tarts! tarts! tarts!

I have always love tarts
egg tars
fruit tart
nut tarts
cream tart
choc tart

however the only problem with these delicious tarts are the case itself
i think its more of being afraid of doing it
its always tedious and very time consuming
I went to sydney and had this amazing walnut tart and craving for it
so obviously i had to do it. i have not found a walnut tart just like that around melb.

Click on people's faces in the photo to tag them.

so my only challenge was to look for a oh-so-simple-but-foolproof tart case recipe
i found in smittenkitchen.com with a great unshrinkable sweet tart shell
its a basic method however it require a 2 hour fridge set to the dough.

i am not going to put in her tart shell recipe (trying not to get into trouble here) :) so just click on her website or the link.

She had a walnut tart recipe as well but hers require a baking process which i do not want. i wanted a quick pour and yummy mini tartlets. also i didnt want my caramel to be bubbling and pouring out of the shell and making a mess in my oven. So i had to look for a caramel recipe. It seams that most recipe requires a lot (and when i mean a lot - 4 cups of sugar lot lot!!) so yes. i dicided to make my own caramel.


Mini Caramel Walnut Tartlets



1 recipe Great Unshrinkable Sweet Tart Shell by SmittenKitchen.com, cook as directed

Fillings:
2 1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup water
2 table spoon honey
2 table spoon golden syrup
1 cup thicken cream
800g walnut

1. Bake tart in 12 muffin tray until brown and put aside to cool
2. Meanwhile heat sugar and water in a small sauce pan until melt in low heat
3. when sugar has melted turn the heat up. Sugar will start to bubble. wipe sides of the pan with baking brush regularly
4. as the sugar thickens, and changes colour, pour in honey and golden syrup and boil for 5-7 minutes.
5. pour in cream and remove from heat when it starts to boil.
6. pop in couple of walnuts into each shells (half full)
7. pour in a spoonfull of the hot caramel into the half-filled-walnut-shell.
8. fill the shells up with the remaining walnut into the shells. then pout in the remaining caramel
9. leave the tart to cool. preferbly in the fridge.
10. eat

I think with all of the tart making process- this shell is worth it. It was messy at first having to roll the dough to fit into the muffin tray. When eating, tart seams less crumbly then usual which is great. We had the tartlets without haviing to allow the caramel to set- which result in a very messy tea session (inclusive of Xiu licking the plate)
I love the caramel being not too sweet. and the thing with caramel you cant really taste it-it will burn your tongue! so its more towards instinct.

I can tell you a heads up. if you are not a baker-this recipe is gonna take the whole day and heaps of patience.
Worth it? hell yeah.

something cake-ish

i had a morning craving

something sweet and cake ish

fool proof chocolate truffle cake
-i had this recipe for a very long time. a cut out for a newspaper which i can no longer remember.-

150g dark choc
45g caster sugar
90g butter
5 eggs separated
10g (about 1 tbs) wheaten cornflour [i couldn't find one so i used 1 tsp plain flour + 1 tsp corn flour]
90g caster sugar, extra

1. preheat oven 160 degrees C
2. melt choc, sugar and butter- bran marie
3. whisk egg yolks with wheaten cornflour.
4. in separate bowl, whisk egg whites and slowly pour in extra sugar until they form a fine meringue texture, with soft peaks.
5. whisk choc mixture into egg yolks until evenly dispersed.
6. gently fold in one quater of the whites into the choc mixture, then fold in the choc mixture into the remaining egg whites until combined.
7. pour cake mixture into baking tin and bake for 40 mins.
8. cake will puff right up and the sink in the middle when cools.
9. i have a boyfriend who loves cream on top with anything so if you have one just like i do a dollop of cream- which i actually prefer jus the cake and maybe a heapful of dust of cocoa.

....................................

i have a little secret

im very picky when it comes to muesli bars
very very picky


i dont like those with yogurt
i cant bite the crunchy ones- coz of my jaw (long story)
some are too small- because they are high in sugar with choc or peanut and they need to make sure its a recomended serving intake per bar. thus small bar means ill be hungry before my morning tea break.
i dont like coconut in them
they sometimes get too sweet- which yes i dont like
i dont like apricots-which most basic muesli bar do have.


i found a brand that i love however im getting bored of my breakie in the train options
A: banana
B: the one and only brand of muesli bar that do i eat

so with all my pickyness i sometimes make my own muesli bars-loaded with dee's goodness.
i can reduce the sugar when i think its too sweet
i can throw in whatever i want
and i can cut them as big as i want to.
thus i call this:

Dee's muesli bar

basic dry ingredients:
2 cups of rolled oats
2 cups of puffed wheat/rice bubbles- i prefer puffed wheat because rice bubbles are high in sugar

options/choice of ingredients:
1/2 cup of chai seeds
1 cup of macadamia nuts half/quaters
1 cup of dried figs
1 cup of dried mango
1/2 cup of goji berries

melted mixture ingredients:
4 table spoon of honey
4 table spoon of peanut butter
125g of butter

note: the only thing that you need to keep track is the option dry ingredients need to be in ratio. too much of dry stuff will be too crumbly. too little will be too hard.
note2: with the melted mixture- if your dry mixture is not sweet, add brown sugar till your prefered sweetness. my dry ingredients have figs and mango which is sweet anyway.

1. mix all the dry ingredients into a large bowl
2. combine honey, peanut butter and butter in saucepan. heat until melted the simmer stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until mixture is thick and caramel in colour.
3. pour in honey mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well.
4. press evenly into a baking tin. i cut out baking paper and press down with my hands rather then using a spoon.
   
5. refigerate until firm before cutting.
6. store in fridge.