How to make Fanchonettes — The Victorian Way

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Mrs Crocombe has a sweet treat lined up for us today. Fanchonettes are little tartlets, flavoured with chocolate or other flavourings. They're great to serve as entremets or as part of an afternoon tea.

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INGREDIENTS

• 3 egg yolks
• 55g (2oz) caster sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 55g (2oz) grated dark chocolate or other flavouring, as desired
• a small pinch of salt
• 300ml (10oz) whipping cream
• ½ tbsp butter
• Garnish of jelly, candied fruit or peel or candied flowers
Rough puff pastry, made with:
• 225g (8oz) flour
• 115g (4oz) butter plus cold water as required
Meringue, made with:
• 3 egg whites
• 55g (2oz) caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

METHOD

Start by making the custard: beat the yolks with the sugar and cornflour, then heat the cream and pour it onto the yolks, whisking well. Put this in a clean pan and heat through. You can allow this to boil because the cornflour will stabilise it. Add the chocolate or other flavouring. Cook until thick, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. Meanwhile, roll the pastry thin and use it to line 24 greased patty pans (fairy cake tins). Chill, while you finish the custard by whipping the 3 tbsp of cream to soft peak and then folding it in.

Make the meringue by whisking the egg whites to almost soft peak, adding half the sugar and whisking to almost stiff peak before adding the rest and whisking to full stiff peak. Pour a layer of custard into each of your patty pans, then top with a smooth layer of meringue. Fit a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a star onto each. Bake the tartlets for around 20mn at 180C until the pastry is light fawn and the tops cooked but not brown. (Alternatively, you can bake the tartlets without the meringue, then use a Swiss or Italian meringue to top them, and finish by runing a blowtorch over them).

Decorate in a delicate fashion with small morsels of candied fruit or flowers or dots or cubes of jelly.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:41 For this recipe, you will need...
01:24 Flavour the custards
03:27 Line the patty pans
06:08 Whip the cream
07:30 Add meringue and bake
08:31 Time to decorate
09:02 And there you are...

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