Hi Everyone !
I am more than happy to welcome as special guest for the first time on this blog my beautiful, talented, sweet and creative princess Noemie for a special and exclusive "making-of" of mini Prune tarts !
Noemie is only 17 years old and despite her young age, she definitely has developed very good pastry skills among many other skills revealing as well her beautiful talents. This shows that we should always be aware that skills and talents certainly do not depend on age and/or experience but rather on our ability through our determination and dedication to make those same skills and talents manifest in our lives.
I am very proud of her for her perseverance in everything she undertakes while staying in God`s Light at each and every step. This is for sure the best way for all of us to advance in life to become the person God wants us to be.
I hope that this will encourage you all to always look forward to find new ways to nourish the great gifts God gave you so that you can use them to the fullest and thus have an accomplished life!
God Bless,
Catriona
MINI PRUNE TARTS BY NOEMIE !
Ingredients:
For the mini tarts` base dough
250 gm flour
1g of vanilla powder (optional)
110 gm salted butter
55g of icing sugar
2g salt
30 ml vanilla essence (Robson - Alcohol-free brand)
For the filling
80 gm margarine
60 gm sugar
1 egg
80 gm ground almonds
30 g flour
15 ml almond essence (Robson - Alcohol free brand)
12-15 dried prunes
40ml of honey for the glazing
30g colored Marzipan (Almond paste) + 10g of corn flour for dusting - Optional
12 silver sugar pearls - Optional
For the baking
One Non-Stick 12-Cavity Mini Pie Pan (Refer picture in step 6)
Procedure:
Step 1 (Preparing the mini pies` base dough):
In a bowl mix your flour, icing sugar, salt and vanilla powder (optional). Once well mixed, add butter (cut into small and/or thin pieces) and start kneading with love !
Step 2 (Preparing the mini pies` base dough):
Continue kneading until you obtain a uniform yellowish color of your dough like in the picture below
Step 3 (Preparing the mini pies` base dough):
Add vanilla essence and continue to knead
Step 4 (Preparing the mini pies` base dough):
Continue to knead the dough while shaping it in a ball like in the picture below. At this stage, your mini pies` base dough is ready !
Step 5 (Preparing the mini pies` base dough):
Using your rolling pin, flatten your dough to a thickness of about 5mm. Then take a circular cookie cutter (it should be slightly larger than the diameter of the circles in your baking pan) and cut one or more circles in your flattened dough as applicable. Remove the excess dough outside the perimeter of your cookie cutter each time.
Step 6 (Preparing the mini pies` base dough):
Place one circle obtained from step 5 in each cavity of your baking pan as shown below and press slightly at the base to form the small "bowl" shape that will contain the filling. Repeat step 5 until all your pie bases are ready
Step 7:
If you have some dough left, just use it to make some cookies with anything you have at hand - Here Noemie is using chopped Almonds
Step 8 (Pie filling):
In a bowl, add margarine, sugar, egg, ground almonds, flour and almond essence then using your hand whisk, mix mix mix
Step 9 (Pie filling):
When you obtain a uniform and slightly shiny paste like in the picture below (left), fill your pie bases accordingly. The pies should not be overfilled since this paste will normally rise when baking
Step 10 (Pie filling):
Once all your pies are filled, raise your pan slightly above the table surface then release it so that it falls vertically. Repeat this step 8-10 times. This is very important as it will help to remove all air bubbles in the filling as well as to ensure a uniform distribution of the filling in the pie bases
Step 11 (Pie filling):
After removing all air bubbles in the filling as well as distributing it evenly (i.e from step 10), your mini pies will look like in the image below
Step 12 (Pie filling):
Cut one dried prune into thin slices to decorate one mini pie as per your preference . Repeat same step with the other mini pies
Step 12 (Pie filling):
Your mini pies are ready for baking. Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Note: For the cookies (if you have any), since they do not contain any filling, they will take less time to cook such that you can remove them at 15 minutes as compared to the mini pies (filled) which should be removed at 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Out of the oven - Hot hot hot !...
Step 13 :
Allow your mini pies to cool down sufficiently enough so that you can eventually transfer them from the pan to a baking tray.
Step 14 :
Using your favourite silicon brush, glaze your mini pies with some honey
Step 15 :
For a special touch, you may cut out some flower shapes out of colored Marzipan and stick them on your mini pies
Step 16 :
Time for packaging ! Here Noemie is using a small polystyrene tray with an Aluminium insert to package the mini pies in pairs . She is also adding some praline eggs as an extra decoration ..
Hmmmmmm, so many people are going to be happy !...
Using cellophane paper to wrap the trays ..
Voila !
Those small golden stickers will certainly add up to that special gift look
Greater gifts are those you make yourself with love
Thank you for watching !
