SHF - Tropical Tart

I've never been keen on doing anything that involves kneading or shaping with my hands hence I instinctively avoid baking pies or tarts or even bread. Not that I've not tried at all, but my only two attempts at baking bread failed miserably. My only success was baking an apple tart with a recipe lifted from Joyofbaking.com, that's because the recipe called for a crumbly crust and kneading of dough was not required at all.

When I found out from Grab Your Fork that the host of SHF for this month is Jarrett from Life In Flow and the theme is Tart, I thought I was going to miss this one. However, after reading through Jarrett 's entry, I almost laughed out loud. This is because I share the same sentiments with him on our reluctance to knead a dough.

So for the next few days, I was busy looking for a tart recipe. I found a delicious looking Tropical Tart from Pierre Hermé's Desserts, one of the many cookbooks that I have borrowed from the library. Instead of following his recipe that calls for Sweet Tart Dough, I've decided to prepare a crumbly crust. Then I thought of replacing one of the fruits in his recipe to any fruits that can only be found in South East Asia. That's when I made a silly mistake....

I bought 1kg of small and almost-seedless mangosteen from the wet market, together with some kiwis and a small papaya. After I prepared the crust and filling, and popped it to the oven, I started to peel the mangosteens. Halfway through, I happened to look at the fruits in the bowl and to my horror, it had turned brown. I have to replace the mangosteen with another fruit. I started to panic, it was already 4pm and it's only 2.5 hours away from a dinner with hubby's family. I can't go to the market now, it'll take another half an hour! I quickly rummaged through my fridge and kitchen table and finally I found a bunch of banana. Phew!

The tart turned out beautifully and I brought along the tart to the family dinner as dessert.



Crust Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

To prepare the crust:
1) Mix the flour and sugar in the mixer.
2) Add butter and mix until dough just begins to come together.
3) Press dough onto the bottom and one inch up the sides of the pan.
4) Cover the pan with clingwrap and place it in the fridge.

Filling Ingredients:
5 1/2 oz butter, softened
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cups ground blanched almond
1 cups dessicated coconut
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp rum
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup heavy cream

1) Using a large mixing bowl and rubber spatula, mix the ingredients one after another, according to the sequence in the ingredients list.

2) Spoon the mixture in the tart shell and bake for 38 - 42 minutes.

3) Cool in room temperature.

Topping:
1 small papaya
3 kiwis
1 banana

1) Peel the kiwi and cut to thin slices. Arrange the kiwi slices in circles around the tart. Peel the papaya and banana and cut into cubes. Place them in the middle of the tart.

2) Refrigerate the tart for 1-2 hours. Serve.