Dragonfruit Flower Tart

 My husband loves dragonfruit! I had never had one until I met him. I remember seeing it when he first bought it and wondering what is this bright pink fruit with greenish tipped spikes?! The inside of the fruit is such a contrast with the outside. It could be white with black seeds or a beautiful magenta pink with black seeds inside depending on which dragonfruit you buy. I was immediately drawn to the one with the vibrant pink color, and knew I would be using it to make new culinary creations. My niece’s birthday was coming and I thought I could make a dragonfruit flower tart for the celebration. It is not only pretty but light and refreshing with its luscious dragonfruit slices. Hope you will try it!

Dragonfruit Flower Tart

Ingredients:

For crust:

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons confectioners sugar

One large egg

Pinch of sea salt

6 tablespoons butter, cold and cut in cubes

For filling:

3 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons dragonfruit pitaya powder (see picture for brand that I used)

3/4 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 red dragonfruit/pitaya, cut in thin flat semicircle slices, (place on paper towels to soak up extra liquid)

Directions:

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, put flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times to combine. Add the cold butter and egg and pulse until the combined mixture forms large balls of dough. (If the dough feels too soft, put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.)

Spray a 7 inch nonstick tart or cake pan with a removable bottom with cooking oil spray. Put dough in the tart pan and press into pan evenly with your fingers to form a tart crust on the sides and bottom of pan. The crust sides will be about 1 inch high. Cover pan with plastic wrap and freeze for 20 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Take off plastic wrap from tart pan. Prick all over the bottom of the crust with a fork. Put tart pan on a baking tray. Bake for 11-13 minutes until golden brown. Cool tart crust completely and place tart on a flat dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until combined. Sift the cornstarch and pitaya powder into the bowl and whisk well. Add milk and vanilla extract to a small pot and heat over medium heat until lightly bubbling. Add 1/4 of the milk to the egg yolk mixture in the bowl and whisk continuously until well blended. Add mixture back to the pot and bring mixture to a low boil and whisk continually until thickened. Pour into a small bowl and cover surface with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until cooled. When the tart cream is cooled, spoon into tart crust and spread out evenly. Do not fill all the way to the top of crust otherwise the cream may spill over when you add the dragonfruit slices later. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

If you don’t want your fingers to turn pink, wear gloves when assembling the dragonfruit slices. When ready to serve, place the bigger dragonfruit slices carefully on top of the cream starting from the outer edge of the tart. Overlap each slice slightly going around in a circle. Continue to overlap the smaller slices in 3 more inner circles. Finish with smallest slices in the center. The tart is ready to enjoy! 

Top left pic: Pitaya powder that I purchased from Amazon

Top right pic: Whisking ingredients together in the bowl

Bottom left pic: Whisking the combined mixture in the pot

Bottom right pic: The lovely pastry cream is ready

Top left pic: ingredients in the food processor

Top right pic: already pulsed and combined into balls of dough

Bottom left pic: The dough is in the cake pan ready to go in the freezer.

Bottom right pic: Tart crust is baked and has a golden color.