Mini-mini pistachio crème mousseline

In the book Small Tarts, you’ll learn how to make mini-minis: the famous little tarts from Petit gâteau. They all have the same base, but by now there are 150 different kinds of filling. Try this version with a pistachio crème mousseline. The recipe for the tart shells can be found here.

Method

Line an oven dish with plastic wrap. Put the milk and heavy cream with half the sugar and 60 g butter in a saucepan. Whisk the other half of the sugar with the egg yolks in a bowl until frothy and add the cornstarch. Place the pan on the heat and bring the milk and cream to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pour about half of the boiling milk into the bowl with the egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Mix well. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place the pan over medium heat. Stir well with the whisk. Also scrape the bottom and the center with the whisk to prevent the crème from burning. When the crème starts to boil, continue stirring for 1 minute without stopping.

Pour the crème into the oven dish and cover with plastic wrap (to prevent a skin from forming on the crème). Let the crème cool briefly outside the refrigerator, then place it in the refrigerator to chill. Remove the cold crème from the refrigerator about 2 hours later and let it come to room temperature. Beat the remaining 60 g butter in a bowl and add half of the crème. Mix well to create a homogeneous mixture. Add the remaining crème along with a tablespoon of pistachio paste. Now whisk the mixture until light and airy; add more pistachio paste to taste if desired. Place the crème in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Take a piping bag with a star nozzle and fill it with the crème. Pipe pretty rosettes and decorate with a raspberry or hazelnut.

Pistachio paste

Preheat the oven to 150°C. Roast the pistachios in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Put the water and superfine sugar in a small saucepan. Cook the sugar syrup to 117°C using a sugar thermometer. Use a sugar thermometer to determine the correct temperature. Add the warm pistachios and stir everything well until the nuts are coated all over with a white layer of sugar. Pour the sugared (not caramelized) pistachios onto a baking sheet.

Then put them in a blender along with the almond flour. Turn on the blender and add a tablespoon of sunflower oil after 2 minutes. Blend the pistachios for about another 10 minutes until smooth (like peanut butter). Turn the blender off from time to time to prevent the motor from burning out. You can store this paste in a sealed jar outside the refrigerator for 3 months. Tip: to intensify the pistachio flavor, add a drop of almond extract.

Title: Small Tarts
Author: Meike Schaling
Publisher: Kosmos Uitgevers
Price: €17.50

Publication date: 01-05-2018