Fruit Tart

Happy 4th of July!!!

This time around last year, I made my (White Blue and) Red Velvet cake. Because it's 4th of July, I thought it would look really festive to have another red, white, & blue dessert. The Farmer's Market is in abundance of fresh fruits (especially berries), and so I was inspired to make this beautiful and delicious dessert. I think I may have started a new tradition - makin red, white and blue desserts for the 4th of July......

I've always been so intimidated by making Fruit tart. But I so love eating it. I found this recipe at Joy of Baking. It looks like a complicated yet elegant dessert. But it only looks harder that it really is. There are a lot of steps into making a fruit tart, but it isn't complicated at all. I think the hardest part, however, is making the dough. Maybe its because I don't have a nice granite countertop to roll the dough on (I still have the tile countertop, that I'm hoping to eventually replace or upgrade to). Or maybe its because my rolling pin wasn't long enough. Whatever the reason, I had to sort of improvise because the dough came out too soft (maybe it was too warm in the house? Oh well). What's great about this dessert is that you can use any of your favorite fruits and design it any way you like.

This tart came out so good. Hubby thinks we may not have to buy the tart at the bakery anymore. We'll see.

Tonight, we're doing a tailgate to watch the fireworks. Everyone is bringing something to munch on. We're ordering pizza and also bringing my Brown Sugar cupcakes, and of course this Fruit tart.

Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1) Measure out flour and salt. Set aside. Beat butter until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg, beating just until incorporated. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Flatten the dough into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

2) On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle large enough so that it sticks out about 1 inch of your tart pan. Once the desired size has been reached, lightly roll dough around rolling pin and unroll on top of tart pan. Press the dough on the bottom and sides of the pan. Roll the rolling pin across the top of the pan to trim off the excess dough from the pan.

3) Prick the bottom of the dough a couple of times to help prevent the dough from puffing. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 deg F.

4) Once chilled, line the dough with wax or parchment paper. Fill the pan with pie weights, rice or beans. Bake for 20-25 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown. Remove weights and cool completely while making the pastry cream.

Pastry cream

1 1/4 cup milk

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup all purpose flour

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1) In a stainless steel bowl, mix sugar and egg yolks with a wooden spoon. Sift flour and cornstarch together and add to egg mixture. Mix until it becomes a smooth paste. Set aside.

2) In a saucepan, combine milk and vanilla bean. Cook on medium heat just until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Slowly whisk milk mixture into egg mixture (If some of the eggs curdle, pour through a strainer). Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the seeds into the egg mixture.

3) Return mixture back on medium eat and heat just until boiling, making sure to whisk constantly to prevent burning. When it begins to boil, turn off the heat and whisk for another minute until it becomes very thick.

4) Place custard in a clean bowl. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on the surface of the custard and refrigerate until cool.

To assemble the tart

crust

pastry cream

2-3 cups of fruits (various berries, kiwi, peaches, mango, etc)

1/2 cup apricot glaze (apricot jam or preserves, heated until it becomes liquid)

1) Brush a thin layer of apricot glaze on the bottom and sides of the crust to prevent it from getting soggy. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes until it dries.

2) Spread pastry cream about 2/3 of the way of the crust. Arrange fruits on top of the cream.

3) Brush more apricot glaze on top of the fruits. Refrigerate until ready to serve.