Easter Tart – Osterkuchen
Easter Tart – Osterkuchen has a buttery shortcrust, a layer of apricot jam, and raisins and is filled with a light sweet rice filling. An Easter dessert that is easy to make and the whole family will like.
It’s fun to come up with new Easter recipes, but there is something about traditional desserts. There are so many memories involved! I remember eating this Osterkuchen every year for breakfast after finding the baskets that the Easter bunny hid for my brothers and me. And now, I do the same with my kids and hope it will leave lasting memories for them.
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A Swiss recipe
A few weeks before Easter, you will start seeing Easter Tart – Osterkuchen in every bakery around Switzerland. They come in all sizes, and some bakeries get very creative with their decorations. For example, they will not just add a bunny stencil and dust the top with powdered sugar but also add marzipan faces for the bunnies and sugary grass with candy eggs hiding in there.
The recipes vary slightly, too. Some bakeries make their Easter treat with rice & some use semolina, some use puff pastry & some use shortcrust pastry, some add raisins & some don’t.
How to make the milk rice?
It’s effortless! Add the milk and the rice to a medium-sized pan, and scrape in one vanilla bean. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let it cook for 20 minutes. Then take the pan off the heat and place a plastic foil directly onto the rice to avoid skin forming. Leave it out at room temperature for about an hour before placing the pan into the refrigerator.
Leave it in the fridge overnight to chill. Then, the following day, fluff it up and at it to the recipe when asked for.
E Guete (Bon appétit)!! Don’t forget to share some pictures with me and tell me how you liked this Easter Tart – Osterkuchen. It would make my day if you tag @mirjamskitchenyodel on Instagram, share on Facebook or pin on Pinterest.
You might also like the following:
Filled Sweet Bread – Gefüllter Hefezopf
Easter Tart – Osterkuchen
Ingredients
For the milk rice:
- 150 g Rice Risotto/Arborio
- 800 g Milk whole
- 30 g Granulated sugar
- 1 Vanilla bean scraped
For the shortcrust pastry:
- 100 g Butter soft
- 60 g Granulated sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 200 g All-purpose Flour
- 1 Lemon zest
For the rice filling:
- 2 Egg whites
- 35 g Granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 2 Eggs
- 2 Egg yolks
- 40 g Granulated sugar
- 60 g Almonds shredded
- Milk rice cooked
- 150 g Apricot jam
- 50 g Raisins
- Powdered sugar for decoration
Instructions
Milk rice:
- Add the milk and the rice to a medium-size pan, and scrape in one vanilla bean. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Let it cook for about 30 minutes, stir frequently.
- Then take the pan off the heat and place a plastic foil directly onto the rice to avoid skin forming. Leave it out at room temperature for about an hour before putting the pan into the refrigerator. Leave it in the fridge until cold (preferably overnight).
Shortcrust pastry:
- Add all the ingredients to a medium-size mixing bowl and carefully combine them until a dough forms. Don’t overwork it, or the dough gets tough and rubbery. If the dough seems dry and crumbly, add a little bit of milk to it until it is smooth.
- Wrap the dough in plastic foil and place it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Rice filling:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease a 9inch/24cm round tart pan.
- Roll out the shortcrust pastry, about 1/2 cm thick. Use the tart pan as a guide, and cut 1inch (2.5cm) wider than the outside of the pan, so that the dough round will be big enough to come up the sides of the pan.
- Place the dough round on top of the pan. Push down gently with your fingers and press the dough along the inside of the pan, making sure to get the inside edges. It is important to not press too hard to keep the tart shell an even thickness so that it doesn't bake unevenly. Use a sharp knife to cut the excess dough hanging over the edge of the pan.
- Add apricot jam, evenly spread it onto the dough, then add the raisins. Return the pan to the refrigerator until you need it.
- Place the two egg whites with the salt into the bowl of your stand mixer. (If you don’t have a stand mixer use a hand mixer instead)! The bowl has to be perfectly clean or the egg whites won’t get stiff! Whip on medium speed until the egg whites start to thicken, then slowly add the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Transfer the egg whites into a different bowl to free up the bowl of your stand mixer. If you are using a hand mixer, you can use a different bowl for the next step.
- Add the eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar, and almonds to the bowl where you had the egg whites and beat until fluffy and lighter in color.
- Take the milk rice out of the refrigerator, fluff it up a bit, and carefully add it to the mixture.
- Then add the egg white and mix until incorporated. Do it carefully, you don’t want to lose the air you whipped into the egg whites.
- Take the tart pan out of the fridge and fill the rice filling into it. Then, place the tart pan in the oven and bake it for 35-40 minutes. (If you have too much rice filling, you can make a few small tarts with the rest of the shortcrust dough and use the rice filling to fill up the small tarts).
- Let it cool. Then place a bunny stencil (you can easily make your own out of paper) and dust the tart with powdered sugar. Carefully remove the stencil.
