Saturday, July 30, 2011

Peachberry Tart


I have been absolutely dying to use my new tart pan for almost a month now, and yesterday I finally found an opportunity. It's a non-stick, removable bottom, lifetime warranty pan from Wilton, and if you don't have any of their spectacular products I suggest you get some, because they're wonderful. I'm planning to make tons of tarts over the next few weeks - sweet tarts, savory tarts, every tart I can think of!

We had a bowl of freshly-picked blackberries sitting in the fridge, and a flat of peaches, and they just screamed "make us into a delicious summer tart!" Well, when the fruit starts talking to you, I reckon you'd better listen to it! I decided to modify and combine several recipes into one, and the result, I must say, was scrumptious, and a perfect end to a summer meal.

 The best thing about making this tart was that I got to bake alongside my sister, who was home for the weekend. She and I love being in the kitchen together. She was making some cookie bars to take to a party while I was making the tart, and though it made the kitchen a little crowded with both our messes, it was worth it. Our dream is to one day open a restaurant together!

My beautiful sister and her delicious cookie bars

Now, on to our regularly scheduled programming :)

Start out by making the crust, which is crumbly and a lot like light shortbread. It's not quite a typical tart dough but it works well for this recipe.


Mix together 1 1/2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/4 tsp. of salt.


Cut in 7 tablespoons of butter with a pastry cutter or something similar, until it's mostly combined. Then, get ready to get messy!


Work that tart dough with your hands until you can form it into a rough ball. If it's a little too dry, add a tablespoon or so of cold water - but don't add too much, or it'll get sticky.


Put it on a piece of waxed paper, and put another piece on top, and roll it out with a rolling pin until it's about a half inch or so bigger around than your tart pan.

Now comes the hard part - transferring the dough to your pan. This dough is a little crumbly, so it might crack. Don't panic if it does! Mine did, and I was easily able to press it back together. Just try to gently slide your paper, supporting the dough, over to your pan and flip it over so that it drapes over the edges.


Press the dough into the crimped edges of the pan, and then use a knife to cut a straight line around the edge so it looks pretty. Half the fun of eating is looking at the beautiful food, right? If you happen to have enough extra dough that it hangs over the top, you can also use your rolling pin to quickly pinch off the excess.

Poke some holes in the dough with a fork, line the pan with tin foil, and bake it at 325 degrees (F) for about 10 minutes, and then remove the foil and bake for five more minutes. This prebaking will ensure that the crust doesn't get soggy when you put the scrumptious cream filling and fruit into it. When it's done baking, take it out of the oven and let it cool until you finish the filling.

While it's crisping up, make the vanilla custard cream. Mmmmmm.


In a saucepan, whisk together 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of flour, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, and 2 egg yolks. Save the egg whites for a healthy omelet, or, less healthy but lots more fun, some meringues!

Add 1 cup of milk (I used skim, but any other kind would work too), and cook it over low heat, stirring constantly. It should thicken up in less than five minutes. Don't forget to stir, or you'll have curdled, clumpy custard cream. Alliterative, but kind of gross.

Take it off the heat, and sigh with relief that your custard is, indeed, smooth and un-curdled.


Add a tablespoon of vanilla...


...and about 1/8 teaspoon of grated nutmeg.

Tell yourself repeatedly that it would be a very bad idea to eat all the custard right now.

Can you tell I have an issue with eating all the ingredients before I bake them? It's a curse.


Peel and slice 3-4 peaches (fewer if they're big, more if they're tiny). Or, if you're lucky, like I was, find a helper to do it for you. Job delegation is a beautiful thing, folks.


In a separate bowl, mix about a pint (about 40) blackberries with a tablespoon of sugar and 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla.

Now for the fun part: assembling the tart. This is where you get to see the result of your hard work!


Pour your custard into the crust, and smooth it until it's even all around.


Arrange the peaches in an attractive pattern on top of the custard.


And finally, put a sugared blackberry in every open space. This is going to be so good!

Bake it in your 325 oven for about 20 minutes, or until the custard is slightly set, and the fruit has gotten soft. You could eat it without baking it, but the extra heat helps to meld the flavors together better.


Oh, man, was this good. Creamy, sweet, and a little tart from the blackberries.


It was the perfect tart to christen my new tart pan! Now I have to get a 9 inch pan, and some mini tartlet pans, and...


Peachberry Tart
Adapted from Food.com and Williams-Sonoma

Shortbread Crust
1 1/2 cup flour
2 T. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
7 T. butter
1 T. cold water, optional

Mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter and form into a ball, adding water if the dough is too dry. Roll out on waxed paper to fit a 10 or 11 inch tart pan. Press into pan and poke bottom with a fork. Line with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes.

Vanilla Custard Cream
4 T. sugar
1 T. + 1 tsp. flour
1 T. + 1 tsp. cornstarch
2 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1 T. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg

Whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch, and egg yolks in a saucepan. Add milk and mix until smooth. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and add vanilla and nutmeg.

Fruit Topping
3-4 peaches
1 pint blackberries
1 T. sugar
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Peel and slice peaches, set aside. Combine blackberries, sugar, and vanilla.

To assemble tart:
Fill tart shell with custard and smooth the top. Arrange peaches in a spiral pattern. Place blackberries in a regular pattern on top of the peaches. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Chill before serving.

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