Baked Coconut Tarts Recipes

DELICIOUS COCONUT TARTS, CHINESE BAKERY-STYLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Position an oven rack in the lower third (just below centre) of the oven.
• In a mixing bowl, stir flour, icing sugar and salt together to mix well.
• Add chilled butter cubes and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles a sandy mixture or like breadcrumbs.
• Add egg yolks, and cut into the flour-butter mixture with a dough scraper until the dough starts to come together. Finish up kneading by hand until the dough is smooth and even coloured. DO NOT OVER-KNEAD or else the pastry will be tough.
• Set it in the chiller while you make the filling.
• In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, milk, coconut milk and yellow food colouring (optional). Whisk by hand until sugar dissolves.
• Add in melted butter and whisk to combine well. Tip in grated coconut and stir to combine well. (If using desiccated coconut, please read notes below.)
• BLIND-BAKE THE TART SHELLS
• Line the tart moulds with pastry dough, pressing gently into the moulds. The thickness should ideally be between 3 - 4 mm.
• Line the tart shells with a cut square of baking paper. Fill with baking beans or rice. OR instead of using weights, lightly prick the base with a fork. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the tart shells are a light golden brown.
• Remove the baking beans and baking paper.
• Spoon the coconut filling into each tart shell. Do not spoon too much liquid, leaving about a 2-mm border around the tart edge clear of filling. Note: If desired, strain the coconut filling before filling. Do not press any juices out from the flesh when you do this, as it should be soaked as heavily as possible. Then, fill tart shells with the flesh. Finally, spoon just enough of the liquid custard to fill up to almost the edge of the tart. Don't overdo it, otherwise the custard will bubble over the edges of the shells during baking.
• To create a slightly dome-shaped filling, pile some strained coconut flesh in the centre (please read Notes below).
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until coconut tops brown evenly. Bake for a few minutes longer if you like the crusted tops.
• Remove from oven and let the tarts cool in their moulds for 15 minutes. Gently remove from tart moulds and cool on a baking rack.

COCONUT TARTS WITH STRAWBERRY JAM

Steps:

• Add your flour, salt and icing sugar to your food processor and give it a whizz to combine evenly. Or you can mix it together in a large bowl.
• Dot over your grated butter and pulse for about 15 pulses until the mixture becomes sand like. Or rub in by hand.
• Add your egg yolk, vanilla extract and milk and pulse for about 10 pulses (lasting a second each) by which time the mixture should be starting to form some clumpy boulders of various sizes.
• Lightly flour your worksurface and tip your pastry mixture out.
• Bring the pastry gently together into a ball, knead literally just a 2-3 times to achieve this.
• Flatten the dough to a depth of about 1 inch, wrap in cling film (saran wrap) and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Whilst your dough is in your fridge make your coconut topping.
• Heat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/355°F/Gas mark 4.
• Place a large baking tray into your oven to heat.
• Using your pastry brush, grease your tart cases with butter, making sure you get into all of the crevices.
• Beat together your softened butter and caster sugar until it becomes a soft, spreadable paste and is a little lighter in colour. I tend to do this by hand using the spatula as there is so little to mix.
• Add your beaten eggs, milk and vanilla extract and beat until smooth and you can see a few air bubbles on the top.
• Sift in your flour, salt, baking powder and cornflour.
• Beat again until fully combined.
• Fold in your desiccated coconut until evenly mixed together.
• Divide your pastry dough up into 20 balls of 24 grams.
• Pop a dough ball into each tart case and press it down with your thumb. Then starting from the base begin to press the dough up the sides of the tart case. Moving around in circles so that the dough is kept at the same level and thickness. Try to press the dough very slightly above the edge of the tart case and then wipe it away, so that you have an even and smooth finish.
• Pop the tarts back into your refrigerator to set for 10 minutes, as the pastry will have become warm during the moulding process.
• Take ¾teaspoon of jam and add it to each tart.
• Take a heaped teaspoon of coconut filling and place on top of the jam base.
• Add half of a cherry to each tart, but do not press it into the topping otherwise it will sink.
• Place the tarts onto you pre-heated baking tray.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top of the coconut tarts and the pastry case edges are nicely browned.

COCONUT TART

Steps:

• Make tart:
• Roll out dough into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin, then fit into tart pan. Trim excess dough. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.
• Lightly prick bottom of shell all over with a fork, then line with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until edge is pale golden and side is set, 20 to 30 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil and bake shell until deep golden all over, 10 to 18 minutes more.
• Whisk together milk, eggs, yolk, confectioners sugar, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then stir in coconut.
• Pour filling into hot tart shell and spread evenly with a fork. Bake until top is golden, about 35 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove side of pan and cool tart to room temperature, about 2 hours.