makes
6-8
prep
30 minutes
difficulty
Easy
makes
6-8
serves
preparation
30
minutes
difficulty
Easy
level
Ingredients
- 285 g plain flour
- 50 g caster sugar
- 170 g butter, diced
- 130 g mascarpone
- 25 ml cold water
- 15 ml white vinegar
Resting time 2 hours
Makes 6 x 8 cm tarts or 1 large tart
Instructions
Place the flour and sugar into a bowl and use your hands to work in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
To this, add the mascarpone, water and vinegar and mix lightly until it all just starts to come together. Roll into a log, cover with glad wrap and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
After it’s had a nice rest, pull out the pastry and cut into 6 pieces. Keep one piece out, loosely re-wrap the others and let them sit in the fridge while you roll your first shell. Give your bench a light dusting of flour and use a rolling pin to roll the pastry into a circle about 2 mm thick. Gently pick up this piece of pastry and place it straight into your 8 cm tart shell pressing gently along the bottom and around the edges. Using scissors, trim off any excess pastry but still leave about 1 cm worth of overhang. Excess pastry can be used again. Roll into a log, rest, then roll out again.
Place the rolled shell into the fridge or freezer to rest again and repeat with the remaining shells. You want to give your tart cases enough resting time so they become completely cold.
Once the shells are happily rested it’s time to blind bake them. Make 6 little foil pouches the right size to nuzzle into the shells, fill them with rice or beans and place them inside the shells.
Bake the shells at 170°C for ten minutes, carefully remove the foil pouches with tongs, making sure you don’t break the pastry and bake again for another 10–15 minutes. I like to bake my pastry until its quite dark. Set aside tart shells to cool while you make your filling.
Note
• The pastry shells can be made and blind baked the day before if you desire giving you ample time for resting and rolling. This recipe will also work if you wish to make one large tart.
Photographs by Benito Martin. Styling by Jerrie-Joy Redman-Lloyd.
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
