Rooibos Tea – Infused Pâte Sucrée Breton Tarts
Walk into any French Patisserie and you’ll be amazed by the array of Pâte Sucrée Breton tartlets, impossible to choose from. In French, pâte means “pastry” or “dough” and sucrée means “sugar” or “sweet”, hence these are little tartlets with a sweet pastry (or shortbread) crust , a smooth filling and decorated with fresh fruit. With their flaky, crunchy, butter pastry, I love making these for afternoon teas or sophisticated dinner parties.
Making the filling is exceptionally easy and the sky is really the limit when it comes to decorating these. I make these so often and was looking for a way to do put a twist on the original and decided to try them infused with flavored Rooibos tea. I chose a subtle tropical-infused Rooibos tea from my tea box, which is Rooibos tea with peel, fiber and petals from mango, apple, hibiscus, papaya and lemon. Now I have to say, Rooibos tea in general is subtle and getting a strong brew with the tropical flavor is difficult. Furthermore, you don’t want to add a lot of water to the filling, so you really need almost a concentrate of strong tea. So I used 3-4 teaspoons of tea, brewed it over the stove for 10-15 minutes, cooled it down and mixed in 60 ml with my filling.
The result was the most subtle fruity, floral undertone that elevated the velvety filling to whole new level. I don’t think I will ever make these again without infusing them with tea, in fact I encourage you to experiment with different teas and come up with your own flavor profile. I think teas such as Earle Gray, Chai, peppermint, hibiscus or rose can work really well here (see my Tea Box from My Butcher’s Block) – just remember to share your favorite recipe with me!
Now, let’s talk about the shortbread crust. In my opinion, the pastry crust is the essence of a great Pâte Sucrée Breton tart. The Pâte Sucrée crust originates from Brittany, France, where it was originally served as a crumbly, deliciously rich, butter cookie. From here the key ingredient to a great Pâte Sucrée crust: butter. When making any French pastry, butter is what gives flavor, that golden color and the most extraordinary texture that is crispy, flaky and yet melt-in-your-mouth lightness. This pastry is very versatile and it can be used for just about any tart crust.
Tips for making the lightest Pâte Brisée Sucrée (sweet short crust) pastry:
Whenever you’re making pastry, it is important to use best-quality butter for maximum flavor, color and flakiness. It is also the butter that helps make pastry so light. What is important though, is to make sure your butter remains at room temperature throughout the process of making the pastry, if the butter starts to melt even the slightest, it may cause the pastry to become chewy and dense. If the butter starts to melt, stop immediately and put everything back into fridge for 20-30 minutes before continuing.
To make sure the heat from my hands does not melt the butter, I prefer to use a stand mixer for making the pastry, it is low effort and works well if you are preparing more than one batch of pastry. However, be careful not to overwork the pastry as this may also affect the lightness.
The second most important thing when making pastry is time. Having enough time to thoroughly rest the pastry after making it is very important as it needs to be chilled for at least an hour or even overnight before baking – this again helps the butter cool and hardens. The pastry should be firm and you’ll need to bash it with a heavy rolling pin to help relax the pastry before rolling – this can be quite enjoyable…
When rolling out the pastry, be sure to flour your rolling pin and if possible, do so on a cold marble/ granite surface, handling the pastry as less as possible before pressing into the flan/ fluted tart molds and blind baking until the pastry is golden, crisp and completely cooked through. Blind baking the tart shells will help prevent the pastry from shrinking down the sides and puffing up too much – you want a thin, even crust. This may take up to 20-25 minutes.
A note on freezing the pastry:
You can make batches of this shortcrust pastry and store it in the freezer for when you need it. I always have a batch of crust pastry ready in the freezer and it thaw and bake perfectly. Roll the pastry into a neat ball, wrap with cling film and freeze immediately after preparing. To thaw the pastry, remove it from the freezer and allow to slowly thaw in the fridge overnight.
You can view my YouTube channel “Cooking In The Veld” by clicking the link below or by scanning the QR code.
YouTube Recipe Vlog:https://linktr.ee/Stean_Kruger.
Rooibos Tea - Infused Sucrée Breton Tarts
Ingredients
Pâte Sucrée (shortbread pastry)
- ½ c butter at room temperature
- ¼ c white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1½ c cake flour sifted
- ¼ tsp salt
Tropical-Infused Rooibos Tea
- 4 tsp tropical-infused Rooibos tea or tea of your choice
- 1 c water
Filling
- 385 g condensed milk
- 230 g cream cheese at room temperature
- 30 ml lemon juice
- 60 ml strongly brewed tea flavor/ type of your choice
- 2 c fruit of choice, sliced/ diced or whole
Instructions
To make the pastry
- In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or by hand with a wooden spoon), cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Make sure the butter does not melt. Add the egg and beat until just combined. Add the flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together - do not overwork. Flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight until firm.
- Grease 5, 10 cm fluted tart/ flan pans or tart shells. Divide the dough into 4-5 equally sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough to a thickness of roughly 3 mm and press into the tart shell. Press the dough up against the side of the shell and firmly into the bottom. Trim off any excess dough. Line the shell with baking paper followed by baking weights. Blind bake for 20-25 minutes until golden, crisp and cooked through. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
To brew the Rooibos tea (or any other tea)
- In a small teapot, add 4 tsp of tea of your choice to 1 cup water. Gently brew on the stove for 10-15 minutes or until a tea extract is made. You need 60 ml of strong tea.
To make the filling
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the condensed milk and cream cheese until smooth. The mixture may look alarmingly thin at this stage. Add the tea and lemon juice. Mix until thickened. Allow to thicken further while cooling in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Spoon the thickened mixture into the cooled tart shells and decorate with fruit. You may want to slice, dice or keep the fruit whole. Any fruit will do!
- Store in the fridge. When ready to serve, remove the tarts from the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Notes
- It is very important to keep the butter cool while making the pastry - melting butter will result in the pastry becoming chewy when baked.
- If the butter starts to melt, immediately return the mixture to the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- Do not overwork the pastry. As soon as the dough comes together, it is ready.
- Rest the pastry for as long as possible in the fridge.
- Blind baking will prevent the edges from shrinking and will prevent the crust from puffing up too much.
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