Cooper the helper | Perfect tart shells

Idk about you, but I just love tarts!
For me they have the right proportion of crustiness/creaminess and always charming appearance. But the loveliest part about tarts is their endless options for filling — lemon curd, chocolate ganache, berries pastry cream, you name it!

So I reached out to Cooper and asked his help in making dough basis for future tarts. I knew Cooper would never say no 🙂 Here are the recipe and recommendations he came up with.

For the dough:
14 tart shells, 8mm in diameter

250 g flour
150 g cold butter, cut into pieces
95 g powdered sugar
3 g salt
30 g almond flour (unblanched in this case, but both works well)
50 g whole egg (1 egg usually does the job)

“Woohoo, I’m so happy to be with you today! Thanks for having me here.

Guys, my very first piece of advice to you will be — no matter what you’re baking, the initial step is to prepare all ingredients in advance. I know, it might sound boring, though this small change can stand you in good stead. It’ll help in eliminating number of times when your egg shell falls directly into mixing bowl or you mix up flour and powdered sugar (believe me, I was there!)

After all components are ready, the true magic begins.
Place dry ingredients — flour, powdered sugar, almond flour and salt — into mixing bowl and stir thoroughly with paddle attachment.

Add pieces of very cold butter (you can keep it in the freezer until it’s ready to go) to the dry mixture. Start to mix ingredients together on a low speed of mixer. Continue the process for 2-3 minutes, though keep an eye on the process — when mixture becomes sandy it’s a sign you need to move on!

Add an egg and mix for another minute or so, the mixture should begin to come together. Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper.

If there are large pieces of butter left, knead them on the table using your palm hand. Sounds daunting? It’s not that hard! Imagine you rub dough using table surface as a grater. See, you’ve got it!

And now get your favorite rolling pin — it’s time to have some fun!
Roll the dough to a thickness of 2-3 millimeters. Try to work from the center towards ends rotating dough in the process. In this case you can achieve the most even thickness. Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper and let it rest in a refrigerator for 1 hour.

In an hour, cut the dough using round cutters (or any other round shape objects) which are several millimeters larger that the diameter of future tarts. You’re doing really great, dude! Keep it up 🙂

Side note: if you don’t have enough rings, use as many cuts as you need and place others in refrigerator.

Working with one piece at a time, place it over metal tart ring. Start to gently press the dough to the bottom and rotate the ring in the process. Continue to form tart this way until bottom and sides become perpendicular to each other. Make sure that dough is tightly pressed to the sides of the ring.  Make sense?

Transfer rings to the lined baking sheet and let them rest in a refrigerator for 1/2 hour.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 175 C/350 F.

Using serrated knife, carefully cut any dough leftovers from the top of the ring. Be careful and watch your fingers! We need you whole, buddy 🙂

Place sheet into the oven and bake tarts for 20-25 minutes.
Check the shells halfway through the baking — if the bottoms are gone up, gently press them with clean kitchen towel.

And when your little creatures become golden and completely dry, you know it’s it! Transfer tart shells to a cooling rack and do your best not to eat them immediately”.

Oh wow, Cooper, what a job you’ve done for us! Thank you so much :*
Hey tarts, challenge accepted! Who’s with me on the road of mastering skills, raise your hand! 🙂