Strawberry and White Chocolate Ganache Tartlets

Ingredients

½ cup (125 ml) pouring cream
½ vanilla bean, seeds scraped
250 g good-quality Belgian white chocolate, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
20 ready-made sweet pastry tartlet cases
10 large strawberries, washed and dried well, cut into quarters
3 tablespoons good-quality strawberry jam, warmed
mint leaves, to garnish (optional)

Method

Place the cream and vanilla bean in the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water (making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the surface of the water).

When the cream is simmering but not boiling, remove from the heat, take out the vanilla bean and add the chocolate. Stir to incorporate, then add the melted butter to give the ganache a shiny finish.

Set aside to allow the ganache to cool and thicken. Lay out the pastry cases and spoon a dollop of cooled ganache into each one, then add two strawberry quarters. Brush with a little strawberry jam, top with a mint leaf if you like and serve for afternoon tea.

Makes 20.

This recipe comes courtesy of Indira Naidoo from her book 'The Edible Balcony', published by Penguin Australia.