Tart with coconut-y cream and fresh raspberries

Guys, that’s insane! Yesterday I posted a photo of this tart in my instagram account and it just blew up. I received soooo many likes and comments, and now it feels like that post is living its own life. Of course, I don’t think number of likes is the only definition of work, though it was a pleasure to have that kind of feedback. Thank you!

As I briefly mentioned in a previous post, April gonna be full of tarts! Some of them will be sweet, some will be… savory. Yep, you heard it right! For the first time in the history of this blog I will make something salty, so stay tuned!

But today let’s talk about this square beauty. I jokingly call it “the perfectionist dream”. These straight lines of fresh raspberries, oh my, they’re pure joy to make, cut and obviously eat — one raspberry at a time.
The filling of the tart is a twist on a classic pastry cream. I substituted part of regular milk for coconut milk and it resulted in more interesting and deep flavor. And it marries ripeness of fruits really well. How do they say — match made in heaven? 🙂

For the dough:

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)

To make dough follow instructions from Cooper’s recipe.

To make a square tart with perfectly straight edges, at first make the bottom of the tart using square mold. Then roll the rest of dough and using a serrated knife cut it into long strings. Carefully pull one string and tie it to the bottom of the tart, trying not to make junction in angles. Finish all sides and place tart in refrigerator for 30 minutes. When the tart is chilled, carefully cut dough leftovers with a knife. Bake at 175 C/350 F until tart shell becomes golden and completely dry.

For the coconut-y pastry cream:

200 g coconut milk
300 g milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
100 g sugar
90 g egg yolks
45 g cornstarch

In a heavy bottom pan combine coconut milk, regular milk and vanilla extract. Heat over medium heat until mixture becomes hot but not boiling, the process will take around 3 minutes.

Meanwhile in a separate bowl combine sugar and cornstarch, whisk for a moment. In another bowl whisk thoroughly egg yolks. Combine eggs and dry ingredients and whisk together until mixture is light and homogenous.

Once liquid is hot enough, pour 1/3 of it into eggs mixture and whisk well until combined. Add another portion of milk and whisk again. Pour the remaining milk and return the whole mixture back to the pan. Heat over medium heat stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken. Remove the pan from the heat and thicken mixture by whisking it for about 2-3 minutes. Return to the heat and whisk vigorously at a boil for another 30 seconds.

Remove the pan from the heat and transfer cream to a clean shallow bowl. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and let it cool to the room temperature.

For the decoration:

500 g fresh raspberries
50 g water
50 g sugar

In a medium saucepan combine 5-6 rasperries, water and sugar and place on medium heat. When the mixture begins to boil, smash raspberries with a spoon and combine everything together. Continue to cook until mixture becomes thicker and glossier.

Assemble the tart:

Place cool and dry tart shell on a serving plate. Carefully pipe pastry cream into the shell and even cream surface with offset spatula. Start to place rows of raspberries into the cream, bottom side up. Transfer raspberry “jam” into a pastry bag and cut an end with scissors. Pipe jam into each raspberry. Cover the space between fruits with chopped pistachios.

And now you have it — fresh, light and picture-perfect dessert! Hope, you’ll enjoy it as much as we do.

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