MAKES EIGHT 4-INCH TARTLETS
When the word got out on the street about Amy’s lemon cream and berry tartlets, there was no stopping the China Moon clientele—or the waiters who adored selling them, or the linen man who loved scarfing up the broken bits. “What’s a girl to do?” cried Amy, and then she came up with this equally yummy variation on her popular summer theme.
Many berries call themselves blackberries. Any will be fine here, as long as they’re luscious and sweet.
2 tablespoons sugar
Orange Butter (recipe follows), at room temperature
Prebaked Tartlet Shells (page 482)
2 pints sweet blackberries, or 3 pints fragrant strawberries
½ cup currant jelly
1. In a bowl, whip together the cream and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed until the cream forms stiff but not dry peaks. Gently fold the orange butter into the whipped cream until blended.
2. Fit a pastry bag with a large plain tip. Fill the bag with the orange cream. Starting from the center of each shell, pipe the cream in concentric circles to cover the bottom of each shell.
3. Arrange the blackberries in a single layer, completely covering the orange cream. Place a second layer of blackberries on top of the first to form a mound. (If using strawberries, stem the berries. Place 1 whole berry in the center of each tartlet and halve the remaining strawberries. Arrange the halves, overlapping slightly, with their pointed ends up and their rounded sides toward the edge of the tartlet in a row just beneath the whole berry. Add another row beneath, overlapping the one above. The orange cream will be completely covered.)
4. Melt the jelly in a small non-aluminum saucepan over low heat. Set aside to cool until warm. Fill a small parchment paper cone with the jelly, cut a tiny opening at the tip, and quickly pipe fine lines and beads of jelly over the berries. Refrigerate, uncovered, until ready to serve, no more than several hours.
MAKES A GENEROUS ½ CUP
½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
Finely grated zest of 2 scrubbed oranges
3 extra-large egg yolks
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1. In a small non-aluminum saucepan, combine the orange juice and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Bring to a gentle simmer over moderate heat and cook until the juice is reduced to ¼ cup, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside to cool.
2. Combine the orange zest, the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Whisk until the yolks turn pale. Add the reduced orange juice and whisk until blended.
3. Set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water and stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the butter until melted. Quickly strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve. Chill the orange cream, uncovered, in the refrigerator until cool, 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Store the orange cream airtight in an impeccably clean container in the refrigerator. It will keep for up to 1 week.