The Queen of Hearts' Fruit Tarts - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carrol)

Post Comment

 “Herald, read the accusation!” said the King.

On this the White Rabbit blew three blasts on the trumpet, and then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:— 


“The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,

  All on a summer day:

The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,

    And took them quite away!”




Have you ever stopped to count all the food that Alice encounters in her Wonderland adventures? Tea, bread and butter, mysterious cookies and potions, magic mushrooms... Everywhere she ends up there's something to taste, granted that someone will always pay the consequences, and this time the repercussions of an eaten - or stolen - meal are incredibly serious. But did you know that this poem at the beginning of the chapter, introducing the absurd trial and its delirious testimonies, was actually a nursery rhyme by an anonymous author, published in the European Magazine in 1782? The nursery rhyme, thankfully, had a happy ending with the Knave of Hearts giving back the tarts to their rightful owner without losing his head!

But what would the Queen of Heart's tarts taste like?

Let's go back to 1865, the year Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published. At that time, the word "tart" didn't have the same connotation as today: now, the first kinds that come to mind are sweet, dessert type of pastries. But in the 1800s tart was just any baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base, with an open top not covered with pastry, usually savory. Custards in pastry containing meat, fish, fruit or jam were a staple of Victorian English cuisine. Two of the most famous sweet versions of this dish were the Epiphany tarts (very intricate jam pastries) and the Manchester tarts (filled with a custard made with bread crumbs). The original Manchester tart is a variation on an earlier recipe, the Manchester pudding, which was first recorded by the Victorian cookery writer Mrs Beeton.

When I think of Alice in Wonderland, though, my mind goes straight to the Mad Hatter and March Hare's tea party and I wonder whether the Queen's tarts would have looked good on their table, between all the teapots and teacups. So my version of those tea party delicatessen would be very simple sweet vanilla custard tarts, with fresh fruit. Let's make them!





Ingredients:

For the crust:

  • 160 gr all-purpose flour

  • 125 gr unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

  • 3 tablespoons ice water

  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest                  

 For the Custard:

  • 100 gr granulated sugar

  • 70 gr all-purpose flour

  • a pinch of fine salt

  • 500ml whole milk

  • 2 large egg yolks

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or fresh vanilla seeds

For the decoration:

        fresh fruit of choice (blueberries, raspberries, figs, peaches, etc...)


Process flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor for a few seconds until combined. If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this by using a pastry cutter. Add butter and pulse until mixture becomes crumbly and resembles coarse meal, about 15 pulses. Add egg and vanilla extract and keep pulsing until the dough is no longer dry and starts to clump together, about 10-15 seconds. Do not process to the point that a large ball of dough is formed; rather the dough should be quite crumbly with large clumps. Another way to check if it’s done is to take a piece of dough and press it between your thumbs – the dough should stick without feeling dry or crumbly.
Turn dough to a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. It should come together easily without being sticky. Flatten ball slightly with your hands to form a thick disc. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Have eggs ready in a bowl, and set aside where it will be within reach.
Using a whisk, combine milk, sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Allow milk to scald (heat to the point when tiny bubbles form around edges of pan). Whisk occasionally to prevent cornstarch from clumping on bottom edges of pan.
Remove milk mixture from heat, preferably to a burner that's turned off.
Mix about 2 tablespoons of scalded milk mixture into eggs using whisk, then introduce eggs into milk mixture in a slow stream, whisking milk mixture constantly.
Immediately return pan to heat and whisk gently until custard thickens, another two or three minutes. Do not allow to boil. (If you find that you have egg white strands in custard, feel free to pass it through a fine-mesh sieve into a different bowl now.)
Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla.


On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into circles, then place gently into the tart pans. I used a silicon mold. With a sharp knife, trim the edges of the pastry and then freeze for 20 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 180° C and blind bake crust for 20 minutes.
Let crust cool down and fill with custard and decorate with your favourite fruit.

Let me know if you try this recipe. In the meantime, take care, be safe and keep reading!



0 Comments