Strawberry Lychee Papa Tarts

Preparation

Prep pastry dough

In a large mixing bowl, add flour, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and ground freeze dried strawberries and mix until combined. With a box grater, grate frozen butter into the flour mixture. With your hands mix the flour mixture and butter together until the butter is coated, squishing any pieces of butter larger than a pea. Pour in ice cold water a little at a time as you use your hands to squish the dough together to combine (being careful not to overknead). As you pour in the last of the water, it should go from clumpy loose mess to a smooth-ish dough ball.

Place the dough ball on a floured surface and roll out into a large square about an inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Make filling

In a pot on medium high heat, add frozen strawberries, sugar, lychee, lychee syrup, kosher salt, and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer for a few minutes until the strawberries have defrosted and are soft. Pour the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth, then return to the pot. Bring the blended mixture to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently until it reduces from smoothie consistency to thick jammy paste. Place into a heatproof container and set aside in the fridge to cool.

Assemble and bake

Preheat an oven to 300°F. Please refer to the handy dandy diagram above for corresponding visual. (1) Once the dough has chilled, unwrap and cut in half. (2) Place one of the halves wrapped in the fridge while working with the other. (3) On a floured work surface, roll out the halved dough into a large rectangle about 1/8 of an inch thick. (4) With a knife, cut 6 rectangles of the same size, discarding the scraps (or you can squish them together and roll out the dough to make another two rectangles).

(5a) With a chopstick or fork, poke holes on top of half of the rectangles. (5b) With the remaining half, spread a thin layer of strawberry lychee filling, leaving about a 1/4 inch around the edges. (5c) Beat 1 egg, then with a silicone brush or your finger, paint a thin layer of egg wash around the edges of the rectangle with filling (this will serve as the glue to seal the tart). (6a) Finally, grab a rectangle with holes and place directly on top of a rectangle with filling and gently press along the edges to attach. (6b) With the tip of a fork, press down around the edges of the tart to seal completely. Repeat with remaining cut rectangles and with the other half of the dough in the fridge.

Place tarts onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes until the tops are lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Make icing

In a small mixing bowl, add egg white and beat slowly with a hand mixer for a minute until frothy. Add powdered sugar a little at a time and beat on medium high speed. As you add the powdered sugar in, it should go from from tooth paste texture to a light, fluffy icing with peaks. Once you see peaks, add in ground freeze dried strawberry, kosher salt, and vanilla and mix again until combined and the icing has stiff peaks. Scoop icing into a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped and set aside.

Decorate and serve

Once the tarts have cooled, pipe icing onto the tops of the tarts. Sift extra ground strawberry on top and allow to cool at room temperature for 20 minutes or so to let the icing set and enjoy!