02 March 2010

TWD: Toasted-Coconut Custard Tart

Two words:  Aw YEAH!

TWD this month has, as someone noted, largely swung away from chocolatey things;  this month we have lots of coconut, which I LIKES.  Today's entry is a lovely silky smooth custard tart, flavored with a heaping helping of toasted coconut and a lil' bit of rum.  Which I also LIKES. It also meant I got to christen the ol' new processor, yippee!

I have now made Dorie's sweet tart dough with nuts a bazillion times, and the regular dough, too.  So since the instructions indicated that the crust was an important part of this pie, I decided something new was in order: 

yes ma'am, CHOCOLATE tart crust. 


It came together fine but...um...I actually think my lil' chopper did a better job *ducks*  Next time I will use the metal blade instead of the plastic "dough blade" (hmph) to cut in the butter.  ALSO--there was Spillage of Ingredients, even with the cover locked into place!  HATE HATE HATE.

 
NOT. COOL!

I have the hardest time gauging thickness, so I rolled out the dough on silicone with a piece of wax paper on top and flipped it into the pan, which worked well enough. 

Froze overnight and baked with beans as I always get puffiness otherwise. 

I toasted the coconut in the oven:  a few minutes at 350, stirring when I could pry the cat off my lap.  It got a little more than "lightly" brown, but oh well. 


Later that night--the custard, which was a really straightforward basic pastry cream. 

 whisk whisk whisk!  By the way, this whisk is probably one of my all time fave kitchen tools.  

Some TWDers complained about the coriander and rum.  I must use crappy coriander and drink too many rum n cokes because I didn't really taste either. 


Folded in coconut and let it chill.

 
I love making pastry cream. It's so simple!

Then the whipped cream.  I didn't really taste the rum here, either, and I even used my super-special-can't-find-it-in-the-States-special-Barcelo Dominican rum.  I do use fresh cream from a local dairy, so sometimes its hard to get past the "mmmm, GRASS and DIRT and OUTSIDE" taste for a city girl such as myself. 

I have been having the hardest time with whipped cream of late--I always seem to overbeat it to near-butter stage.  It goes from liquid to airy chunky-looking mess in a flash.  What gives? Must I go back to industrial store brand cream?

Anyway, tart assembly was a snap:

alpha

omega


Just divine creamy goodness with a healthy dose of coconut for interest.  Yum yum yum--and even better the second day!  Must NOT have more than ONE slice per day...

Thank you, Beryl, for choosing this recipe.  Thank you, mayne.  I would eat this every day if I could.

9 comments:

Beryl said...

Chocolate crust...what a fabulous idea! When I make this next time, and there will be lots of next times, I will have to try this. Thanks for baking with me!

Maura said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maura said...

It looks delicious. I love your posts. The step by steps with pictures and always make me laugh. The first time I used my food processor I thought the same thing... um, what's the fuss about? It didn't impress me. But it will win you over, bit by bit. And sometimes it will impress you so much that you will sort of want to hug it. or maybe that's just me.

Flourchild said...

Great looking chocolate crust. Im glad you enjoyed the recipe. It's a keeper!

miss kate said...

@Maura: I was totally expecting magic and sparkles and unicorns, so when I found myself standing there thinking "why won't it cut the butter properly? why isn't everything mixing? why do I keep having to scrape and mix by hand? WHY IS THERE FLOUR COMING OUT THE BACK?!" I was all like "Grrrrrr" but I am glad to hear that it will eventually be worthy of my luv.

Susan said...

Oh my! Chocolate crust. Now that would be a terrific variation on an already fabulous dessert! Yours looks amazing!

chocolatechic said...

Looks lovely.

Another chocolate crust.


I must really be missing out on something.

Marthe said...

Chocolate crust: what a great idea, now this tart reminds me of bounty-bars (I'm sure they have a different name in the U.S.)
I loved this tart!!

miss kate said...

@Marthe: We have Bounty bars here! They came out when I was in high school, I think. Now they can be kind of hard to find...their popularity pales in comparison to that of the stateside version, Mounds bars (and my favorite, Almond Joy).

@chocolatechic: the chocolate crust is GOOD.

 

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