Shortcrust pastry tartlets with Stracchino custard

AICI – Associazione Insegnanti di Cucina Italiana

Recipe by Paola Di Berardino

(for 20 tartlets) FOR THE SHORTCRUST PASTRY : 250 g Italian ‘00’ flour 100 g icing sugar 40 g egg yolks 150 g butter 1 vanilla pod FOR THE STRACCHINO CUSTARD : 250 ml milk 60 g sugar 20 g corn starch 40 g egg yolks 1/2 vanilla pod 250 g Stracchino FOR THE DECORATION : chocolate flakes, caramel drops or fresh fruit

FOR THE SHORTCRUST PASTRY : rub together the flour and the diced butter until you get a breadcrumb-like mixture. Add the sugar, egg yolks and the seeds of a vanilla pod. Knead together quickly until you get a compact dough. Leave to stand in the fridge for at least 2 hours, wrapped in cling film.
Roll out the pasty with a rolling pin to a thickness of 3 mm. Use a pastry cutter to cut out disc shapes large enough to act as a base for your moulds. Pierce with a fork and blind bake, placing in a pre- heated oven at 180°C for approximately 10 minutes.

FOR THE CREAM : heat up the milk together with the vanilla pod, opened up into two, lengthways. In
a bowl, whip the egg yolks with the sugar, add the corn starch and dilute with the hot milk (filtered to remove the vanilla). Place the mixture back on the heat and cook until just a few minutes before boiling. Pour the cream into a bowl and leave to cool with a cover of cling film touching the surface.
Then add the Stracchino (already beaten with a whisk to make it soft and creamy) to the cold cream and mix well.
With a piping bag, fill each shortcrust pastry tartlet with the Stracchino custard and decorate the surface with chocolate flakes, caramel drops or fresh fruit.