It's in season, so yes, raspberries again! The little buggers are great at the moment. I was meeting up with a friend this afternoon, and we were discussing the idea of a bake-off (little, if nothing to do with baekhoffe - although why not go for a baekhoffe bake-off - anyone's in? I have a pretty good recipe). I had prepared the raspberry tartelettes for our four o'clock, but it didn't stop us from a halt at Hermé's for a "plaisir sucré" and a "deux mille feuilles".
Guess what, Hermé won the bake-off. Hands down (haut la main). Please someone pretends they're surprised. Cheers guys (merci ça fait plaisir les copains).
I don't bear grudges again PH. I don't think twice. It's alright.
It looked promising, though, didn't it??
To be honest, I am still on a sugar-high while typing this and on the verge of swooning into a hazelnut and caramel coma. Let's see if I make it in one piece to the end of this post. I now know why kids fed on chocolate bars and sugary drinks find it difficult to focus in class. I'll keep it short before my attention span reaches its limits.
This recipe has been seen on different blogs and equally appreciated, here for instance.
All proportions are indicative: still no set of scales (donations can be arranged - par ici les pots de vin) and measuring glasses don't have almond powder or icing sugar marks. Use your good sense if you have any. Although being quite foolish myself, I still pull it off. I think it's pretty much idiot-proof.
The crusty crust, for 3 tartelette molds.
100g flour
50g butter + pinch of salt
40g icing sugar
1 splash of vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
Mix the flour, butter, salt, sugar and vanilla extract with your finger tips until you reach a sandy consistency. Add the yolk, and quickly bring the mix together in a ball, store in the fridge for an hour or so, then take it out 15' prior to using it.
The macaron topping, still for 3 tartelette molds (no, thay haven't been fruitful and multiplied, but we still saw that it was good.)
1 egg white + pinch of salt
50g of icing sugar
25g almond powder + 3 tablespoonfuls [hint: a tbsp is about 10g]
a punnet of raspberries
Toast the almond powder if you want it to be more tasty (I had to skip that, was in a bit of a rush). Put it in a bowl with the icing sugar, combine well. Some patient people will sift the sugar and almond powder, but it was too much for me.
Whisk the white to stiff peaks, spoon it on top of the powders and incorporate with a spatula, like you would for macarons. Add red food colouring if you aim at a girly effect. I kept it manly.
The 3 tartelettes, pulling themselves together
Roll out the dough, or press it straight into the molds, stab it with a fork (I am told in cake law, this could pass as assault).
Blind-bake for 5 minutes at 180°C, or longer if you have more time on your hands, the idea being to proof it a little so that it doesn't soak up ridiculously with the raspberry juices. Remove from the oven, spread the reserved spoonfuls of almond powder on the crusts, put the berries on top.
Spoon the macaron topping over it.
Put it back in the oven for about 20 minutes, but keep an eye on it, so that the top doesn't brown too much. I tried putting a tin foil sheet to screen off the heat a little, but it ended somehow sticking on the macaron topping, so overall not a good idea.
Take them out of the oven, set to cool on a rack, the vanilla crust will harden and you can then take them out of their molds.
Ok PH old chap (vieille branche), you win that round.
