Banana Custard Tart, Cost ~$5, Rating 6/10

Phew! This recipe took time to get through. I was very unaccustomed to making a dough with this much butter. Originally, I was thinking of making a fruit tart but I changed my mind mid-through to include custard rather than cream. Also, these tarts had a bit of excess shortbread because the recipe was intentionally designed to supply the crust for a whole pie (attained from http://www.joyofbaking.com/SweetPastryCrust.html).  Because I lacked a pie dish, I used ramekins to create separate tarts for members of my family and molded it as shown below: 

Pre-baking the crust:

I didn't use baking beans to prevent the pastry from rising. I relied on making holes in the pastry with a fork but it didn't help much. Next time, I'll stick with the baking beans for sure.

I used the custard recipe from here, seeing that it's rated 5 stars (https://www.deliciouseveryday.com/custard-tarts/). However, next time, I'll be sure to cook the custard entirely separately and then pour it into the pastry cups to set.  That's because I wanted to have it set better than it did. 

My family enjoyed this treat but I expected much more out of it. Considering it required half and half, a full stick of butter, and then a typical amount of sugar, I would have thought the custard would have a nice zing taste to it, but it just didn't meet my high expectations. It would be worth changing up this recipe to include orange crème anglaise with an alternative pastry dough more suited for baking in ramekins, for a clean and distinct taste. (Perhaps banana bread for the pastry portion would have added a nice twist.)

Well, it's on to the next one, once again. 

Read more »

Mixed-Berry Jalousie, Rating 9/10, Costs $8 to Make at Home

So this is a great tart recipe to make at home because it tastes extravagant and has a home-made, comforting food touch. It doesn't require too much labor. I know I'll be twice as fast the next time I make it. And isn't that the case with most recipes after trying them once? This dish is perfect for a family of four and you can bet they'll ask you to make this again. My family devoured it in equal sizes, (splitting it into fourths), and it provided for a great, enjoyable, weekend moment.  The recipe can be found at: http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/mixed-berry-jalousie

Start of by making the compote aspect of the pastry first. It tastes delicious with the lemon zest so it's worth including it. I used frozen packaged puff pastry (the Pepperidge Farm brand) and it measured out to be about 9 x 9-1/2 inches or something similar to that measurement. I didn't change the size of the pastry to suit the recipe and it still came out fine. As long as you have two sheets of pastry that can fit perfectly over each other, you'll be just fine.  

I used egg wash and spread it on to 1" edges of the pastry and placed the compote in the center. Then I placed the second pastry sheet, which was precut as styled in the picture below, on to the top of the egg-washed pastry. To better understand this part of the recipe, please watch:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEA55UeDMew&t=13s. I wouldn't have understood the recipe instructions as well otherwise.


I wish I had taken a picture of the jalousie when we cut it into fourths. Either way, it came out extremely rich and absolutely indulging. It's worth giving it a shot the next time your craving something sweet to eat! :)

Read more »