Delicious, little strawberry tartlettes with vanilla custard - Sarah Wiener

Different reasons have led to this post:

1. I had a punnet of strawberries that needed to be eaten
2. I haven't baked in over a week! 
3. A friend from France, who used to sit in the same office as us, is visiting our office and she doesn't get to try my baking too often but I know she likes my cakes
5. Since I'm moving to Australia in October I've made the decision to only take those cook books, that I actually use. 

Now that I've listed my very plausible reasons for this cake I have to admit that I only bought this book about two weeks ago but again I had a reason for buying this. Sarah Wiener, a chef from Vienna, now based in Berlin, used to be our neighbour and I think therefore she is a bit of a must-be-idol for me. And when I flicked through the book the food looked very yummy! So this one is definitely moving down under with me! Unfortunately, I think the book is only available in German so far.

But now for the recipe!

Strawberry Tartlettes with vanilla custard

For the pastry
400g flour
1 pinch of salt
150g sugar
200g cold butter
3 egg yolks
3-4 tbsp cold water

For the vanilla custard
190ml milk
190g cream
1 vanilla bean
very thin peel of a quarter of a lemon
3 eggs
110g sugar

For the topping
500g strawberries
50g icing sugar

1. Place flour on your kitchen bench, add a pinch of salt, sugar and place the cold butter cut into little pieces on top. Make a dent in the middle and add eggs and water. Cut everything with a big knife so the ingredients mix. Then using your hands knead the pastry and form a ball. 
Or you use a food processor, add the dry ingredients first, mix, then add butter, eggs and water (you will probably need a little less water). Mix until everything comes together and roll into a ball. Cover the pastry in cling wrap and cool in the fridge.

2. Grease 8 little tarte pans (diameter 10cm) or one big one, preferably with a loose base. Divide pastry into 8 equal portions and roll each portion out on a lightly floured surface. Place rolled-out pastry in tart pan and press against the sides of the pan, trim edges. Poke a few holes into the pastry using a form. Put the pans back in the firdge and cool for about 15 minutes. 

3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake the cases in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until slightly browned. Take out, place on a wire rack and let them cool for a bit.

4. Meanwhile, bring milk, vanilla, a cut vanilla bean and lemon peel to the boil. Take pot off the stove, scarpe out vanilla seeds and add to the milk (put the vanilla bean back into the mixture as well). Cover pot and let sit for about 10 minutes. Mix eggs and sugar until the mixture starts to become pale. Slowly pour milk mixture through a sieve into the egg mixture, keep beating. Let sit and cool for a bit then pour the egg-milk mixture into the tarte cases.

5. Bake at 160°C until the custard has set. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack.

6. Clean strawberries and cut in halvs or quarters. Mix with the icing sugar and let sit for a bit. Top cakes with strawberries and serve.

Original (German) recipe by Sarah Wiener - La Dolce Wiener, published at Knaur Verlag.