How is your January treating you? Is your house finally back to pre-Christmas mode? Are you trudging through these first few weeks of the new year like you are king of the world? Have you noticed that the days are getting ever-so-slightly-longer? (that last fact is really making me happy! I always have trouble this time of year when night creeps in so early). We have been going through extremely cold to oddly mild weather snaps over the last few weeks. It is so hard to know how to dress each day because no one day is a like, so rather than go out to face the -30C windchill, we’ve been hunkering down in our wood heated house and baking up a storm.
During these cold weather baking sessions I realized that I have a confession…
I have never baked with earl grey. (I know! You can pick your jaws up now!) It seems as if the earl grey obsession has been floating around the blogisphere for years, and I am only just now jumping on board. To be honest, I don’t really know why it has taken me so long to give it a whirl. There have been so many drool-worthy recipes pass by my screen — scones, cookies, cakes, pies — but your guess is as good as mine as to why these trials have never graced our kitchen.
This week I decided it was finally time to to pull those earl grey tea bags out from the back of the tea cupboard and tackle something I’ve been dreaming up for a while now. I have been on a panna cotta kick lately. Aside from its lovely smooth and creamy texture, it is one of the simplest desserts to make but is sure to impress any crowd. In its simplest form, all you need is milk, sugar, gelatin and cream, and from there you can add flavours and swap out the dairy with dairy-free options. So, why not turn that dish into a tart and add some earl grey??!!
EARL GREY PANNA COTTA TART
makes one 8″ tart
ingredients
pâte sucrée:
275g all-purpose flour
75g almond flour
125g unsalted butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt
earl grey panna cotta:
250mL 2% milk
1 Tbsp. loose leaf Earl Grey tea
Zest of 1 lemon
125mL heavy cream
1 1/4 tsp. gelatin powder
35g. white chocolate
pistachios, for serving (optional)
coconut, for serving (optional)
steps
pâte sucrée:
Measure out all ingredients prior to starting and have eggs cracked, in bowl, unbeaten.
Combine flour, almond flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Place cold butter between two sheets of parchment paper and roll with a rolling pin until butter is about 1/4″ thick. Place entire butter disk in the flour/salt mixture.
Cover the butter with flour and tear into large pieces. Continue to flake and mix the butter in with the flour/salt mixture with hands. Do not squeeze the butter, but rather, use a soft skimming motion. Make sure all butter continues to stay covered with flour so as not to get sticky. Stop mixing when the shards of butter are the size of a large pea. Large chunks of butter lends to a lighter, flakier pastry.
Add the sugar, and mix evenly. Pour the whole eggs and yolk into the mixture and mix everything together. Press the dough with both thumbs, then turn the dough clockwise a few degrees and press down and turn again. Repeat multiple times.
Turn pastry out onto a lightly flour dusted work surface. Work the dough as you did while in the bowl – pressing down and rotating. The dough should feel like plasticine, and look homogenous. Roll the dough into a sphere and lightly press to flatten.
Cover in saran wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes or, even better, over night. A chilled pastry is a better pastry!
When ready to assemble, lightly grease an 8-in tart pan (with removable bottom). Roll your chilled pâte sucrée on a lightly floured dusted surface. Your dough should be about 5mm thick. Do not force the pastry to roll out, rather, let your rolling pin do the work.
Gently line your tart pan with the dough. Press the dough into the edges and trim the excess. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes while you heat your oven to 425F.
Remove tart from freezer, and line the tart with tin foil. Fill with pie weights (or beans! I use beans!) and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pie weights and tin foil and bake for a further 10 minutes.
Let tart shell could completely.
earl grey panna cotta:
Warm milk in a small saucepan with the looseleaf tea and lemon zest. Make sure not to boil. When the milk is hot, remove from the stove and let tea infuse in milk for 30 minutes.
Strain the tea-infused milk then place in a medium saucepan with the cream, sugar, and sprinkle the Knox gelatin overtop.
Let stand 10 minutes, then heat the mixture while whisking on medium-low until the sugar and the gelatin have dissolved (if you have a thermometer, heat to 125ºF).
Strain the mixture into a large measuring cup and let cool 30 minutes at room temperature, whisking every so often. Move to the fridge (still whisking intermittently) until the panna cotta is below 100ºF.
tart assembly:
Brush the bottom of the pre-baked tart shell with the melted white chocolate and place on a rimmed sheet in the fridge to set.
Pour the cooled panna cotta into the shells and refrigerate overnight to set.
Once set, decorate the top with chopped pistachios, toasted coconut, whipped cream, or whatever your heart desires!
Enjoy!
