In a top secret, covert operation, we decided to surprise Daniel’s grandma for her 80th birthday. We packed our Prius with an excessive amount of clothes, some road snacks, travel cash, and a few good books and set out on our way. Since Daniel’s family lives in San Jose CA, that means we had 11 hours of quality time to remember what it’s like to talk about things that don’t matter and laugh at things that do.
Instead of dealing with the hassle of security, renting a car, etc., we opted to forgo the headache and take it easy along the i5 corridor. We hit our favorite spots along the way too, Daniel’s is an In and Out in Redding and mine is every rest stop in sight.
This trip is a triple whammy!
- Surprising grandma for her party
- Surprising my father-in-law for Father’s Day
- It’s our 8th wedding anniversary!
After we partied with family and took in some quality time with Daniel’s dad, we made our way back up to San Francisco to celebrate us, our 8 years of marriage, and the absolute joy of being with someone you truly enjoy. After the craziest Spring of our lives, we got to connect again—with garlic fries in hand and clam chowder in our bellies—soon to be joined by a Ghirardelli chocolate sundae. Magical.
So, that’s life. We are heading back today to spend a few days at home catching up on chores and errands before the work week starts again. And, I wanted to come on here and share this recipe for Vanilla Bean and Rose Tarts. They are perfect for the summer or a nice tea party year-round. Plus, they are beautiful and that is top priority in my book when it comes to desserts.
The tart crust is very simple, and it’s filled with a classic crème patisserie flavored with vanilla bean and rose water extract. The name sounds complicated, but it isn’t. If you’ve ever made a cookie you can make this tart crust. If you’ve ever made pudding or a cooked frosting, you can make the crème patisserie. It’s fun too, if you enjoy this kind of thing, which you should.
Hope your weekends ahead are planned with fun or a little spontaneity. Enjoy the sun and the outdoors. Do something this weekend that will make your weekday a little easier and definitely find some time to read a few chapters in that book you’ve been ignoring.
Be talking to you soon, loves,
Karlee
*Note, I doubled the recipe to get the quantity shown in these pictures.
Vanilla Bean and Rose Tarts
Here is a fun recipe for Vanilla Bean and Rose Tarts that are a lot easier than you may think. A chill of the dough here and a cooking of the creme there.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 25 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients
|| Tart Shells ||
1 stick of butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
|| Crème ||
3 egg yolks
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch
1 1/4 cups whole milk
Vanilla bean (or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste)
2 teaspoons rose water extract
Instructions
|| Tart Shells || Mix ingredients together until it forms a crumble. Sprinkle into individual tart shells and press down the edges until uniform. If you make them thicker, they will be easier to remove from the molds and not break. Make them at least 1/8″ – 1/4″ thick.
Place in the fridge for 30 minutes until the butter in the crust has solidified.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Poke holes in the bottom of the tarts to vent any steam. Place on a cookie sheet and in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. Don’t bake until golden brown, just until done. Let tarts cool 20 minutes before removing from the molds.
|| Crème || Whisk egg yolks and granulated sugar together until pale. Add the flour and corn starch and whisk until combined. Split vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out seeds. In a small saucepan, heat milk and vanilla bean together on medium low heat until steam just starts to rise from the top. Remove from heat and very slowly add to the yolk mixture. Whisk vigorously to prevent cooking the eggs too fast. Place the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and add the rosewater extract. If your rosewater is diluted, add more to your preference.
Transfer mixture to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap with the plastic is touching the crème completely. Refrigerate for an hour until it’s cool enough to handle. Place crème in a piping bag with a French star tip or whatever tip you prefer. Pipe a generous amount of crème into the tart shells. Sprinkle with food grade dried rose petals for garnish.
Notes
Depending on your preference, you may want to add more rosewater extract. This recipe gives the tarts a faint aroma of rose and isn’t too intense. Feel free to add more to your preference.
This recipe makes 8 small tarts or 4 medium tarts.
Keywords: cream, creme, crust, pie, rose, tarts, vanilla bean
Happy Anniversary!!! This looks so good. Love you.
Love you, Carol!!!! Thanks 🙂
These are so cute!! They look like something for a tea party. And way to celebrate ALL the things! So fun.
Yes!! Tea parties all the way. I will never get too old for tea parties 🙂
I just made a rose custard baklava with your beautiful rose crème, to use up leftover egg yolks from a meringue roulade I baked a few days ago. I’m cooing over all your gorgeous photography and recipes – rose, orange blossom, cardamom, saffron… such fragrant flavours are very much close to my heart. Funny I just spotted your orange spice cupcakes – I also made orange curd a few weeks ago to ice some raspberry & orange cupcakes! Thank you for gracing my muggy Friday afternoon with your culinary delights, I’m thrilled to discover a kindred spirit across the ocean! With love from England xo
Awe, Awen!!!! This is amazing and had 100 made my day! I love the rose creme baklava idea! Oh em GEEEEE i need that in my life! Thanks so much for YOUR beautiful inspiration! I love my new kindred across the pond 🙂 Hope you have an amazing weekend!
Yay!! I just found your yummy Instagram <3 I took some pics of the baklava at twilight (rather silly in low light). If they turn out okay, I'll post a pic and tag you! My Instagram is @awensophiarose, on my feed you'll see the raspberry & mango meringue roulade that led me to you. Happy Sunday to you love! <3
Awe! I’ll keep an eye out! Thanks, Awen!