Apple Crumble Rose Tarts ~ Rose Rose I love you!

After the pretty pretty mango rose, I am addicted to create beautiful rose using fruits. This time round I am creating apple rose to go with one of my favourite dessert ~ apple crumble.

:: My version of apple crumble ~ with apple rose ::

Apple Fillings Ingredients:
(fills 8 tarts shells)

2 red apples

1 green apple 

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 and 1/2 tsp white sugar

2 cup and 2 tbsp water

How to do:

1. Dice the apples and set aside a portion of the diced red apple (approx. 1/2 apple)

2. In my Toshiba rice cooker, add 2 cups of water, lemon juice, and the diced red & green apple and hit the 'cook' button as if cooking rice.

3. By the end of the 'cook' cycle, the apples will be mushy like applesauce.

4. Transfer the applesauce into a saucepan, add the remaining portion of diced red apple and 2 tbsp water.

5. Using medium low heat, further cook the apples till the water has been reduced and the diced red apple slightly soft. Add more water if required to soften the diced apple, be careful not to burn the applesauce.

6. Set aside for later use.

:: Apple sauce with soften diced apple ::

* I used rice cooker to make the apple sauce because I was lazy to watch fire on stove. Rice cooker is very efficient in turning apple into applesauce without burning it.

** I use green apple because I prefer some sourness in my apple crumble

*** Amount of sugar is subjective, depending on individual taste-buds and whether the apples are sweet. Taste and adjust the sweetness accordingly.

 Apple Rose Ingredients:
(makes 8 roses)

2 red apples (*Use the very red apples for a nicer color hue.)

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp light brown sugar

1 and 1/2 cup water

How to do:

Check out this video that I had created on how to make the apple rose:

Crumbles Ingredients:

25g salted cold butter, cut into small pieces
45g all-purpose flour

How to do:

1. Press the cold butter into the flour using fingertips till resemble breadcrumbs

*Most recipe I found require 1:1 ratio for butter and flour but I could not get breadcrumbs texture using that ratio so I added more flour.

:: Crumbles should resemble breadcrumbs ::

For the tart shells, I am re-using the recipe for my mango pudding tarts as it is foolproof for me!

Instead of fully bake them, I half baked them before adding the apple fillings & crumbles.

Tart Shell Ingredients:

(makes 8 tart shells)

60g salted butter, softened & cut into small pieces
30g icing sugar
1 large egg yolk 
120g all purpose flour

How to do:

1. Cream the soften butter till it is smooth and pale yellow. I used hand whisk.

2. Add icing sugar and continue to cream till light and fluffy.

3. Add in the egg yolk nd continue to mix till well combined.

4. Sift in the flour in 3 installments, using a spatula, mix well for each addition till the mixture becomes a soft dough.

5. Shape the dough into a cylinder shape, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for about 15 - 20min.

6. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut the dough into 8 equal portion.

7. Shape them into a ball and placed in the tart mould.

8. Press the dough ball in the center against the mould and push it up against the wall till its full height. After baking, the crust will expand slight above the mould and it is easier to remove from the mould.

9. Use a fork to poke holes at the base of the tart shells. This is to prevent the base from rising during baking.

10. Place them in a preheated oven and bake at 150 degree (on my Morris oven dial, real temperature should be about 170 degree) for 5 min.

11. Take out from the oven and set aside.

*DO NOT grease the tart mould, the tart shell can be easily removed with a gentle knock. Greasing the tart mould will cause it to stick to the mould instead.

:: Tart Mould ~ Size 3.5cm base 7cm top::

To assemble:

1. Egg wash the tart shells.

2. Scoop a bit of the apple fillings into the tart shells.

3. Place the apple rose into the center of the tart shell top of the applesauce.

4. Fill the side with more apple fillings.

5. Carefully sprinkle the crumbles onto the apple fillings area.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 150 degree (on my Morris oven dial, real temperature should be about 170 degree) for another 15-20 min or till the tart shell & crumbles are browned.

:: Just can't get enough of my pretty tarts ::

Mango Pudding Rose Tarts ~ So Pretty that I Almost Can't Bear to Eat Them!

It's been a while since I blog about my bakes. Finally found the motivation to blog about my latest bake because it turned out to be so pretty and so yummy! 

It is the mangoes season now and many bakers are posting yummy mango related cakes and desserts photos online. I am so tempted to try out some mango-y desserts.

Since my previous longan beancurd tarts were so well-received, so I thought why not make mango pudding tarts. And I wanted to make them look so pretty, so I used the mango strips to make into mango rose. I am very pleased with the result - both look and taste!

:: Mango Pudding Rose Tarts::

For the Tart Shell

The tart shell recipe is similar as my egg tart post here, but I made a small change to it. Instead of using a portion of a whole beaten egg, I use only egg yolk. The reason is that I can't think of how to use the remaining beaten egg yoke and I doubt it can be kept in the fridge for use another day. By using just the egg yolk, I can save the white by freezing it and use it for macarons or chiffon cakes recipes that require more egg white. The result of using just the egg yolk is that the tart shells seem to be a bit softer than when I use whole egg. I also use salted butter instead of unsalted simply because I ran out of the unsalted ones... haha...

Tart shells are baked in my Morris tabletop oven.

Tart Shell Ingredients:

45g salted butter, softened & cut into small pieces
20g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
90g all purpose flour

How to do:

1. Cream the soften butter till it is smooth and pale yellow. I used hand whisk.

2. Add icing sugar and continue to cream till light and fluffy.

3. Add in the egg yolk nd continue to mix till well combined.

4. Sift in the flour in 3 installments using a spatula, mix well for each addition till the mixture becomes a soft dough.

5. Shape the dough into a cylinder shape, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for about 15 - 20min.

6. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut the dough into 6 equal portion.

7. Shape them into a ball and placed in the tart mould.

8. Press the dough ball in the center against the mould and push it up against the wall till its full height. After baking, the crust will expand slight above the mould and it is easier to remove from the mould.

9. Use a fork to poke holes at the base of the tart shells. This is to prevent the base from rising during baking.

10. Place them in a preheated oven and bake at 150 degree (on my Morris oven dial, real temperature should be about 170 degree) for 7min.

11. Take out from the oven and egg wash* the tarts. The holes of the base will close up considerably after egg wash.

12. Put back into the oven and bake for another 5min or when the tart shells turn slightly brown.
13. Remove from oven, unmould once the moulds are slightly cooled down enough for hands to handle. Continue to let them cool on a metal rack.

*Can use some of the egg white for egg wash or for me, I used the evaporated milk

**DO NOT grease the tart mould, the tart shell can be easily removed with a gentle knock. Greasing the tart mould will cause it to stick to the mould instead.

:: Tart Mould ~ Size 3.5cm base 7cm top::

For the Mango Pudding 

This bake is quite an impromptu creation. As I was looking at various pudding recipes, most require condense milk and or coconut milk. I had non of those in my fridge so I was very happy when I finally found one recipe that require only evaporated milk which I had at home. My pudding recipe is modified from http://allthatmatters2rei.blogspot.sg/2008/05/mango-pudding.html  As my family and I like our dessert less sweet, I reduce the sugar considerably. 

Mango Pudding Ingredients:

2 mangoes
1/3 cup evaporated milk

2/3 cup water

1/8 cup sugar

1 tbsp gelatin powder

How to do:

1. Peel off the skin of the mangos.

2. Continue to use the peeler to peel the mango flesh into long stripes. 

3. Use the stripes of mango and arrange them to look like a rose in the tart shell.

4. After that, blend the rest of the mango stripes until they are smooth, yielded slightly more than 1 cup of mango puree.

5. Bring the water to boil in a saucepan, pour in gelatin powder and stir till fully dissolve.

6. Add in the sugar and continue to stir till dissolve.

7. Lower the heat and add in the evaporated milk and mango puree.

8. Stir till it starts to simmer, then remove from heat.

9. Pour the mango pudding mixture through a sift. This is to remove any lumps and give it a smoother texture.

10. Gently pour the pudding mixture into the tart shell, avoiding pouring directly onto the mango rose. As the mixture is quite thick, pour via different side of the tart shell so that the mixture is evenly distributed.

11. Put into the fridge and chill for a few hours.

They are ready to serve once the pudding is set.

*For the mango rose, you can check out how to do here. I prefer to do the rose first before pouring in the pudding mixture as I feel that it is less messy. It is my first time handling the mango stripes to make a rose so I don't want to risk it. However, this will also mean that the center part of the rose might not have the pudding as the mixture is quite thick and does not flow easily. I did pour a little bit of the pudding mixture into the center of the rose, but must be very careful else, might ruin the shape of the rose.

For the amount of ingredients above, I manage to do fillings for 6 tarts and 6 puddings in 3inch size ramekins.

:: Mango Pudding with Strawberries ::