Did you call me a tart?!?

It is time to make my first tart. 

I've always delayed the idea since as much as I love the elegance and chichiness of a tart, it's also always scared me. The crust just seems really tricky and totally out of my league. No room for success it seems. Oh well, what's another baking fiasco, bring it on Tart!!

The first step is to buy a tart pan. Did you know the bottom is removable? Well I will NEVER forget.

I picked this lovely coconut raspberry tart from BakingObsession as it looks so tasty. I attack the crust with trembling hands and go through making the dough, resting the dough, rolling the dough (I KNOW it's not supposed to crack like that, let's patch), resting the dough, form the dough, rest the dough some more. At this point, I'm exhausted but kinda proud. A parchment paper and some pie weight later it goes in the oven and I wait...

When the timer goes off, I'm as excited as I can be, and then it happened. I was so eager to get the crust out, that my inexperience hand held the pan from the bottom, yes, the removable bottom. The side piece of the pan just slides down my arm taking with it the whole side of my beautiful crust. It was like watching a deliciously smelling train wreck and there was nothing I could do about it. 

Tart 1 - Thanh 0

Yes there were internal tears and yes, there were cursing but I couldn't let the tart win. I restarted from scratch and after a few hours of holding my breath, I came up with this.

And it was so good. Oh yah, Tart 1 - Thanh 1.

Coconut Raspberry Tart

Inspired by BakingObsession

Makes 9-inch tart

*Make sure you have a few hours as this has many components.

For the tart crust:
 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

      1/3 cup ground unsweetened coconut
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
¼ tsp salt
4 ½ oz cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and frozen for 20 minutes.
2 large egg yolks
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
For the white chocolate-raspberry ganache
6 oz good quality white chocolate, very finely chopped
3 tbsp (45g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, softened
2 tbsp whipping cream
6 tbsp fresh raspberry puree
1 tbsp light corn syrup
For the coconut pastry cream filling:
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup whole milk
  ½ vanilla bean, cut lengthwise
3 tbsp cornstarch, sifted
½ cup granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
       4 tbsp (2 oz; 55g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1-tablespoon portions
Fresh raspberries

Make the crusts:

Combine the flour, coconut, icing sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor, pulse to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. In a small bowl lightly whisk the yolks and vanilla together. Dribble the yolk mixture through the processor tube while pulsing until clumps form. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead very lightly just to incorporate any dry ingredients that haven’t been mixed in. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour.

Butter 9-inch tart pan with removable bottoms(!!!!). On lightly floured surface or on parchment paper, roll the dough into 1/8-inch thickness. Carefully transfer the rolled dough into the prepared pan and press the dough onto the bottoms and up the sides of the pans. Cut the excess of the dough. Dock the bottoms of the crusts with a fork and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the crust with parchment paper, then with dry beans or pie weights. Bake for about 15 minutes, until set. Carefully remove the parchment and bake the crusts for another 10-12 minutes until light golden.

Make the white chocolate-raspberry ganache:

Pour about 1-inch of water into a frying pan and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and wait for a couple of minutes to cool. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl, then place the bowl with the chocolate into the hot water, just for a moment, to premelt the chocolate and buffer a shock of adding the hot liquid later. Remove the bowl from the water bath, add the butter.

In a small pan, bring to a boiling point the cream, raspberry puree, and corn syrup, stirring. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and let sit for two minutes without disturbing. When the time is over, gently stir the mixture with a rubber spatula in circular motion (from the center to the sides of the bowl) until the chocolate melts and the ganache is smooth. Let cool to room temperature and thicken. 

 Make the coconut pastry cream, assemble the tarts:

In a small saucepan, bring the coconut milk, milk and vanilla bean (scrape the seeds into the milk) to the boil over the medium heat. Off the heat, cover and let steep for an hour.

Prepare an ice bath.

Return the vanilla-infused milk to the medium heat. Reheat the milk once again to the boiling point. In the meantime, combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk together.
Once the milk has reached the boil, temper the eggs by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the egg mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered egg mixture.

Pour the egg-milk mixture back into the saucepan and place the pan over the medium heat. Whisk vigorously and continuously until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat). The pastry cream should be thick and the cornstarch taste should be all gone. Strain the pastry cream into a small bowl set into the ice-water bath to stop the cooking process.

Continue stirring the mixture at this point so it remains smooth. Once the cream has reached the temperature of 140F remove it from the ice-water bath and stir in the butter, one tablespoon at a time. Return to the ice-water bath to cool completely, stirring often. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly over the surface of the cream and refrigerate up to 2 days.

To assemble the tarts, pour raspberry-white chocolate ganache into prebaked tart crust, tilt the tart shells so the ganache spreads and covers the bottoms thinly.  Fill the crusts with the coconut pastry cream, not up to the very edge. Scatter the raspberries over the coconut filling and allow it to set in the fridge for about and hour.