Tarte(s) Ananas - Pineapple Tarts

There's going to be a fair bit of artistic licence involved in this project, so I may as well tell you now that, in the book, this is instructed to be cooked as one tart. But these tartlets worked just as well - as my tasters will attest.

It started with a pineapple.

The French name, ananas, comes from the Tupi language of Brazil, meaning "excellent fruit". And they were right.

The pineapple starts off as a group of berries, or "ovaries", which then fuse together to make one big fruit.

Begin by slicing the pineapple into sixths lengthways.

I cooked up a caramel...

and mixed in some orange juice, vanilla extract and dark rum.

Pour this over the pineapple, and slow roast in the oven, occasionally basting with the sugary mixture.

Cool completely in the fridge, and then slice finely.

I'd already made some sweet almond pastry - we'll go into that another day...

Normally, you could just line the one pan with the pastry and trim... but I made some Pac-mans...

and placed them into a greased and floured muffin tin, then chilled them in the fridge.

Now for the succulent coconut cream filling.

Soften some butter and beat in sugar, coconut, cornflour, eggs and rum. Whip cream and fold in the coconut mixture.

Remove the shells from the fridge and line the bottom with sliced pineapple. Pipe the coconut cream over the top.

Bake!

Allow to cool completely, then arrange sliced pineapple on top.

What I changed (from the original recipe): the size of the tarts - dessicated coconut instead of coconut flour (which I think made for a great texture) - and I finished the recipe by drizzling the tarts with the juices from the roasted pineapple, giving it extra flavour.

These turned out so well - the pastry was light and crisp, the coconut cream was moist and the texture was soft and chewy, and the roasted pineapple set it off perfectly. A very successful first project!

Please do comment and let me know what you think!

Up next - Crème Brulée!

Steph xx


**Disclaimer - I'm sorry that I won't be posting the full recipes, but as it's my aim to cook through all the recipes of the book, I don't want to end up getting sued! On the occasions when I'm making my own recipes, or when they're from sources other than the Ladurée book, they will be posted!**

A new project...

For my birthday last February, I was lucky enough to be given this book by my lovely husband.

There may have been a few hints thrown around. Maybe.

This book is an objet d'art. It has a velvet cover. It has gold-edged pages. It came in a box, wrapped in frickin' tissue paper. Needless to say, this book does not enter the kitchen.

But it does also have 90 excellent recipes. And through the next year, I'm going to be working my way through these recipes, producing tartes, macarons, gateaux and desserts - to name but a few. And after I've finished this project... who knows?

My first post will be celebrating this king of the fruits - the glorious pineapple.

Stay tuned!

Steph xx