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

Continuing the 10 Green Christmas ideas in the last 2 posts, here comes the last 4!! Wooo...I have to admit it's not an easy job to come up with 10 different ideas having had all those research to be done behind...haha okay now we have four more left...here we go!

Green Christmas Idea #7 - Pot plant cupcake - An Eco-awareness powerhouse

Bringing pot plants to a party may be bizarre, how about an edible one? Aww I am sure all the other guests would be thrilled! Having realized the importance of environmental protection and taking action are like the two sides of a coin, once we buy this in as a delightful idea to having green plants around, it should come as natural for us to support green initiatives like tree planting, urban greening, anti-deforestation etc, theoretically. The call-for-action effect would be even strengthened paired with the luring effect of luscious cupcakes mimicking pot plants :)

Pot plant cupcakes by Pantry Bread & Pastries, Causeway Bay

The pot plant cupcakes from Pantry Bread & Pastries look familiar, as I've seen them being featured in TV programs and some other publications. I think these cupcakes are certainly the very type of ready-made (vs custom-made) cupcake that are made to give as gifts. Adorable aren't they!

Click to find out Pantry Bread & Pastries' location.

Other cute pot plant cupcake ideas...cute cute cute!!

Credit: Foodista.com

Credit: Willcookforfriends.com

Green Christmas Idea #8 - Organic farm day

Seeing is believing. Environmental protection knowledge sometimes takes personal experience to be discerned, like hands-on farming, eco tours to the mangroves, wetlands, or even tours to the landfills. Despite the diminished agricultural industry in Hong Kong, there are indeed many organic farms scattered in the New Territories which concern not the amount of produce, but the education!

Most of them are well organized for people of all age to visit, offering activities such as guided tours in organic farms, eco-handcraft workshops, and organic produce picking.

Check out some of the organic farms open for public below:

The HKFYG Organic Farm 香港青年協會有機農莊

Address	:	No. 1 Family Walk, Ho Pui Reservoir, Pat Heung, Yuen Long, N.T.
Tel	:	2838 4808
Website	:	organicfarm.hkfyg.org.hk
Admission	:	$20 / person

Produce Green Foundation 綠田園基金

Address	:	18 Hok Tau Village, Fanling, N.T.
Tel	:	2674 1190
Website	:	http://www.producegreen.org.hk/eng/index_e.htm
Date for visit	:	Mondays to Sundays (opens daily except the first three days of the Lunar New Year)
Time	:	10:00am to 5:00pm
Reservation	:	No need to reserve for groups of 10 people or below and entry fee is paid on arrival. Groups of 11 people or above should make a telephone reservation, fill in enrollment form and send to our farm together with the entry fee.
Admission	:	$10 / person

Lohas Organic Farm 樂活有機農場

Address	:	105 Lot no.100, Cheung Lek Tsuen, Sheung Shui, N.T.
Tel	:	2671 8191
Website	:	http://www.organic.org.hk/
Date for visit	:	Sundays & Public holidays
Time	:	10:30am to 5:00pm
Reservation	:	Required
Admission	:	$20 / person

Zen Organic Farm 有心機

 

  

Address	:	Ping Che, Ta Kwu Ling, N.T. (Near Lei Uk Village)
Tel	:	6692 2671 (Joey Ng)
Website	:	http://www.zeno.com.hk/?page_id=392
Date for visit	:	Tue to Sun (Closed on Monday except public holidays)
Time	:	10 am – 5 pm
Reservation	:	Required
Admission	:	Free

 

Counting down the last two!! I am ready~ are you?

Have yourself a merry little GREEN Christmas 2012

Been working on quite a lot of green projects with my client, it's normal to get influenced and inspired by exposing to renewable energy, carbon footprint, energy saving and green lifestyle round the clock, especially for a cause I am personally so supportive for (well but I don't dare to admit I am green enough in terms of daily life habits though...). So, at this special festive time of the year, I wish to contribute a bit to raise some awareness on green living, so that we, and our next generations could enjoy a sustainable future :)

To recall my Facebook post, in these couple of weeks before Christmas 2012, I will select and share 10 things to do/ places to go for a green Christmas- stay tuned to my post and my Facebook update folks!

Green Christmas Idea #1 - Eat Green
The carbon footprint, or foodprint, associated with the food you eat is the greenhouse gas emissions produced by growing, rearing, farming, processing, transporting, storing, cooking and disposing of the food on your plate. Even being a meat-lover myself, I seriously started to consider doing some vegetarian weekdays to reduce my foodprint and to explore some increasingly popular veg eateries in Hong Kong! Sassy Hong Kong is being a great guide for veg-eating newbies: A few of Sassy's recommended ‘green’ dining spots are: O Green Café, Posto Publico, Life Café, and The Herbivores. There are so many more vegetarian restaurants of different styles around town, not to mention the Chinese Buddhist "齋舖"  :o If it's not for the religious meaning of Christmas, it'd be quite innovative as an eco-friendly choice having Chinese 齋(fyi, most are to-fu based dishes) for Christmas..oh well haha!
 


Credit: Sassy Hong Kong

Green Christmas Idea #2 - Yummy, Trendy and Healthy
What's more special than a customized and healthy gift to give to your beloved ones? A pot plant with microgreens (Definition: seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs) comprising different herbs would be all lovely and wholesome (aww~) A study revealed that microgreens generally have higher concentrations of healthful vitamins and carotenoids than their mature counterparts. Foodies must love to have this handy fresh condiment pot around the dining room :D 

Credit: Uncommon Goods

Green Christmas Idea #3 - Share the love to your friend with an endangered animal
It’s shocking that there are only about 1,600 giant pandas and 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild, despite the fact that we see China generously giving out pandas to other countries to show their diplomatic friendliness, and tigers locked up in many big zoos around the world. 

The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) has been continuing its effort in raising the awareness of wild animal conservation, how? Their tactic is to leverage human being's desire to "own". Yes, you care if you own something, be it an animal or a tree.

How meaningful and lovely would it be to adopt a wild giant panda and have the adoption pack with certificate sent to your friend as a gift for Christmas! You could choose either a monthly donation of minimum HK$50/month, or an one-off donation of minimum HK$400/month (surely this is a better option as a gift). WWF make it really easy to register an adoption and have the gift pack safely posted to your / your friend's home - all done online from the call-for-action link below. There are also a lot other great gift selections at the Panda Shop.

Call for action: Adopt a panda for your friend / self now :)

Watch the video below of WWF's call for your support to their conservation work in improving the wild panda's habitat in China:

The content of an adoption gift pack (Credit: WWF)

When it comes to conserving wild animals or sustaining the environment, we, human, as being the intellectual on the planet earth should take up responsibility not to offend the law of nature, or try to minimize our impact to the environment. WWF's website information are sufficiently mind-striking to wake some eco-conscious city people, who live in within concrete walls and are temporarily fooled by the illusion of a distant nature equalizing an non-existing nature, to take action. Indeed, there are so many things we could do to help save the eco-system and the nature, perhaps I should open another post to share some relevant ones with events / parties (yay! topic's set for next time :)) Back to this Christmas, hope you like my sharing of this gift idea and would consider giving your friend an adopted panda!





7 more Green Christmas Ideas coming up in the succeeding posts :)) Stay tuned...!