Strawberry and Coconut Tarts and One Year Blog-iversary!

It is hard to believe that I have been blogging for one whole year already! I feel like I have learned so much in this year, about baking, blogging and about myself. Sugabuttacream has been a great way to express my creativeness and practice photography and writing (God knows I need it!). I have made things I never thought I would bother to attempt and learned some great skills and techniques along the way. Gosh its definitely about 'the journey' isn't it.

Admittedly this anniversary snuck up on me and I would have liked to have done something a bit more amazing and celebratory-like for this post. But shortcrust pastry tarts are something I have been meaning to make since I bought my food processor so it seemed as good a time as any to try it out now.  This is such a simple pastry recipe and can be used for any sort of sweet tart. These are my twist on the classic strawberry jam and coconut slice and taste just as delicious!

Strawberry and Coconut Tarts

Recipe adapted from Taste.com and Generations of Bush Cooking

What you will need

For the pastry

250g plain flour

125g chilled butter, cubed

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1tbsp cold water

For the filling

1/2 cup strawberry jam

For the topping

1 egg

1/6 cup sugar

1 cup shredded coconut

What you will need to do

I plan to refer back to this recipe for future shortcrust needs so I have added some visuals for the steps. 

Place flour, sugar and butter into food processor bowl. 

Process until resembles fine crumbs.

Add egg yolk and water.

Process until comes together and forms a ball.

Turn out onto floured surface and kneed lightly until smooth.

Shape into a round disc and place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180*C. Remove pastry from fridge and place on floured surface.

Roll pastry out to about 5mm thick.

Using a round cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can. Take the remaining off cuts and roll out again and cut out more rounds. You should be able to get about 8-10 rounds.

Place the rounds into silicone cupcake trays and gently push down to line the bottom and sides.

Using a fork, poke some holes in the bottom of the tarts.

Bake for 10 -15 minutes or until slightly golden. Leave to cool slightly in tray then gently remove and place on cooling rack.

For the filling, place about 2 teaspoons of jam into each tart to almost fill them. 

For the topping, beat the egg and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in the coconut until completely combined. Divide the topping evenly between the tarts, spoon onto the tops. Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes until toppings start to brown. For extra crisp top, use a blowtorch to scorch the tops.

Banoffee Pie

In my opinion, the best fruit and sweet combination ever goes to banana and caramel! It wins over strawberries and chocolate, peaches and cream and fruit salad and ice cream every time. There is just something amazing about when that sweet gooey caramel blends with the smooth banana, I don't know how or why but it is just pure magic in my mouth.

I decided to make these delicious Banoffee Pies after seeing the recipe on Taste.com as the recipe of the day. It looked way too good to pass up so this weekend was to be Banoffee weekend! Instead of making one large pie, I made four small ones, only for the fact that I don't own a large pie tin. They were perfectly sized for one hungry person. 

In hindsight I would put more caramel and more banana into the pies, or just less crust and cream. The ratio was not quite right for my liking, but in saying that they were still super delicious! The addition of the chocolate bars on top just add another layer of flavour and texture to the pies and really top it off.

Banoffee Pie

(shamelessly stolen from taste.com)

What you will need

• 1 packet milk arrowroot biscuits

• 125g butter, melted

• 1 tin caramel top n fill

• 1 banana

• 300ml pure cream

• 1 flake bar

• 1 picnic bar

• 1 boost bar

What you will need to do

• Crush the biscuits in a food processor and then mix in a bowl with the melted butter. Divide mixture between 4 small pie tins. Press the mixture into the sides and bottom of tins to create the crust and leave in fridge to set for an hour.

• Empty the tin of caramel into a bowl and stir until smooth. Divide the caramel between the 4 pies and smooth out. Cut the banana into slices and arrange on top of the caramel. 

• Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Spoon or pipe on top of the pies.

• Roughly chop all the chocolate bars and sprinkle on top of the cream. Put pies in fridge for an hour to set.