Skip to main content
Dessert

Princess Tartlets

A pastry tartlet filled with custard, topped with meringue and jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Princess Tartlets

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cases

  1. Roll out the short pastry thinly and line deep tartlet tins.

  2. Place a piece of greased paper in each tin and fill with raw rice.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

Fill and top

  1. Once cool, add a little jam to the bottom of each tartlet.

  2. Fill each tartlet with pastry custard.

  3. Whip the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar.

  4. Pile the whipped egg whites high on top of the tartlets.

  5. Sprinkle with pink sugar and dry in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C).

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Sugar + raspberrytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,101 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Egg + raspberrytop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Short pastry
Forms the crisp, golden case that holds the filling.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff foam that forms the light, airy topping.
Pastry custard
Provides the soft, creamy filling inside each tartlet.
Fine sugar
Sweetens the whipped whites and helps them hold their stiff structure.
Raspberry or apricot jam
Adds fruity sweetness and flavour beneath the custard.

The step that matters

Whip the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add the sugar. Egg whites need to be whipped to stiff peaks, and sugar added gradually so it dissolves. Adding it too fast or to under-whipped whites can cause collapse, leaving a weepy, flat topping.

Swap the raspberry

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Raspberrythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Raspberry JamRaspberry Jam150 recipesRaspberry CreamRaspberry Cream82 recipesRaspberry IceRaspberry Ice29 recipesRaspberry Ice CreamRaspberry Ice Cream24 recipes