Seasonal Strawberry Sensation

When strawberries came out this winter/spring period, I had to get some for this recipe. This is one of my all time favorite recipes that I had to bake for my friends and family to enjoy. I mean, strawberries alone are de-li-cious, but add them onto a layer of crispy delicate puff pastry and a mouthful of vanilla custard cream and you'll be speechless. 

Once, I served them up to fellow colleagues and the boss was meant to make a farewell speech, instead he had a strawberry tart in his mouth and another in his hand. Well, you know what I mean...serve up a plate of these and there will be none left at the end of the session. I mean it! 

You can also substitute other seasonal fruits to decorate the top of the tarts. I've used canned mixed tropical fruits before and I've see kiwis, peaches and mangoes go on top of the tarts. So feel free to be creative and explore other flavor combinations, as well as personalizing the way the fruits go on top.

Strawberry Custard Tarts


Ingredients:
tart...
3 sheets of puff pastry (defrosted)
1 punnett of strawberries 250g
 
custard cream...
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs (whisked)
2 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1  1/2 cup whole milk
 
Directions:


tart...

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. 
2. Then take and divide each sheet of puff pastry into 6 equal rectangle (3x6). Mold each individual rectangle pastry into a muffin tin tray.
3. Put into oven to bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden.

custard cream...

1. While the tart shells are baking, prepare custard cream by whisking egg and sugar until sugar dissolves. 
2. Then add flour in and whisk until slightly paler.
3. Warm the milk until until its about to boil. Add the egg mixture slowly, stirring continuously at medium heat now for a few minutes until mixture thickens (be careful not to burn it, adjust heat when necessary) then turn off heat. Stir in the vanilla essence. Let it cool. 
4. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. When puff molds are cool, remove them from the tray. 
6. Just before serving, spoon the custard cream into the tarts. Slice the strawberries as you desire, decorate and personalize the tarts. Enjoy (: