Florence Fabricants Pastry Cream Recipes

CLASSIC STRAWBERRY TART

Steps:

• Prepare the pastry cream, and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours, until cold.
• While the pastry cream is chilling, prepare and bake the tart pastry, setting it aside, at room temperature, to cool completely.
• Sort the strawberries. You will need about 1 1/2 pints, or 20 ounces, to cover the tart. Rinse the berries, remove the hulls, then place them, cut-side down and not touching, on a layer of paper towel on a tray so they can dry completely. If needed, use a hair dryer on a gentle cool setting to make sure the berries are dry.
• Whip the heavy cream until stiff. When the pastry cream is thoroughly chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and fold in the whipped cream until completely incorporated. Spread this mixture over the bottom of the baked tart shell.
• Place the berries on the cream in concentric circles as close to each other as possible. The berries should sit on top of the cream, so don't push them down into it. Refrigerate the tart.
• Place the jelly and the kirsch in a small saucepan, and cook over medium heat until the jelly has melted and starts to bubble. Remove from the heat.
• Remove the tart from the refrigerator, and using a pastry brush, glaze the berries with the warm jelly mixture, giving them a thin but complete coating. Serve at once, or refrigerate -- but not more than a couple of hours, to prevent the pastry from becoming soggy -- until ready to serve. Remove the ring from the pan before serving.

NECTARINE TART

Steps:

• Blend flour, salt and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl or food processor. Dice 8 tablespoons of the butter. Use a pastry blender or two knives to blend flour mixture and butter, or pulse them together in a food processor to make a crumbly mixture. Beat the egg yolk with 3 tablespoons cold water. Dribble it over the flour mixture, then stir or pulse slowly until the mixture starts clumping together. A bit more water may be necessary. Gather dough in a loose ball and form into a disk on a lightly floured surface.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough and line a 10-inch loose-bottom tart pan. Line pastry with a sheet of foil and spread pastry weights or dry beans on top. Bake 12 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter, cooking it on low until it turns a light nut brown. Pit fruit (except figs) and cut in eighths or, if fruit is small, fourths. After 12 minutes, remove foil and weights from pastry. Return pastry to oven and continue baking until it is lightly browned, another 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pastry from oven and increase temperature to 400 degrees.
• Brush pastry with preserves. Arrange fruit in tight concentric circles, starting by placing it around the perimeter, skin side down, against the vertical sides of the pastry and standing it up as much as possible. Brush with melted butter. Dust with remaining sugar. Bake about 35 to 40 minutes, until edges have browned but fruit has not collapsed. Cool before serving with crème fraîche.

FLORENCE FABRICANT'S PASTRY CREAM

Steps:

• Scald the milk in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Remove from heat.
• Beat the egg yolks, egg and sugar together for 2 to 3 minutes, until the eggs thicken and lighten in color. Beat in the flour.
• Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, beating constantly.
• Return this mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, whisking and scraping the bottom constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. It should thicken to about the consistency of pudding. Cook a few seconds longer, then strain into a metal bowl.
• Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream, and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours.