This beautiful dessert pairs tart, unsweetened rhubarb with a sweet, crisp pastry, covered with a crunchy sugar dome that melts on the fruit and in your mouth.
Makes: 18 tarts
Preparation time: 40 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
INGREDIENTS
225g plain flour
140g butter or margarine softened
75g icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1 egg
1kg rhubarb, washed
Vanilla extract, a few drops
150g caster sugar
METHOD
Line a large baking tray with baking parchment and heat your oven to 160°C.
To make the pastry: mix the butter, sugars and flour together. Don’t work the dough for too long.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1cm. Cut it into 8cm circles and lay them on the lined tray.
Bake them for 20-25 minutes until the edges are golden. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then cool on a wire rack.
In the meantime, cut the rhubarb into 2.5cm-3cm pieces. Put in a pan with the vanilla extract.
Cook over a medium heat until they are soft but not compote – a maximum of 8-10 minutes.
Arrange the pieces of rhubarb on each tart base and bake for 5 more minutes.
To make the caramel domes: turn a few individual silicone round moulds upside down. You could also use small individual oiled metal pudding tins.
Put the sugar into a non-stick pan and cook at medium high temperature stirring all the time so the sugar does not burn.
When it is a nice caramel brown colour, take it off the heat and, working quickly and carefully, use a spoon to drizzle the liquid caramel over each mould to form a dome.
When the caramel has dried and set, remove each dome from the mould. Place it on top of the tart just before serving.
