Amongst the many things that Brazil is famous for, what I missed the most was the exotic range of fruits available at juice bars at every street corner. The most famous and delicious one is a smoothie made from fresh açai berries. Unfortunately fresh açai berries don't transport well, so the best substitutes we can get are açai powder or frozen puree. For this dessert, I used açai powder to recreate the happy memory of wandering the streets in Brazil holding a delicious cup of cold açai smoothie in my hand on a hot summer day. I've enjoyed the flavour combinations and I hope you do too.
Little fun fact, açai is Portuguese and the correct way to pronounce it is actually 'ah-sah-ee'.
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 1.5 hrs prep and cooking with additional time for resting*
Serves: 2
* 1-2 hrs resting for the pastry and 2+ hrs for the panna cotta to set.
Ingredients
Pâte Sucrée
- 125g flour
- 50g butter slightly softened
- 50g icing sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- pinch of salt
Açai Panna Cotta
- 2 tsp gelatine powder
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup cream
- 30g açai powder**
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
Garnish
- toasted coconut
- shaved white chocolates
- handful of blueberries
** You can buy these here from Matcha Leaf Superfoods.
Method
1. Sieve the flour and icing sugar into a large glass bowl. Add the butter and use your fingers to mix and combine it well. Add the egg yolk and a pinch of salt and mix well until it forms a nice dough. Knead it a few times, shape it into a ball, cover with cling film and leave it in the fridge to rest for 1-2 hours.
2. After the dough is rested, heat oven to 180 degrees. Divide the dough into 4 even balls, roll it out to a 2mm thick pastry to line four 10cm mini tart pans and prick it lightly with a fork evenly on the base. Line it up with baking paper before filling the tart shells with ceramic baking beads or rice and blind bake it for 15 minutes. Take out the beads and paper and bake it for a further 5 minutes until golden. Take it out of the oven and tin shell and let it cool down completely.
3. Add 1 cup of milk to a heavy sauce pan and sprinkle the gelatine powder on top and leave it for 10 minutes. Cook the mixture over low heat on stove top until the gelatine powder is fully dissolved but not boiling. Add the sugar and ensure it's fully dissolved.
4. In a separate bowl, add the açai powder to the cold cream, mix well until it's fully combined. Add the milk mixture to the cream and açai and mix well and let it cool to room temperature.
5. Pour enough of the panna cotta mixture into the tart shells ensure the shell is fully lined by the liquid. Put the tart shells into a freezer and freeze for 10 minutes. Take it out of the freezer and top the tart shells with the remaining panna cotta mixture. Leave it in the fridge to set for at last 2+ hrs but preferably overnight.
6. To serve, decorate the panna cotta tart with toasted coconut, white chocolate shavings and blueberries.
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