Strawberry Chocolate Galette

make the pastry

Whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Place ingredients in the refrigerator to chill. Once chilled, remove ingredients from refrigerator and add butter. Quickly cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until butter chunks are about the size of peas. Slowly mix in the ice water, being careful not to overwork the dough. Form the dough into a ball, adding a little more water if the dough is too crumbly. Once a ball is formed, flatten it to a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. If desired, chill your rolling pin at this time as well.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the dough and place on a floured surface. Roll into approx. an 11-inch circle and transfer to the baking sheet.

make the ganache

Roughly chop chocolate and place in a bowl. In a saucepan, bring cream to a boil over medium heat. Remove cream from heat and pour over chocolate. Let stand for about 5 minutes and then stir with a whisk until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Spread ganache on pastry, about 1 inch from the edge.

make the filling

In a medium bowl, combine strawberries, lemon juice, sugar and cornstarch. Using a slotted spoon, pile strawberries into the center of the pastry. I avoid using the leftover juices because they can tend to run and make the crust soggy. Spread strawberries about a 1/2 to 1 inch from the edge of the chocolate ganache. Fold about 1 inch of edges of pastry around the filling, overlapping as needed.

finish the pastry

In a small bowl, whisk together egg and water. Using a pastry brush, apply egg wash to the surface of the pastry. Then, sprinkle raw sugar on the pastry crust.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden yellow. I love to serve the galette warm with vanilla bean ice cream.

Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

make the crust

Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Then line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the parchment.

Mix the flour, powdered sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the pieces of butter and pulse the ingredients using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. The flour should combine with the butter and begin forming small balls. In a bowl break up the egg yolk then add it in increments, mixing in pulses after each addition. Keep pulsing for 10 second each until the ingredients begin to mix. Mix until the ingredients could be formed into a ball of dough. Don’t over mix.

Using a floured surface, carefully knead the dough just enough to get all of the extra dry ingredients combined. Evenly, lightly press the dough into the bottom and sides of the tart pan. Reserve a small amount of the dough to repair cracks in the crust after baking. Freeze the crust for 30 minutes. Refrigerate the extra dough. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter the shiny side of aluminum foil and press the buttered side down against the crust. Bake on a baking sheet for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and press down the crust. Fill any cracks or thin spots with the extra dough. Bake for 8 more minutes until the crust is lightly brown. Let cool. Cover until ready to use.

make the custard

Bring the milk to a soft boil. In a large saucepan whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and salt until well combined. While constantly whisking, pour 1/3 of the milk into the egg mixture. Continuing to whisk, slowly pour the remaining milk into the eggs. While still whisking, heat the mixture over medium heat until it begins to boil; let boil for up to 2 minutes, until it thickens. Mix in the rum and vanilla. Let it stand for 5 minutes. Then add the bits of butter. This should make the custard very smooth. Stir in the toasted coconut. Cover with plastic wrap pressed against the custard and cool in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes. You can also store the custard overnight until ready to use.

make the topping

With a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, whip the cream until it holds medium peaks. Add the powdered sugar and mix until firm peaks are formed, but be careful not to over mix. Fold in the rum and vanilla. If you like a lighter rum flavor, I would omit it from the whipped topping.

To put it all together, lightly whisk the cooled custard and pour it into the crust. Spoon the whipped cream all over the tart and spread evenly to the edges. Sprinkle toasted coconut on top of the whipped cream.