As a kid I loved these Lychee Coconut Jelly cups with the bits of lychee fruit inside. I still love these as an adult! Anyone else put them in the freezer? The texture of the frozen jelly is as if popsicles and mochi had a baby. Very refreshing and even more satisfying when the munchies hit.
This week’s recipe is inspired by those tiny plastic cups of lychee joy. Made with agar-agar, lychee rose pastry cream and a ginger scented crust, this tart is one of my more ambitious baking projects.
My favorite edible flowers to use this time of year are the puffy pink peach, nectarine, and apricot blossoms exploding out of the trees branches in spring.
Lychee Jelly Tart
DOSING: Makes one tart in a 9-inch round or rectangular tart pan. 12-15 servings at ~5mg THC per serving. You’ll need a total of 75mg THC in the entire recipe. Approximately 0.5 grams of 20% THC cannabis flower. If your flower is different % THC, double-check your cannamath.
INGREDIENTS:
Ginger Shortbread Crust
3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (90 grams) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups (3 sticks, 339 grams) cannabutter*
Lychee Rose Pastry Cream
½ cup (125g) canned lychee syrup
1½ cups (360g) whole milk
½ teaspoon rosewater
⅓ cup (67g) sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons (30g) cornstarch
4 egg yolks
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter, cold
pinch of pink Pitaya (dragonfruit) powder or pink gel food coloring (for color)
For Decoration
3/4 teaspoon Agar Agar Powder
1 cup canned lychee syrup
Edible glitter (optional)
Canned lychee fruit
Sliced strawberries
Edible flowers (optional)
Cannabutter*
1½ cups (3 sticks, 339 grams) unsalted butter, melted
0.5 grams of cannabis flower (20% THC)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Make Cannabutter*: Preheat the oven to 240°F. Place 0.5 grams of coarsely ground cannabis flower into a pint-sized 16 oz. mason jar, seal with the lid to reduce smell, and heat for 40 minutes in the oven to decarboxlyate, which activates the THC. Remove from the oven and let cool until the mason jar is safe to touch. The ground flower will look lightly toasted.
Reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees F. Pour melted butter into the mason jar, close the lid and shake or stir to combine. Place the sealed jar back into the oven to infuse for 3 hours. After 3 hours, remove from the oven and cool until the mason jar is safe to touch.
2. Make Ginger Shortbread Crust: Preheat oven to 340°F. Add the flour, powdered sugar, ginger, and salt to a medium bowl and whisk together. Pour the melted butter through a fine mesh sieve to strain out the flower bits. Add the melted cannabutter* into the dry ingredients and stir together until thoroughly moistened into a soft dough.
Press the dough evenly into a tart pan on the sides first, then the bottom. Poke the bottom with a fork, freeze for at least 15 minutes so the crust won't slump and shrink when baking. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely before removing the tart pan. Set aside.
3. Make Lychee Rose Pastry Cream: In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together milk, lychee syrup, and rosewater. Bring to a simmer, cover, turn off heat, and set aside. In a medium saucepan, with heat turned off, whisk sugar, salt, and cornstarch together. Add egg yolks and whisk vigorously, until smooth and pale. While continuously whisking the egg yolk mixture, slowly pour a slow stream of the warm lychee milk into the egg yolk mixture until it’s all added.
Over medium heat, bring to a simmer, whisking continuously and making sure to get into corners of pan, for about 5 minutes (mixture should be bubbling and thickened). At around minute 4 it will transform from foamy liquid to thick, bubbling pudding. Reduce heat and continue to simmer, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk butter into the pastry cream and whisk until melted and fully incorporated. Add a pinch of pink pitaya powder or tiny amount of pink gel food coloring to give the pastry cream a light pink color, and whisk until incorporated (optional). Immersion blender if it looks clumpy and you need to smooth the mixture.
4. Assemble the Tart: Pour the lychee pastry cream into the pre-baked and cooled tart shell. Fill the tart about 3/4 full, leaving room for the jelly layer. Using a spatula, smooth the top of the curd so it’s even in the pan. Place a layer of plastic wrap on top of the tart and pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate to cool completely, at least 2 hours. Store refrigerated until ready to decorate and serve. Transfer leftover pastry cream into an airtight container and refrigerate to store up to 3 days.
5. Make the Jelly Layer: Unmold the Lychee Coconut Jelly cups and slice each one into 4-5 squares. Place and arrange the jelly squares on top of the chilled lychee pastry cream to cover most of the tart. In a small saucepan, whisk the agar agar powder in canned lychee syrup to dissolve the powder and bring to a light simmer over medium-low heat for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add a pinch of edible glitter, if desired. Stir to mix in the edible glitter and carefully spoon the hot jelly mixture between and on top of the lychee coconut squares. Carefully transfer to the fridge to cool and jelly to set, about 1 hour.
5. Decorate the Tart: When the jelly layer is set, top the chilled tart with sliced strawberries, lychee, and edible flowers. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
I made this tart last year for our Mogu Magu hot pot party. Paired perfectly with Sundae School Lychee Dragonfruit Mochi gummies. The beautiful striped flowers are from Peppermint Peach Trees, an ornamental flowering tree that does not bear edible fruit.
XOXO, Christina W.
