College week 4

Last night we started to look at pastes and the difference between them and how to use them. We talked about shortcrust and sweet pastry, choux, filo and suet discussing the their uses in pies, tarts, flans and cases.
We then moved to the kitchen and began work on a lemon tart, now I have made lemon tart before which uses between 6 and 8 lemons and is a very tart tart! but I have always had an issue with my lemon filling cracking through and looking a little untidy, normally I just hide the gapping crackes with a hefty dusting of icing sugar and maybe some artfully placed berries. It always tastes good but my aim was to try and master the art of lemon tart.
Pastry wise I have had a good teacher my mum was always Queen of Pies. We had pies often as children sweet pies (mostly apple-Dads favourite), and meat pie (always beef and never chicken), and suet puddings for Dad. The trick to good pastry is cold hands apparently, and if this is true I should be able to make the best pastry in the world as my hands are always freezing!!
Lemon tart went well and the filling was a success despite using icing sugar instead of caster sugar by accident. Next we made a fruit slice with puff pastry and créme patisserie. I had never made crème pat before so was excited and nervous. I am not sure why I haven't attempted it before as due to a health concern I do not eat cream unless it is uht cream or normal cream that has been cooked, so crème pat is definitely the answer to my problem with what to fill eclairs.
Everything was delicious and looked amazing, the fruit slice had apricots and a lattice work top to it glazed with apricot jam. And the most amazing feet of the night was that I managed to get everything home in one piece unscathed and with no cracks! Everything has been made light work of and I only have a bit of the lemon tart left now which I will deliver to my mum tomorrow as she is poorly with laryngitis. Lets see what she thinks of my pastry, hopefully she will judge it as good as her own and I will be a happy woman.