Tuesday 31 January 2012

Tantalising Tarts with Chocolate Mousse and Hazelnut and Orange Pastry!



Hola again! I decided to make something different this time in my kitchen, so I ventured into the world of homemade pastry! I was a little uncertain of this as I have heard that pastry is very hard to get right. So, after years of watching pastry being made by the professionals on TV, I gave these little tartlets a go! I found the recipe in the Women's Institute cookbook I mentioned in the previous post. This cookbook was a lovely gift from my grandmother who was a wonderful baker in her day :)! The recipe was extremely easy to follow, and for a first adventure with pastry, I don't think the tarts turned out too shabby. I wouldn't say they were my best performance in the kitchen though.

I followed the pastry recipe exactly as it appeared in the book but I think that my downfall was that I made the pastry too thick. The pastry did not have a nice flaky texture and felt a little like eating a very tasty rock (maybe I'm being a little harsh on myself here, they still all got eaten!).For the mousse the recipe called for rum, but I did not have any of this so I decided a wee dram of Cointreau would hit the spot, and that it did! It enhanced the wonderful orangey taste of the pastry. The tarts would have been better if they were bigger and served with ice cream as a dessert for a dinner party (more chocolatey mousse, yum!).

Although I would say the recipe wasn't a complete success, I think these little tarts have challenged me to be a little more adventurous when baking. What's the worst that can happen, right? Is there any recipes that you have been adventurous enough to try recently?If so, I would love to know and maybe I could give them a try too! Happy adventurous baking everyone!

Rachael xx

P.s.The recipe is quite long so I won't bore you with the details but if you would like to give it a try, I would be happy to send it to you!Just send me a lovely comment and you'll get your treasure :).

No comments:

Post a Comment