My legs are dead tired. This reminds me of the times when I work at Sugarbun fast food restaurant. 8 hours of standing is really tiring. As for today, I've only stood for 5 hours and my legs are begging for mercy already. Poor legs, I'm sorry. T___T
So.. I have an assistant today helping me. My dearest brother. :) I wanted to attempt three recipes so I needed help. I planned on baking Mascarpone Cream Tarts, Mascarpone Cheesecake and Mascarpone Ice Cream. I'm addicted to Mascarpone lately. Haha. xDD
My attempt on Mascapone Cheesecake failed. :( It was horribad and terribad. It even looks gooey and yucky from the pic. It turns out to be something like.. custard. I think this 'cheesecake' is gonna be thrown into the rubbish bin. I doubt anyone would wanna eat this. What a waste. :( The recipe is from here in case you wanna have a try.
My Mascarpone ice cream is still in process. It's still in the freezer. Gonna churn it for 2 more times and let it sit in the freezer overnight. Can't wait to taste it tomorrow! :) Hopefully it'll be a success~ I'll blog about it when it's done.
Now, back to our lovely Mascarpone Cream Tart. I got my recipes from here and here. I can't really remember the details of the preparation stage because I was multi tasking earlier - working on 2 different recipes simultaneously. While my cheesecake base was in the oven, I prepared the dough for my tarts. When I was preparing the mascarpone, I baked my tarts. It was kinda hectic in the kitchen. But we survived!
Sometimes I wish I can have all the proper equipments I need for my baking. This is the only tart pan I have at home. And personally, I don't think its a good one. But I'll just use what I have. :) My tarts didn't turn out too bad. :)
Next is the decoration stage! I put a coat of chocolate on the tart before one big spoonful of mascarpone cream! Yummy~ Then I added a few drops of chocolate on the cream and mix them.
And that's all~ :)
Sweet Pastry Crust
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don't overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.
Flatten dough into disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.
Basically, I skipped the steps from here onwards. Instead, I just take a spoonful of dough, roll them into balls, put each on my tray and pressed them flat. In case you wanna make a pie, you can use the following steps.
Have ready an 8 - 9 inch (20 - 23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into an 11 - 12 inch (28 - 30 cm) circle that is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pan, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry. The pastry should be about an inch larger than pan.
When the pastry is rolled to the desired size, lightly roll pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll. Unroll onto top of tart pan. Never pull pastry or you will get shrinkage (shrinkage is caused by too much pulling of the pastry when placing it in the pan). Gently lay in pan and with a small floured piece of pastry, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry. With a thumb up movement, again press dough into pan. Roll rolling pin over top again to get rid of any extra pastry. Prick bottom of dough (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with pie weights, rice or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface. Bake crust for 20 to 25 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack before filling.
Mascarpone Cream Filling
12 ounces mascarpone cheese (can also use 8 ounces mascarpone mixed in with 4 ounces of ricotta or 4 ounces of whipped cream)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
Mix together the mascarpone cheese, confectioner's sugar and the vanilla in a medium bowl until well combined. Refrigerate until needed.
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