INGREDIENTS
Almond shortbread
140 g unsalted butter
65 g pure icing sugar
1 egg
60 g almond meal
1 tsp salt
225 g plain flour
Plain flour, extra for dusting
Uncooked rice, for pie weights
Mandarin jelly
5 g gold gelatine sheets (2.5 sheets)
230 g mandarin juice (approximately 1 mandarin)
35 g caster sugar
5 g ginger, grated
Vanilla cream
3 g gold gelatine sheets (1.5 sheets)
265 g thickened cream, 35% milk fat
1½ tsp vanilla bean paste
60 g egg yolks (approximately 3)
50 g caster sugar
Crumble
190 g plain flour
1 g salt
95 g unsalted butter
95 g raw sugar
1 lemon, zested
1 g cinnamon
Crunch
100 g crumble, crushed (recipe above)
250 g Callebaut white chocolate
10 ml grapeseed oil
Mandarin sugar spike
300 g isomalt
1 drop orange gel food colour
1 mandarin, peeled, segmented
Toothpicks
To serve
Leftover crumble
Mandarin sugar spikes
Micro herbs
Pure icing sugar, sifted
Miele Accessories
METHOD
Almond shortbread
- Pre-heat Oven on Conventional at 180°C.
- In a bowl of a freestanding mixer with paddle attachment or food processor, combine butter and icing sugar. When there are no lumps of butter, add in egg followed by the dry ingredients.
- Mix until the dough comes together. Press into an even flat square and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- Dust the bench surface lightly with flour and roll the pastry out to a 3 mm thickness.
- Place two 19 cm tart rings or shells onto a baking paper lined baking tray. Line tarts rings with pastry and return to the refrigerator to firm before trimming the top edges with a small sharp knife.
- Scrunch up two round pieces of baking paper cut slightly larger than the tarts and line the pastry case. Fill with uncooked rice and press the rice in to ensure it fills all the corners. This will give you a nice sharp edge to the tart.
- Blind bake the tarts on shelf position 2 for 10-12 minutes. Remove the lining and the rice and bake for a further 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool at room temperature.
Crumble
- Combine all ingredients into bowl of a freestanding mixer with paddle attachment until it reaches a crumble consistency.
- Spread out evenly onto a baking tray and place into a pre-heated Oven on Conventional at 170°C on shelf position 2. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool at room temperature.
Crunch
- Break the cooled crumble up slightly.
- Place the white chocolate into a plastic bowl and melt in the Microwave at 850W for 20-30 seconds until half melted. At this stage don’t apply any additional heat, but stir vigorously until the chocolate has melted.
- Add in the oil and continue stirring followed by the crumble.
- Spoon a small amount into the base of each tart and spread it with a pastry brush until the sides and base of the tarts are fully coated. Allow chocolate to set at room temperature.
Mandarin jelly
- Soak the gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water until soft and pliable.
- Combine the mandarin juice, sugar and grated ginger in a saucepan and bring to the boil on Induction setting 8 until the sugar has dissolved.
- Strain syrup through a fine mesh sieve and discard any solids. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before adding in the gelatine and stir to combine.
- Using a jug, pour jelly into the base of each tart shell. Fill approximately 5 mm high and place into the freezer for 1-2 hours
to set.
Vanilla cream
- Soak gelatine sheets in a bowl of cold water, until soft and pliable. Squeeze out excess water and reserve gelatine.
- In a medium saucepan bring the cream and vanilla to the boil on Induction setting 8.
- In a separate bowl, whisk sugar and yolks together until combined. Pour hot cream over the whisked egg and sugar.
- Return custard to a clean saucepan on a low heat, Induction setting 6, stirring constantly until it reaches 80°C on a thermometer.
- Add in pre-soaked gelatine and mix with a spatula to combine before straining through a fine sieve. Discard any lumps.
- Leave to cool slightly at room temperature before pouring over frozen jelly layer.
- Fill the tarts shells completely and smooth with a spatula to level the top of the tarts.
- Return to the freezer for 2 hours, or until set.
Mandarin sugar spike
- Place a piece of polystyrene on a raised surface with a sheet of baking paper underneath.
- Melt the isomalt in a small saucepan on high heat, Induction setting 8, until it reaches 160°C on a sugar thermometer.
- Remove from the heat and add the colour, stir to combine.
- Once the sugar has stopped boiling, place a toothpick into each mandarin segment and dip into the boiled sugar. Pull up to create the spike.
- Attach the toothpick to the polystyrene and allow to drip onto the paper. If the mandarin slips from the toothpick, you can use tweezers.
- Cut the desired length of the sugar spike with scissors.
To serve
- Place a few generous tablespoons of crumble into the centre of each tart.
- Dust the crumble with icing sugar and garnish with micro herbs and mandarin spikes.
Hints and tips
- Silikomart Tarte Ring Round Ø 190 are available to purchase from www.savourschool.com.au
- Isomalt is a natural sugar derived from beetroot. It can withstand very high temperatures yet still retain crystal clear properties.
- Tarts can be frozen for up to three weeks.
APPLIANCE / FUNCTION
Kirsten Tibballs
Kirsten Tibballs, proclaimed by MasterChef Australia as ‘the Queen of Chocolate’, is one of Australia’s most celebrated and internationally respected pastry chefs and chocolatiers.
With a desire to pass on her knowledge to other passionate food lovers and professional pastry chefs, Kirsten established Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in 2002 in Brunswick, Melbourne. Savour creates an opportunity for students to learn from and work alongside their award-winning chefs. It boasts a state of the art kitchen and hosts a number of renowned international pastry chefs each year.
