Wild Strawberries Mini-Tarts

My cousin got my little basket. We got on our shoes and head to the forest. After walking among the trees (chestnuts and eucalyptus) for a while, we arrived to an open area. In the ground there were these familiar leaves and these tiny red drops.

I got so excited to see myself surrounded by wild strawberries!!!! Back home with my little basket full of wild strawberries, I prepared a simple pate sucree and pastry cream, so my wild strawberries would be the ?stars of the show?.

I hope you like the recipe and the new makeover of the blog!!

Pate sucree

Ingredients

Makes one 30 -32 cm (11-12 inch) or two 20 ? 22 cm ( 8 to 9 inch) .

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 cup (250 gr) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup ice water

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and sugar. Add butter, and process 10 to 20 seconds.

In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks; add ice water. With machine running, add the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream through the feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Chill in a refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Pastry cream

Ingredients

Makes about 1 3/4 cups

1 cup whole milk

1/2 vanilla bean, split

5 tablespoons sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon flour (preferably rice flour for lightness)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions

Place milk, vanilla bean, and 1/4 cup sugar in a medium saucepan over high heat; cook until almost boiling.

In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar until thickened. Sprinkle in cornstarch and flour and continue beating until well combined.

Remove vanilla bean from milk. While whisking constantly, slowly pour heated-milk mixture into egg-yolk mixture. Pour mixture through a fine sieve back into saucepan, and cook, whisking constantly, over medium-high heat, until it thickens about 2 minutes.

Transfer to a large bowl and whisk in butter until melted. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the pastry cream; refrigerate until completely cooled.