Raspberry, Mint, Lime, and White Chocolate Tart

Summer is in full swing here and hopefully everywhere else! That means cold and fresh dinners, sunburns (just me?), and fruit! Fruit everywhere! Pretty much every berry is coming into season right now and it's almost too much for me. I feel like a kid in a candy store! 

A few weeks ago, I came into possession of about 6 lbs of strawberries and then went buck wild with making strawberry everything. So the next few weeks are going to be filled with strawberry recipes. But for now, it's all about these tiny little raspberries and their amigos - lime, mint, and white chocolate. 

I really wanted to capture that fresh and bright taste of mint and lime together in a dessert, while also throwing in some tart raspberries and sweet white chocolate. It's refreshing, light, tangy, tart, sweet, creamy, and crunchy all in the same bite. The other great thing is that you can make all the separate components in advance and then assemble right at the last minute. 

I mean, no one wants to spend more time in a blazing hot kitchen than they have to, especially if you're having a dinner party. You don't want to have the sweat beading on your forehead and your hair sticking to that sweaty forehead and your the back of your shirt wet from the sweat so when people hug you, they get an unpleasantly wet surprise. That's not very becoming for a host. Or for anyone. 

So with this, you can make the components the night/two nights/three nights before, freeze the components separately, then thaw the day of and assemble in ten minutes! No sweaty back hugs!

P.S. Sorry for this post being a couple days later than the usual, but I have been a busy little bee lately. I took a motorcycle course on the weekend and am currently looking into buying a bike! If anyone has any tips for new riders, buying a used sport bike, or anything you think I should know, let me know in the comments!! 

Raspberry, Mint, Lime, and White Chocolate Tart

Sablé Dough 

Recipe adapted from Elements of Dessert

145 g all-purpose flour

350 g cake flour

240 g butter, at room temperature

1/2 vanilla bean

3.5 g salt

180 g icing sugar

35 g almond flour

100 g eggs

Raspberry Cake

Recipe adapted from The Modern Cafe

89 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

79 g eggs

202 g raspberry purée, at room temperature

198 g granulated sugar

180 g all-purpose flour

8 g baking powder

1.5 g vanilla powder

Fresh Mint Pastry Cream

142 g whole milk

115 g heavy cream

5 g fresh mint leaves

50 g sugar

22 g cornstarch

65 g egg yolks

45 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

65 g white chocolate, melted

Lime Streusel

Recipe adapted from Bouchon Bakery Cookbook

100 g all-purpose flour

100 g almond flour

100 g granulated sugar

100 g unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1/2 inch dice

zest of 1 lime

Fresh Mint Chantilly

100 g heavy cream

10 g icing sugar

2 g fresh mint leaves, chiffonaded 

To assemble

Fresh raspberries

Icing sugar

Mint leaves

For the sablé, sift the all-purpose and cake flour together.

Cream the butter, salt, icing sugar, and almond flour together on medium speed in an electric mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the mix. Mix until a homogenous mass is obtained, about 2 minutes.

Stop the mixer, add the eggs and mix for a few seconds on low speed until the eggs are completely incorporated.

Stop the mixer, add the sifted flours, and mix for a few seconds, pulsing the mixer at first to keep the flour in the bowl. Mix just to obtain a homogenous mixture. 

Shape the dough into a flat square and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven 325 F.

Roll out the dough to 3mm, then chill again until slightly firm. Line your tart shell by placing a piece of dough on top of each mold. Gently push the dough in with your fingertips until it conforms to the shape of the mold. Make sure that the dough is lined up with the mold. There will be some that protrudes from the rim of the mold. Do not cut it yet. Freeze the tart(s) until the dough hardens.

Once the dough is hard, use a paring knife to trim the excess off the top of the molds. 

Dock the dough with a fork and line with parchment paper and baking weights/dried beans/rice. If the dough is still frozen, bake it; otherwise re-freeze it. Bake until the bottom is dry, but has not developed colour yet, about 10 minutes. Remove the parchment and baking weights form the tart and bake for a further 5 to 7 minutes, until the tarts are very lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Make the raspberry cake. Place a silpat on a half sheet pan and spray the border with non-stick oil spray. Preheat the oven to 320 F.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and vanilla powder in a bowl. Set aside.

Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until pale and creamy. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugar, beating until combined. Then add the eggs, beating until combined. Slowly add the raspberry purée, scraping down the bowl halfway through.

Fold in the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the sheet pan and use an offset spatula to spread the batter in an even layer.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cake springs back in the middle when you apply gentle pressure with your fingertips. Remove the cake from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Using a circular cookie cutter, cut the raspberry cake into disks that will fit snugly in the bottom of the tarts. 

For the pastry cream, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Whisk until slightly paler in colour.

Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan set over medium heat. Bring to just a boil, remove from heat and add the mint leaves. Cover with a lid and let the mixture steep for ten minutes. Strain the mint leaves out and return the milk mixture to medium heat. 

When the milk mixture has come to a boil, slowly pour a small amount into the yolk mixture, whisking continuously. Continue tempering the yolks with the milk mixture, then transfer all of back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking continuously, until the mixture has thickened, about 4 minutes. Continue to cook for another minute, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Whisk in the butter and the white chocolate.

Set the pastry cream over an ice bath to cool. Once it has reached room temperature, place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate for 2 hours.

For the streusel, combine the flour, almond flour, sugar, and lime zest in a medium bowl. Add the cold butter and use your fingers to break up the butter into pea-sized chunks, making sure it stays cold the entire time. 

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Spread the streusel evenly onto a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, stirring every 4 minutes to evenly brown the streusel. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

For the fresh mint chantilly, combine the heavy cream and icing sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold in the mint leaves. Reserve in the fridge until ready to use.

To assemble, place the disk of raspberry sponge in the tart shells. Pipe the pastry cream into the tart shells, leaving about 1/4 inch of the tart unfilled. Spread the streusel over the pastry cream so that it is flush with the rum of the crust. Place the raspberries on the streusel, starting with the outside and working your way inside. Garnish with a dusting of icing sugar, a quenelle of fresh mint chantilly, and fresh mint leaves. Serve immediately.