ml warm water

- 50g strawberry jam 

Alternative: simply crush approx. 8 fresh strawberries and cook with 40g sugar and 2 tbl spoon lemon juice)

Method:

Tart shells

1. Beat butter till creamy

2. Add in sugar, salt, egg yolk and mix well

3. Sieve in cake flour in two batches and knead the dough by folding and pressing forward by hand until consistently combined

4. Wrap the dough in plastic wraps and place in freezer for 30min

5. Lightly flour the table surface 

6. Pre-heat oven at 180°C

7. Take out a small dough ball and place in the centre of the tart mold 

8. Spread out and press the dough against the sides of the mold with even thickness

9. Trim around the top of the rim to make the tart shell clean looking inside the mold

10. Poke around the tart mold with a fork
11. Bake for 20min until golden color (cover the tarts with aluminium foil if becoming too dark)
12. Let the shell cool and dry

Custard

1. Bring the milk in Part A into simmer
2. Sieve and mix the cake flour and corn starch in Part C
3. Pour in the 100ml milk in Part C into the flour mix, stir to mix
4. Beat the egg yolks and sugar in Part B
5. Mix the combined Part C into Part B
6. Pour the hot milk of Part A slowly into the B+C mixture, stir to mix
7. Heat the mixture with low heat, keep stirring until just thickened then leave the heat immediately
8. Stir in butter and brandy in Part D for the flavor

9. Let the custard cool and then refrigerate for 20min, covered with plastic wrap

Build the tart!
1. Take out the tart shells from the molds (better place each in separate dish to avoid too much transferring when it comes to serve - just to lower the risk :P)
2. Spread a thin layer of custard in the shells
3. Place a thin slice of chiffon cake on each shell

4. Fill the remaining wells of the tarts with custard
5. Decorate with fresh strawberries :)

Gelatin dressing
1. Melt the gelatin powder in hot water
2. Mix in the jam
3. Drizzle carefully on the strawberries without letting it overflow down the outside of the tart shells 

Each tart is good for one or two to share~ perfect for this time of the year that encourages giving and sharing :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2014! <3

Have yourself a merry little GREEN Christmas 2012 (Finale)

Hope those who are reading this blog have had a very Merry Christmas, better a green one :) The last 2 Green Christmas ideas (oh yay finally..!) will focus on some post-Christmas actions you could take to offset your "extra" carbon footprint during Christmas. Hope they help~

Green Christmas Idea #9 - Clean up the nature

My Christmas Day's special celebration with a group of volunteers cleaning up the shore at Yi O (a sea bay further down Tai O on Lantau) was definitely worth all the hassle doing such a meaningful deed!

Yi O has been an abandoned village for 30 years, a local green group, Local Life (在地生活), plans to rehabilitate the land and open the largest organic farm in Hong Kong (~100 acres), probably in the first half of 2013.

Since the land has been left unmaintained for a few decades, rubbish brought by sea waves piled up at the shore and needed removal to reveal the ground surface for setting up the farmland. 

Over 50 large garbage bags were filled by some 20 of us volunteers, after half a day picking up debris such as Styrofoam, plastic/ glass bottles, plastic bags, food/ snack packaging, candy wraps, flip flops...piece by piece!

The arm-numbing and back-breaking work only cleaned not even half of the trash there...We all couldn't help but lamented the effect on the environment by reckless human! The lesson learned today was...what comes around goes around...! So, be a responsible beach bum, don't leave trash behind coz. the nature doesn't degrade "rubbish"...more importantly, REDUCE the use of styrofoam and disposable products!!

Beach and country park clean-ups are gaining heightened awareness by Hong Kong people, especially after the "plastic pellet spill" incident earlier this year. Apart from occasion cleanups held by small local groups, you may also join or organize a "Hong Kong Cleanup" event co-organized by ecozine.com and National Geographic Channel (Recall the TV ad these days with Daniel Wu and Lisa S??). Not only should you join cleanups during Christmas, but any other time all year round! I assure you this is a serious hands-on experience that could make you think twice before buying/using eco-unfriendly products ever again...

An after-note, when Local Life's organic farm is fully fledged, produces will be sold through their store to be opened in Tai O, and some other partnering social enterprises. Good news for organic veg's fans~

Green Christmas Idea #10 -  Gifts handy to those needy

We all love gift exchange! After every Boxing Day, have it ever happened when you received a gift you already own, or you are not likely to use, the gift turns out to be sitting in a cabinet corner at home. Why not donate to people who would think them of use? It may feel bad giving away gifts from others, but when it comes to situations simply reasonable and sensible to do so, knowing the organizations that receive them would come in handy :)

Caritas

They accept:	Housewares and gifts, apparel, toys and garment, office equipment, priced items, coupons or other gifts
Where to next:	To the infamous charity sale - the Caritas Bazaar
Enquiry:	2843 4700 or Caritas Local Service Coordination Offices of respective deaneries
Website:	http://www.caritas.org.hk/eng/webpage/whom_do_we/other/local_caritas_sales.asp

  
Po Leung Kuk

They accept:	All kinds of items are welcome - electrical appliances, computers, stationeries, toys, books, household accessories, cookware, etc.
Where to next:	Children, the elderly and low-income families
Enquiry:	2277 8158 plkinfo@poleungkuk.org.hk
Website:	http://www.poleungkuk.org.hk/en/20090714269/other-forms-of-donation/2009-07-14-09-17-32.html

St James Settlement

They accept:	Electric fan, rice cooker, electric water boiler/pot, radio, telephone set (with large number keys), TV set, refrigerator, washing machine, water heater etc.
Where to next:	"Electrical Appliances For The Elderly" Program to elderly in HK
Enquiry:	2831 3283 thevoice@sjs.org.hk
Website:	http://www.sjs.org.hk/en/charityproject/electricgift.php

The Salvation Army

They accept:	·         Clothing, footwear, handbags and accessories, either brand new or used in clean condition ·         Electrical home appliances in working order ·         Electrical office equipments (e.g. computer, fax machine, printer, etc.) in working order ·         Toys, stationery, books, gifts and premiums ·         Software / DVD / VCD / CD with copyright
Where to donate:	At any of the Family Stores during opening hours or deposit them into The Salvation Army Recycling Bins located across Hong Kong
Where to next:	Distributed and sold in Family Stores, some will be directly helping people in need, such as home alone elderly, street sleepers, ex-prisoners and CSSA recipients
Enquiry:	2332 4433 (Mon to Fri 9am – 6pm / Sat 9am – 5pm) recycling@hkt.salvationarmy.org
Website:	http://www.salvationarmy.org.hk/en/services/donate

YMCA

They accept:	Toys, books, sports equipments, music instruments, electronic game products
Where to donate:	YMCA centres in Tsim Sha Tsui, Cheung Sha Wan and Tung Chung
Where to next:	Children under 12 years old from low income families
Enquiry:	Tsim Sha Tsui headquarter: 2268 7000 Cheung Sha Wan centre: 2708 8995 Tung Chung centre: 2988 1246
Website:	http://www.tc.ymcahk.org.hk/toy_bank/

- The End -

Afterword

So that's all for the 10 Green Christmas ideas~ I have learned so much doing the research in many late nights after work,  after party, after volunteering at the beach clean up. Friends did ask why I am so into doing this post (haha..yea..), first, I have decided since the beginning to write 10 ideas, there hasn't been any excuse not to try and do whatever to finish it. Besides, I really am concerned about the future of our environment...it's a photo I took during the beach clean up - water bottles from over 10 years found right under soil still remain so intact...

Think about our landfills, billions of plastic bottles like this will be staying there for decades, centuries without degrading, I couldn't help but am haunted by the idea of living above the landfills one day...if we don't do something to procrastinate our rubbish producing speed...

This was supposed to be a bubbly Christmas post...but somehow, when talking about environmental sustainability, the topic doesn't sound funny any more. It's something SERIOUS. My blog is yea, party-oriented, but I also want to spread this message - Enjoy life, eat, play, spend money, party, with SENSE. The very least thing you wana do is to destroy the earth sooner than you and your next generations could enjoy it, right?