Tofu Tart
★★★★★
PREP TIME
1 hour 40 minutes
COOK TIME
2 hours 30 minutes
MAKES
a dozen 3-inch tarts, or one 12-inch tart
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups
all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
1 tablespoon
granulated sugar
1
stick unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon
apple cider or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon
ice water
1
large egg, beaten
3
sheets gelatin (or 1 tablespoon powdered)
1/4 cup
water
1 1/2 cups
soy milk (I used a fresh soy milk that was sweetened, but any regular carton soy milk, or even Vitasoy would work)
Instructions
- We’ll start with making the tart crust. Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Then, add in the cubes of butter, and rub and pinch the butter into the flour with your hands, until no large lumps of butter remain and the mixture turns sandy. Add in the vinegar and ice water and gently coax the dough together into a unified mass. (If it doesn’t all come together at this point, you may need to add another teaspoon or two of water.) Give the dough a few kneads, then pat it down into a disc, wrap it tightly in plastic, and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- When you’re ready for baking, heat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a dozen mini tart molds. (I used 3-inch tartlet molds.)
- Take your pastry dough out of the fridge. Roll it out with a rolling pin until 1/8-inch thick. Then, using a round cutter, cut out 4-inch circles out of the dough, and nestle them into the tart molds. (You might not get all 12 circles on the first roll out, in which case, just gather the dough again, roll it out, and punch out more dough circles.) Put the tart shells into the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to firm up slightly.
- Now for some blind baking. Line the chilled tart doughs with similarly sized squares of parchment paper. Then fill the tart shells with baking beans or baking weights, and bake them for 15 minutes. When the 15 minutes are up, remove the baking weights from the tart shells, and brush the bottom of the tart shell with the beaten egg. (This forms a protective sheath so the filling won’t make the tart crust soggy.) Bake them for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the center of the tarts turns golden-brown. When done, take the tarts out of the oven and let them cool to room temperature in their molds.
- For the filling, start by blooming the gelatin in ¼ cup of water for 5 minutes, until the gelatin is fully hydrated. Heat up the soy milk in a pan until it starts to steam, careful not to boil it. Pour the gelatin, water and all, into the hot soy milk, and stir to dissolve. Pass the liquid through a sieve to make sure there are no lumps of gelatin.
- Carefully fill each of the tart shells to the brim with the soy milk. Chill them in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or overnight, until the soy filling is perfectly set. Then, eat!
