When I made my rich pastry dough the other day, I had enough dough for two tarts. I made one and froze the remaining dough. I was going through my pantry and found a jar of raspberry curd and decided that I really should use it before I forgot I had it. So I decided to make a raspberry tart with curd on the bottom. The more I though about it, though, I decided I wanted to also add some pastry cream and then I would cover everything with fresh raspberries. Now you might ask why I’m not using a dairy pastry cream since my crust has dairy in it and the curd has egg. I found the vegan pastry cream to be just a little lighter than the dairy version and also because I wanted to post something that may not be as widely known. Really good vegan dessert recipes are not as readily available and this one works. So whether you are a vegan or keep Kosher or just want something a bit lighter, with less fat, give this a try.  And to make essentially the same tart but entirely vegan, use the Crisco crust and a good raspberry preserve instead of the raspberry curd. You won’t be disappointed.

Vegan Pastry Cream by “Seebee”

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup flour, sifted

2 cups vanilla soy milk

1/3 cup granulated sugar

pinch of Kosher salt

1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Zest of one lemon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Using a small bowl, whisk the flour with 1/2 cup of soy milk and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, place the remaining 1.5 cups of soy milk, sugar and salt and whisk to combine them. Add the flour mixture and whisk well.
3. Heat the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly for 5 to 6 minutes or until thickened. For a ticker, firmer cream cook a couple of minutes longer. This is one of those things that goes from nothing to something all of a sudden so do NOT take your eyes off of it and do NOT stop whisking! 
4. Add the remaining ingredients, whisking well to combine and cook for an additional minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat and immediately transfer the pastry cream to a glass bowl. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top so it is actually touching the cream. This will prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate the cream for several hours to cool completely. This will keep for several days in the fridge.

NOTE:

I will pour it into a fully baked pastry shell and will cover it with raspberries. It can also be used to fill puff pastries or as a layer between cake layers. The recipe can be doubled.