Crust–Pastry Dough:
1 c flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter (cold)
1 large egg
1 tbsp cold water
Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baing soda, and salt). Cut up the cold butter into little pieces and mix it into the dry ingredients. Use your hands to break up the clumps of butter. When butter is mixed in, the dough should feel flaky.
Then add egg and water and keep mixing with your hands until the dough balls up. Flatten dough into a disk to wrap and refrigerate for a few hours.
When ready for use, knead and roll out dough. Use a non-stick spray to coat the bottom of a 9-in pastry pan and line with pastry dough. If you are making the strawberry tart, you would bake the crust separately for 30 min at 350 degrees. Top with filling and strawberries after crust is done and has cooled. If you are making an apple tart, you would need to line the apples into the pastry dough before baking. You would also need to add an addition of 10-15 minutes to baking time for apples to be ready.
Filling–Pastry Cream:
1 c milk (for richer filling, use whole milk)
1/4 c sugar
3 tbsp flour or 2.5 tbsp cornstarch
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp butter softened
Combine milk, vanilla and half the sugar in saucepan and until mixture boils. Be careful not to burn the milk.
Combine remaining sugar and flour or cornstarch in a bowl. Whisk in eggs one at a time. (I’ve used cornstarch and flour to make pastry cream before and I think I prefer the cornstarch. It seemed to have given me better consistency with less lumps).
Slowly add hot milk mixture to dry mixture slowly and steadily in a stream. As you pour with one hand, whisk like a madman/woman with the other. Once everything is incorporated, it will look like an thin eggy mixture.
Return mixture to the saucepan and onto stove. Keep whisking the mixture until it boils and thickens. This part is essential or you’ll get lumps. It should look something like this. Wrap and refrigerate before using.
The Finish–Apricot Glaze:
1/2 c of apricot preserves
1 tbsp water
Heat apricot preserves and water in saucepan until mixture is completely melted. Strain chunks from the mixture. Use a brush and coat the top of the fruit with glaze immediately.