The French sometimes call this tart a "tarte jardinière" because it is garnished with fruit and berries from the garden. Typically, they are made with a sweet tart crust and crème pâtissière (pastry cream) filling. Pastry cream thickened with cornstarch doesn't need any gelatin to set properly, so this fruit tart recipe does not have gelatin.

Fruit Tart Components

The classic fruit tart you see in pastry shops is usually a custard tart made up of three components:

1. crust or tart shell, traditionally made from a pâte sucrée or sweet shortcrust pastry, which is basically like a sweet cookie crust.
2. custard filling, usually vanilla pastry cream (French baking term for pastry cream is crème pâtissière), though it could also be a mousseline filling, combining pastry cream with more butter (the same filling that is in the classic framboisier cake)
3. fruits, generally lots of berries, but you'll also see other fruits like segments of citrus fruit, grapes, kiwis, etc.
4. glaze, which is optional, but if your fruit isn't as fresh and sweet as you were hoping, sometimes a transparent glaze (you could even use honey or maple syrup) will add shine to the fruit garnish and also some sweetness. Powdered sugar is an alternative to the glaze.

Ingredients

There are three major components to plan for when you are making a fruit tart, and each requires its own set of ingredients.

• butter, specifically unsalted butter, though salted would also work here. You can either skip the salt in the pastry recipe if you use salted, or lean into the salt because a little extra salt in the crust will bring out the flavours
• sugar—you will need both granulated and icing sugar. The granulated sugar is for the pastry cream while the icing sugar is in the crust, leading to a more tender cookie crust
• ground almonds, which also make the dough more tender and less hard
• eggs—egg yolks for the pastry cream to help thicken and enrich it ,and for the crust too to help bind it together
• milk—for a creamier custard filling, use whole milk with 3.25 % or 2 % fat milk. I don't recommend using skim milk here because the filling needs a little fat to make it rich and creamy.
• flour and cornstarch to hold the tart dough together and give it structure, just like a rolled sugar cookie dough and to thicken the pastry cream so that it is firmer when chilled.
• vanilla—you can use vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, adding either of these to the pastry cream after it has cooked, or you can use a vanilla bean, added to the milk before you heat it up to temper the eggs
• fruit garnish—I like to garnish fruit tarts with a variety of fruit, picking what's in season, but also what fruits would look nice together on a tart. Think of contrasting colours, but also think of picking fruits that vary in shades of the same colour for an ombré effect. You can easily use canned fruit. Choose fruit canned in sugar-based syrup or fruit juice because they taste better than any fruit canned in water (which is sweetened with sucralose!).

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions And Variations

The classic fruit tart served in most French pastry shops is filled with pastry cream, usually flavoured with vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste or a vanilla bean.

• Alternate sugars—You could consider using a mixture of sugar and honey or maple syrup in the pastry cream, and that would bring a lot of flavour to this dessert.
• Flavouring pastry cream—The beauty of pastry cream is that you can infuse the milk with a lot of flavours, and it's a sweet creamy blank canvas that balances out the acidity of the fruit garnish. Try infusing the hot milk with tea or coffee (you can strain out the leaves or coffee grinds later), or a little tonka bean. Cardamom works beautifully here, or in the fall, consider warm spices to pair with a fruit topping of poached pears or poached quince.
• Alternate fillings—Just because most people make fruit tarts with pastry cream doesn't mean you don't have options. You can also consider filling the baked tart shell with:
  • chocolate ganache, like this raspberry chocolate tart or this rhubarb chocolate tart
  • panna cotta, like for these Earl Grey panna cotta tarts
  • fruit curd, like lemon curd, like these matcha tarts filled with passion fruit curd

Special Tools

Aside from the usual baking tools you already have on hand, to make a fruit tart, or any tart, you will need a few tools:

• a tart pan with a removable bottom—this type of tart pan will make it easier for you to unmould the tart. If you are in a hurry, you can even unmould the blind-baked shell when it's still warm. This will also speed up the cooling process.
• a sheet pan—because we bake tarts in tart pans with a removable bottom, there is a big risk that, if you aren't paying attention when loading it into and out of the oven, you may grab the pan in the wrong way, un-moulding or breaking the tart shell, especially if it's still hot and fragile. To avoid this, always place your tart pan on a sheet pan. This way you are moving the sheet pan from fridge-to-counter-to-oven, thus protecting your tart shell.
• a rolling pin—some bakers prefer straight rolling pins, but I am most comfortable using a French rolling pin, with tapered ends. Regardless of the shape, I highly recommend investing in a rolling pin made of wood. I much prefer it to silicone rolling pins.
• a pastry brush—not only will you use this to brush off any excess flour from rolling out the pastry dough, you will also use it to brush melted chocolate inside the baked tart shell to seal it to help keep it dry from the moisture of the filling.

How To Make A Tart With Pastry Cream And Fruit

Fruit tarts make stunning desserts. But because they are so pretty to look at, bakers may feel intimidated, thinking that the dessert is complicated to make. I'm here to tell you it's not. Break it down and you'll see that to make a fruit tart at home, you will rely on basic baking techniques you've probably already mastered:

1. The creaming method is a mixing method commonly used to make cookie dough starting from softened butter which is combined with sugar until well mixed with a lighter texture. The tart shell is made from cookie dough that is rolled out. If you can make rolled sugar cookies, you should be able to make this!
2. Blind-baking, where you bake the tart shell until it is completely baked and golden-brown delicious. You use this technique for tarts where the filling is prepared/cooked separately. The tart shell must be baked through and completely cooled before filling, as a rule.
3. Tempering eggs, which is a method to gently warm up eggs before cooking them on the stove, either to make a custard sauce (crème anglaise) or a pastry cream, like in the recipe below.
4. Chabloner is a technique that pastry chefs use. Professionals will brush the inside of blind-baked tart shells with melted chocolate. When the chocolate sets, this creates a barrier between the filling and the crust. The tart shell will not soften or absorb moisture from the filling, allowing you to store the tarts for longer without compromising texture or flavour.

Step 1—Start by making the tart dough because you will have to chill it. Combine the butter, icing sugar and ground almond in a large bowl (image 1) and mix it until it is very cream before adding the egg yolk (image 2). Then stir in the flour (image 3) and the milk to bind it together (image 4)

Step 2—Wrap the dough in plastic wrap to chill it until firm. Shape the dough into a disk because you will roll it out to fit a round tart pan. Once the dough has chilled enough, roll it out and line the tart pan with the rolled-out dough, docking it with a fork to prevent air pockets from forming (image 6) and bake it until it is baked through. The edges will be golden brown and recede a little from the pan (image 7).

Step 3—While the tart shell is chilling and baking, make the pastry cream by whisking together the egg yolks and sugar (image 8) before incorporating the cornstarch (image 9). This is to ensure there are no lumps. Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture to temper the yolks (image 10) before transferring the mixture back to the saucepan to cook on the stove and thicken the custard filling (image 11).

Step 4—Add the butter to the cooked custard off the heat (image 12). Add the vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract (image 13), and then strain the mixture to remove any lumps or hard-cooked egg bits (image 14). Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, ensuring the wrap is in contact with the custard so that it doesn't form a skin (image 15).

Step 5—Once the tart shell has cooled, you can brush the inside of the shell with melted white chocolate to seal it and prevent the crust from getting soggy (image 17), and then fill with pastry cream (image 17) and garnish with berries (images 18 and 19).

Tart Baking Tips: How To Get The Tart Out Of The Pan

It's no secret that unmoulding a tart from a tart pan can be stressful. But tart pans with removable bottoms take some of that stress away. Here's how to remove a tart from a tart pan:

1. Place the pan carefully over an inverted bowl, or anything with a smaller diameter than the tart pan
2. Let the tart ring slide down
3. Lift the tart up
4. Lift the tart off the disk base or slide it off the disk base onto your serving plate.

If the tart is stuck to the bottom piece of the pan, you may have to use an offset spatula, gliding it gently between the flat metal base and the tart shell to unstick it. But really, that's it! Once the tart shell has cooled down, it should be sturdy enough to manipulate without worrying that it will fall apart.

Storage

This fruit tart should be refrigerated, but I can say, if you take it out to serve it, it can easily sit out for a few hours at room temperature. You will still be able to slice it cleanly, and the filling won't soften too much. This is yet another reason why I opted for cornstarch in this recipe, not flour. The filling is more stable to temperature fluctuations, yet still creamy and smooth.

Tart FAQs

More Baking With Berries

Make the most of berry season with these desserts baked with berries, from a simple blueberry crumb cake to a more complex blueberry lattice pie:

If you tried this recipe for the best fruit tart (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Fruit Tart

Learn how to make a fruit tart with this easy recipe. It's made with a sweet shortcrust (pâte sucrée) and topped with pastry cream and fresh fruit.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Chill time 1 day day

Total Time 1 day day 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 469kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• OXO balloon whisk
• Tart pan
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

Pâte sucrée (sweet shortcrust)

• 84 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 63 grams icing sugar
• 33 grams ground almonds
• 1 large egg yolk(s)
• 156 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 15 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) or 2 % fat

Pastry cream

• 500 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) or 2 % fat
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 5 large egg yolk(s)
• 40 grams cornstarch
• 10 mL vanilla bean paste
• 58 grams unsalted butter cold, cut into cubes

Assembly and Finishing

• 58 grams white chocolate melted
• 300 grams Fresh berries raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and red currants
• 150 grams mandarine segments fresh or canned

Metric - US

Instructions

Make the pâte sucrée

• Cream the butter with the icing sugar and the ground almond.
• Add the egg and mix until smooth.
• Add the flour and mix until the flour is blended in but don't overmix.
• Pat the dough into a disk, wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Place a 9-inch (23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom on a sheet pan. Set aside.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface until it's 11.5–12 inches (29.2–30.5 cm) in diameter. Work fast so the dough doesn't get too warm. The dough will become more delicate the warmer it gets.
• Fold the dough in half and carefully transfer to the tart pan to line it with the dough. If the dough breaks, don't worry. You can just press any cracks or breaks back together. Trim the edges using a knife or your rolling pin.
• Dock the pastry using a fork to poke holes over the entire surface. Chill the unbaked shell for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Bake the tart shell for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the pastry looks dry and baked through. Keep an eye on the tart shell and be sure to press down any areas that may bubble up during baking before the crust sets and dries.
• Let cool completely, then unmold from tart pans.

Pastry cream

• Place the milk in a medium saucepan with half the sugar. Set it to heat on the stove on medium–high.
• Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar untiil light and fluffy and pale in colour. Whisk in the cornstarch until the mixture looks thick and creamy.
• When the milk is just about to boil, take the pan off the heat and pour the milk over the whipped yolk mixture. Whisk everything together really well to temper the eggs.
• Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and heat on medium heat until the pastry cream comes to a boil, whisking constantly.
• Boil the pastry cream for 3 minutes.
• Take the pan off the heat and add the butter, a piece at a time, whisking constantly. You can decide at this point if you want to strain it or not.
• Transfer the cooked pastry cream to a bowl, cover in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour.

Assembly and finishing

• When the baked tart shell has cooled completely and the pastry cream is cold, you are ready to assemble the tart.
• Place the unmoulded tart shell on your serving plate. Brush the inside of the tart shell with the melted white chocolate to coat the entire surface and protect it from moisture. Coat it with a thin layer. You may not use all the chocolate for this!
• Place the tart shell in the fridge for 5 minutes to set the chocolate if it's warm in your kitchen.
• Take the pastry cream out of the fridge, unwrap it, then using a whisk, whip the pastry cream until it is smooth and creamy. This will take a few minutes because it will be quite firm but it will smooth out the more you work it.
• Spread the pastry cream in the tart shell and smooth it out so that it's even.
• Top the pastry cream with lots of fresh berries and sliced fruits, arranging them in a pattern or haphazardly, as you like. Cover the pastry cream completely with fruit so that none is exposed.
• Store the fruit tart in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.

Notes

• We use a combination of flour and cornstarch to create a stable filling that holds its shape so you can slice the tart cleanly to serve it.
• Salt—This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Alternate sugars—Consider using a mixture of sugar and honey or maple syrup in the pastry cream, and that would bring a lot of flavour to this dessert.
• Flavouring pastry cream—The beauty of pastry cream is that you can infuse the milk with a lot of flavours, and it's a sweet, creamy blank canvas that balances out the acidity of the fruit garnish. Try infusing the hot milk with tea or coffee (you can strain out the leaves or coffee grinds later), or a little tonka bean. Cardamom works beautifully here, or in the fall, consider warm spices to pair with a fruit topping of poached pears or poached quince.
• Alternate fillings—Just because most people make fruit tarts with pastry cream doesn't mean you don't have options. You can also consider filling the baked tart shell
  • chocolate ganache, like this raspberry milk chocolate tart or this rhubarb dark chocolate tart
  • panna cotta, like for these Earl Grey panna cotta tarts
  • fruit curd, like lemon curd, like these matcha tarts filled with passion fruit curd

Nutrition

Calories: 469kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 180mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 191mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 992IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 125mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Fruit Tart (Tarte Jardinière) appeared first on The Bake School.

This tart is sinfully good and a welcome change from the usual rhubarb recipes with its unusual pairing of dark chocolate and rhubarb. Of course, if you don't love rhubarb, make the tart without it, replacing it with another jam or layer some homemade salted caramel on the bottom before topping it with ganache!

If you would prefer milk chocolate, try this raspberry chocolate tart, which is filled with a milk chocolate ganache and topped with fresh raspberries before serving.

What You Need To Make A Dark Chocolate Tart With Rhubarb

There are three major components to this chocolate dessert that you will be making: a sweet chocolate cookie crust (like a sablé dough), a dark chocolate ganache filling, and the roasted rhubarb garnish. For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

• butter, preferably unsalted, though salted could work here!
• icing sugar (also called powdered sugar)—icing sugar will yield a more tender crust, though granulated can work in this recipe too and yield a crust with a more sandy texture
• cocoa powder—use Dutch-processed cocoa powder for the best flavour. Natural cocoa will give the crust a more muted appearance and flavour.
• egg yolks—to help bind the dough together and make the crust a little more tender
• flour—bleached all-purpose though unbleached will work as well
• water or whole milk (3.25 % fat)—to bind the crust along with the yolk
• 70 % dark chocolate—I like to use Ocoa dark chocolate from the brand Cacao Barry. It's not as sweet as some other dark chocolate products
• whipping cream (35 % fat)—please use full-fat whipping cream
• fresh rhubarb—trim the leaves and use just the stems
• granulated sugar—to roast the rhubarb. Natural cane sugar can also work for this step
• rose water or vanilla bean paste to flavour the roasted rhubarb, optional but adds a lovely flavour to the fruit layer

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Remember to please use good-quality chocolate for this recipe because ganache is half chocolate. Get the best type of chocolate you can with a relatively high percentage of cacao that isn't overly sweet. That will make the ganache taste so much better. I used 70 % dark chocolate from Cacao Barry. Ocoa chocolate works great in this recipe, for example!

Substitutions And Variations

The chocolate cookie crust for this rhubarb chocolate tart is similar to a pâte sucrée, but where part of the flour is replaced with cocoa powder. It's baked in a tart pan with a removable bottom. If you want an easier crust, consider making a baked graham cracker crust from graham cracker crumbs, as in this Earl Grey chocolate tart. You will have to adjust the recipe to factor the change in tart pan size.

If you prefer milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate, use the ganache from this milk chocolate ganache tart recipe made with a 41 % milk chocolate.

You can replace the rhubarb compote with rhubarb jam, either homemade or store-bought. You can also use raspberry jam if you prefer, or even caramel sauce.

How To Make A Rhubarb Ganache Tart

There are three major components to this recipe with a few steps to each. You will be making:

1. chocolate tart dough that you chill, then roll out to make your tart shell, which you will blind bake
2. homemade rhubarb compote to fill the tart (but you can replace this with jam!)
3. dark chocolate ganache

Here's how to make this tart:

Step 1—Begin by making the chocolate tart dough by first creaming together the butter, icing sugar, and cocoa powder (image 1) before adding the egg yolk (image 2) and then the flour (image 3). Flatten the dough into a disk to chill it because it is too soft to work with at this point (image 4).

Step 2—After chilling the dough, you can roll it out between parchment paper sheets with a rolling pin (image 5). Line your tart pan with the dough and trim it to fit the pan (image 6). Dock the pastry with a fork to create air vents (image 7), then bake it until completely baked through (image 8).

Tip: To unmold the crust, check out my tips for how to remove a tart from a tart pan.

Step 3—While the dough is chilling (or when the tart is baking), make the rhubarb compote by combining the chopped rhubarb with sugar (image 9) and heating it until it boils and forms a thick compote (image 10). Let cool completely before using.

Note: you can also make the compote in the oven by roasting rhubarb with sugar, but make sure to heat it enough until the compote is thick and the water has mostly evaporated, otherwise your tart will be watery.

Step 4—Make the dark chocolate ganache when all the other components have cooled, combining chopped chocolate in a small bowl (image 1) with hot cream and emulsifying with a stick blender (image 12).

Step 5—Assemble the tart by placing the baked chocolate tart shell on your serving plate, then filling it with compote (image 13) and chocolate ganache (image 14), using a mini offset spatula to smooth it out (image 15). It doesn't have to be perfect (image 16). Chill the tart in the fridge until the filling has set.

I like to dust the tart with cocoa powder and dried rose petals to decorate it.

Tips For Perfect Dark Chocolate Ganache

Because of its high cocoa content and low sugar content, dark chocolate can be tricky to transform into ganache and to work with. Here are some tips:

• Use one type of chocolate to make ganache: What I discovered from making this tart is that, though it was very convenient to use a mixture of dark chocolates to use up the odds and ends in your cupboards, the combination of chocolates makes it more difficult to achieve a perfect ganache and the ganache may split or break if you use a mixture of chocolates. 
• A 1:1 ganache is the easiest ganache to make: if this is your first ganache, make it a 50/50 ganache that is half cream, half dark chocolate, by weight. You will have an easier time melting the chocolate and emulsifying the mixture than a ganache with a higher ratio of chocolate.
• Do not overheat the cream and chocolate: if the cream is too hot, the ganache will likely split. Don't heat the cream above 80 °C and make sure it is below 80 °C when you pour it over the chocolate
• Dark chocolate with a high percentage of cacao solids and low in sugar is prone to splitting when you make ganache. This is normal. To avoid the ganache splitting, you can add 15 grams of glucose to the cream. The sugar will stabilize the ganache and help the emulsion form. This is optional but helps a lot!

Tip for what to do if your chocolate ganache breaks or separates: if you make your ganache incorrectly, you will find that as you stir it, the fats begin to separate from the creamy chocolate mixture and it just won't look right. If this happens, the emulsion of the ganache is broken, but you can fix it! Simply add a couple of tablespoons of cold milk (or even water), stir, et voilà: silky smooth chocolate ganache. It works. Trust me. This tart is proof!

Other Rhubarb Recipes

If this rhubarb tart seems like a lot of work, but you still want to bake with rhubarb, you can always make these rhubarb recipes:

• strawberry rhubarb crumble muffins
• rhubarb muffins with streusel
• rhubarb jam without pectin
• mini strawberry rhubarb crumbles 
• blueberry rhubarb crisp
• rhubarb crisp

If you tried this recipe for the best rhubarb chocolate tart (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Roasted Rhubarb Chocolate Tart

A decadent rhubarb chocolate tart filled with a layer of roasted rhubarb compote and topped with chocolate ganache 

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 371kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Tart pan
• GIR spatula
• Hand blender

Ingredients

Chocolate dough

• 84 grams unsalted butter cut into small pieces
• 63 grams icing sugar
• 25 grams Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder
• 1 large egg yolk(s)
• 170 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 15 mL milk

Rhubarb compote

• 225 grams fresh rhubarb washed and trimmed, and cut into 10 cm lengths
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL rose water optional
• 5 mL vanilla bean paste

Dark chocolate ganache

• 260 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) chopped
• 250 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)

Decor

• Cacao Barry extra brute cocoa powder for dusting on the finished tart before serving
• dried rose petals for decorating the tart

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the chocolate dough

• Cream together the butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until smooth and well mixed.
• Add the egg yolk and mix it in, then add the flour and salt and mix the dough to form a crumble.
• Add the milk and mix it in to bind the dough together.
• Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until firm.
• Roll out the disk of dough between two pieces of parchment until it is 3 mm thick.
• Line a 9-inch removable bottomed tart pan with the dough and work it into the corners and edges. Trim and neaten it up.
• Chill the unbaked tart for half an hour or until very, very cold.
• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) while the tart base chills.
• Dock the pastry with a fork to allow steam to escape (make sure to cut all the way through).
• Place the tart on a baking sheet and blind bake the tart shell for about 20–25 minutes until the pastry is fully cooked and appears dry (not glossy). Watch for air bubbles forming under the pastry. If this happens, take a fork, a thin pairing knife, or even a cake tester to poke through the pastry, gently pressing it back in place. Once the crust has set, air pockets won't form anymore.
• Remove the tart from the oven. Let it cool before unmolding it carefully and placing it on a plate.

To make the rhubarb compote

• Combine the chopped rhubarb and sugar in a small saucepan and heat it over medium–high heat to melt the sugar and soften the rhubarb. When it boils, let the compote boil for several minutes to cook the rhubarb and boil off as much of the water as possible. Set aside to cool.

To make the chocolate ganache

• Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it is steaming hot (just below 80 °C or 175 °F), then pour it over the chopped chocolate.
• Wait two minutes for the heat to disperse, then begin to stir it from the middle, out, until you obtain a smooth, silky ganache. Use an electric stick blender to ensure the chocolate is all melted and the mixture well emulsified. (If all else fails, see above for my ganache saving tip in the notes!).

To assemble the tart

• Line the bottom of the baked tart shell with an even layer of the rhubarb compote.
• Top with ganache, smoothing it out from edge to edge. Let the tart set in the fridge for a couple of hours.
• When you are ready to serve the tart, dust the top with some cocoa powder to make it pretty and decorate with dried rose petals.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate.
• When making dark chocolate ganache with a high percentage of cacao and low in sugar, the ganache may separate. This means the fats begin to separate from the creamy chocolate mixture. It just won't look right (might even be lumpy and greasy looking) and when you chill it, you will notice white cocoa butter drops on the surface of the ganache.
  • One way to stabilize dark chocolate ganache and prevent separation is to add a little glucose (corn syrup or even honey) to the cream. Heat the cream in this recipe with 15 grams of glucose (or corn syrup or honey) to melt it in. This should help you achieve a more stable ganache that is less prone to separating. 
  • I like to use a stick blender (hand blender) to combine the cream and chocolate. I find my ganache doesn't break when I use the stick blender.
  • Don't overheat the cream - if it's too hot, your ganache may split! Make sure it is under  80 °C before adding it to the chocolate.
  • If your ganache splits or breaks, the emulsion of the ganache is broken, but you can fix it before pouring the filling in the tart shell! Add a couple of tablespoons of cold milk at a time (or even water), stir a lot and repeat this until it comes together, et voilà: silky smooth chocolate ganache!

Nutrition

Calories: 371kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 63mg | Potassium: 281mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 534IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 4mg

The post Rhubarb Chocolate Tart appeared first on The Bake School.

We are finally starting to see beautiful local Quebec asparagus pop up at the market, which means that spring is here (even if the weather gods didn't get the memo and sent snow our way this morning).

Baked goods do not always have to be all about the sugar. You can make savoury muffins with cold cuts or chili cheddar cornbreads, savoury loaf cakes with date and chorizo, cheddar biscuits, scones with cheese.  Baking with savoury ingredients opens up a whole world of possibilities, like this feta phyllo tart with asparagus.

What You Need To Make This Feta Phyllo Tart

This savoury phyllo tart is made from simple ingredients you should be able to easily find at your local grocery store. Here's what you need:

• Phyllo dough sheets, thawed in the fridge overnight if frozen (approximately 300 grams)
• Butter—I used unsalted butter, melted so that the phyllo pastry isn't too salty and will make a nice contrast with the savoury filling
• Cheese—I used both ricotta cheese for creaminess and crumbled feta cheese for maximum flavour
• Fresh lemon
• Herbs—can be as simple as fresh flat-leaf parsley, oregano, or even curly parsley if you prefer
• Salt & pepper
• Fresh asparagus—choose thin, crisp, long asparagus (the kind you see in early spring) which tends to be more tender and less woody or stringy when cooked
• Olive oil, for drizzling

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

How To Make a Tart With Phyllo

I realize that not everybody has the time to make a dough for a savoury tart from scratch, so to simplify this recipe, I opted to use phyllo dough instead of a homemade dough. Phyllo is a delicate, paper thin sheet of dough that you can smear with butter and stack to create a base for pies, tarts, and all kinds of fun hors-d'oeuvres. Using phyllo for this tart yields a crisp, flaky, buttery base that is the perfect canvas to display long stalks of vibrant green spring asparagus.

Step 1—start by laying down a sheet of phyllo pastry on the bottom of a half-sheet pan and brushing with melted butter from edge to edge (image 1). Repeat with all 12 sheets of phyllo, layering them on top of each other neatly. Snap the woody bases off of the asparagus spears (image 2).

Step 2—mix the ingredients for the ricotta filling in a small bowl, then smear them over the phyllo base, leaving a thin border at the edges (around 1 cm), then arrange the asparagus on top (image 3). If you have a little extra feta cheese, you can crumble it on top to decorate the tart (image 4) then bake until the phyllo crust is crispy and golden brown (image 5).

Phyllo Tart FAQs

Other Savoury Baking Recipes

If you love to explore more recipes like this, check out these fun savoury baking recipes:

If you tried this recipe for the best asparagus phyllo tart (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Asparagus Phyllo Tart

Showcase long stalks of spring asparagus in a beautiful asparagus phyllo tart with a ricotta, feta and herb filling.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine French

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 9

Calories 240kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 12 sheets phyllo pastry thawed
• 85 grams unsalted butter melted
• 265 grams ricotta cheese
• 100 grams feta cheese crumbled
• 5 mL finely grated lemon zest
• 60 mL flat leaf parsley finely chopped
• Salt & freshly ground pepper
• 680 grams fresh asparagus woody ends snapped off
• extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C) with the baking rack in the middle. Line a large rimmed half-sheet pan that is approximately 13”x18” (45.7cm x 33cm) with parchment paper. Use a light-coloured aluminum sheet pan if possible (see notes).
• Begin by building the phyllo base of the tart. Lay a sheet of phyllo over the parchment, then brush lightly with melted butter from edge to edge over the entire surface. Top with the next sheet of phyllo, brushing it with butter. Repeat the process over and over again until you have stacked and buttered the 12 sheets of phyllo. This is your tart base.
• In a bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, half of the crumbled feta, lemon zest, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning, then spread the cheese filling thinly and evenly over the phyllo tart base, leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) border.
• Prepare the asparagus by washing and drying it. Snap off and discard the woody ends. Arrange the asparagus over the cheese layer, pressing it in gently. Sprinkle with remaining crumbled feta, then drizzle with olive oil. 
• Bake the tart on the middle rack until the edges are a deep golden brown and crisp, about 30 to 35 minutes. Cut into squares and serve immediately.

Notes

• If you are using a baking sheet with a dark or black finish, you may need to lower the oven temperature by 25ºF down to 375°F (190 °C).
• When working with phyllo dough, thaw according to the package instructions. Also, be sure to keep the phyllo dough covered to keep it from drying out. I like to cover it with a kitchen towel, then very lightly spritz the towel with a fine mist of water.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 240kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 277mg | Potassium: 221mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1128IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 142mg | Iron: 3mg

To find the recipe for this asparagus tart, visit the asparagus phyllo tart recipe on the Produce Made Simple website. The Produce Made Simple website is packed full of information on fresh produce with lots of recipe inspiration, so be sure to stick around!

The post Asparagus Phyllo Tart appeared first on The Bake School.

Ingredients

This easy apple tart has four basic components:

1. the base: a sheet of puff pastry
2. the filling: apple compote, like a chunky apple sauce made from a dry caramel and chopped apples
3. the topping: thinly sliced apples
4. the glaze: maple syrup (adds sweetness and flavour without shine) or melted apple jelly (the classic glaze, adds shine and sweetness and more apple flavour)

To make this easy apple dessert, you will need:

• lots of apples (5 to 7 medium–large apples)—choose apples that are good for baking, like Cortland, Golden Delicious, Honey Crisp, or any apple that tastes good and doesn't break down when heated
• sugar—use granulated sugar that you can caramelize on the stove into a golden amber syrup that is full of flavour
• butter—use unsalted butter, though salted could work as we aren't using much in this recipe
• puff pastry—homemade or store-bought, though for something like this, I'd opt for the convenience of store-bought. Just make sure it's an all-butter puff pastry.
• maple syrup or melted apple jelly—the glaze brushed on the apples after baking the tart

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Of course, you can use homemade puff pastry for this recipe, but that can be quite time-consuming. And for something like this, I prefer the convenience of a roll of frozen puff pastry from the local baker. They sell it in rolled up sheets that are so convenient. Just make sure that it's an all-butter pastry so that it's more flavourful.

How to Make a Puff Pastry Apple Tart

This is a French apple tart with puff pastry, apple compote, and sliced apples. There are three components to this dessert (not counting the glaze) and so there are three major steps involved in the preparation:

1. Preparing the puff pastry crust
2. Making a dry caramel to cook the apple compote filling
3. Assembling the tart with sliced apples on top before baking

Working with puff pastry

Whether you roll out a block of puff pastry with a rolling pin, or unroll a sheet, you will want to trim it to fit your sheet pan. I used a pound of puff pastry dough to fit a 10x15 sheet pan lined with parchment.

Docking the sheet of puff pastry before topping it is going to help stop the dough from puffing out of control in the oven. When the puff pastry bakes, steam will form between the layers of dough as the butter melts. The holes will help release some of that gas so that the pastry bakes flat.

Of course, the weight of the toppings also helps weigh down the puff pastry, but it's not enough weight to prevent the dough from puffing in the oven. Keep an eye on the tart as it bakes and if you ever notice a section puffing upward too much, take a pairing knife to pierce the bubble before the pastry sets.

Also, don't forget that puff pastry needs to be kept cold. So always keep the dough in the fridge when you aren't working with it.

How to Make an Apple Tart with Puff Pastry

Note: By making a dry caramel, you may discover you have less issues with the sugar crystallizing than methods that start with water. While crystallization is less of an issue here, the caramel is more prone to burning and smoking, so be aware of that.

Step 1: Start by making the dry caramel. Melt the sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat (image 1). The sugar will melt gradually into a fluid, clear syrup of pure melted sugar (image 2) until all the sugar has melted and begins to caramelize (image 3). Add the butter last to melt it into the caramel and "deglaze" the pan (image 4).

Step 2: Add the diced apple to the pan of caramel (image 5) and cook the apples so that they release water (image 6). Continue cooking the apples, stirring fairly often until the apples are translucent (image 7). I like to continue to cook the compote until the apples begin to break down and there is no water left (image 8). Cooking the apple filling removes the water from the filling, which boils off. This helps ensure that your puff pastry will be nice and crispy, not soggy.

Tip: Use an apple that can stand up to direct heat. I like to use Cortland apples because you can cook them without them completely breaking down. This way the compote has a little more texture to it.

Step 3: Assembly is easy and the fun part of this recipe. All you have to do is set the rolled-out pastry on a rimmed baking sheet (10x15-inch sheet pan or a half sheet pan). Dock the pastry with a fork to create steam vents and smear the puff pastry from edge-to-edge with apple compote (image 9) and layer the sliced apples (image 10). Make sure that you create an even layer of apple, either arranging them decoratively or in even rows. Make sure the compote is completely covered.

Hint: Use a mandoline to slice the apples into perfectly even slices, but be very careful and use a guard to protect your fingertips! Use the finger guard that comes with your mandoline to avoid hurting yourself

Step 4: Take the time to arrange your apple slices so that they line up nicely in neat rows or in a more haphazard, but intentional layer. The goal is to cover the entire tart, from edge-to-edge with a perfectly even layer of apples (image 11). Spend time on this step to make it look nice! Then bake the tart until the crust is golden brown and cooked through (image 12).

Tip: I like to brush maple syrup, honey, or melted apple jelly over the cooked fruit to bring a little colour and sweetness to them. Use a pastry brush or the back of a spoon to do this

Top Puff Pastry Tip

Dock the pastry with a fork before topping with compote and fruit. The holes allow steam to escape and also prevent larger air bubbles from forming which will cause the crust to rise up unevenly in the oven as the tart bakes.

Storage

Apple tarts made with puff pastry are best eaten the day they are baked. Like most recipes with puff pastry, they don't store well. It won't go bad quickly, but the crispy puff pastry crust will soften after a day. The texture and flaky pastry eating experience will be different if stored overnight, for example.

I don't think this tart would freeze well either. It's best baked and eaten on the same day. You could experiment with freezing it unbaked and baking from frozen, but I haven't tested this.

Serving Suggestions

While Americans tend to serve apple pie with vanilla ice cream, French apple tarts aren't usually topped with anything. But I won't judge you if you feel like serving this easy apple dessert to your guests à la mode! This cardamom ice cream would be great or in the fall, this pumpkin ice cream!

Other Apple Desserts

If you love apple tarts, be sure to check out this delicious apple tarte tatin or this easy apple galette made with pie crust.

If you tried this recipe for the best puff pastry apple tart (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Puff Pastry Apple Tart

Learn how to make a puff pastry apple tart with this easy recipe. You can make it with a sheet of store-bought puff pastry, and then top it with a caramel apple compote and sliced apples. This tart is cut into squares like a slab pie!

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 25 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 442kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• 10x15 sheet pan
• Pastry brush
• Mandoline

Ingredients

Apple compote

• 75 grams granulated sugar
• 30 grams unsalted butter
• 3 Cortland apple(s) peeled, cored, and diced

Tart assembly

• 450 grams all-butter puff pastry defrosted in the fridge overnight
• 3 Cortland apple(s) sliced thinly (you can either peel and core the apples before slicing or slice them whole for a more artistic look)

Glaze

• 30 mL pure maple syrup or melted apple jelly

Metric - US

Instructions

Apple compote

• Place a medium saucepan on the stove over medium heat.
• Sprinkle the bottom of the pan with granulated sugar and heat the sugar until it is completely melted and clear, tilting and swirling the pan as necessary to keep the granulated sugar/melted sugar moving so that it doesn't scorch unevenly.
• Once the sugar is all melted, continue cooking until the syrup colours and turns a golden amber colour.
• Take the pan off the heat and add the butter, swirling carefully to melt and incorporate it.
• Add the diced apple, and using a wooden spoon, stir to evenly coat in caramel.
• Place the pot back on the stove and cook the compote on medium heat until the apples soften, become translucent, and begin to break down a little.
• Take the pan off the heat, and transfer the compote to a bowl. Refrigerate until cold.

Tart assembly

• Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C). Line a 10x15 inch (25x38 cm) sheet pan with parchment paper.
• Using a rolling pin, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the cold puff pastry to fit the pan from edge to edge (or almost). It doesn't have to be too exact and if you are using a pre-rolled sheet of puff pastry, it may already fit depending on the brand.
• Using a fork, dock (a.k.a. prick) the pastry all over to allow steam and air to escape while it bakes.
• Dollop and spread the cold apple compote from edge to edge to coat the pastry dough.
• Arrange the thinly sliced apple evenly on the apple compote, from edge to edge.
• Bake until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. You may rotate the pan once during baking to make sure the tart browns evenly. If the pastry puffs up in one area, cut a little slit with a knife to let the air out.

  The tart should take about 45 minutes to bake.

Glaze

• As soon as the tart comes out of the oven, set the pan on a cooling rack.
• Brush the sliced apple topping with maple syrup (or melted apple jelly) to coat all of the fruit with a thin layer.
• Let cool completely, then cut into 8 squares and serve immediately.

Notes

You may need more or less sliced apples, depending on their size, in order to completely cover the tart with an even layer of fruit. Better to slice a little extra and snack on the leftovers, rather than run out!

For the photo, I sliced whole apples (with the peel) to arrange on the top of the tart, but you can also core and peel the apples for a more traditional, neater look. Aim to slice the apples quite thin, around 3/16 inch (0.5 cm) thick.

To prevent the sliced and diced apples from browning, you can store them in a bowl of lemon water as you prep all the apples. When you are ready to use them, drain them well.

Nutrition

Calories: 442kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 142mg | Potassium: 190mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 23g | Vitamin A: 168IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 2mg

The post Puff Pastry Apple Tart appeared first on The Bake School.

If you are looking to truly showcase strawberries this season, this strawberry cream tart is for you! This dessert is very simple to make with an easy shortbread cookie crust, whipped cream, and lots of strawberries.

The ratio used for this crust is high in butter, just like for the jam-filled shortbread cookies because we want a crust that is tender and easy to slice, which means we need equal parts butter and flour by weight. This is quite different than the traditional crunchy shortbread with a 1-2-3 ratio where you have 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, and 3 parts flour by weight.

What You Need To Make The Best Strawberry Cream Tart

For this strawberry cream tart recipe, you will be making a big shortbread cookie in a tart pan, yogurt whipped cream, and macerated fresh strawberries before assembling the tart.

Here's what you need to make this strawberry tart recipe:

• butter—use unsalted butter, though salted could work as we aren't using much in this recipe. You may omit the salt in the cookie dough if you bake with salted butter
• sugar—icing sugar makes the shortbread tart crust more tender and fine and the whipped cream topping much smoother than granulated would
• vanilla extract—use pure vanilla extract if you can for a gentler flavour
• flour—all-purpose works well in this recipe and I wouldn't substitute another
• salt to balance out the sweetness of this dessert—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, which is less salty than regular table salt. Adjust accordingly if you use table salt instead
• maple syrup—to macerate the berries and lightly sweeten them
• whipping cream—full fat 35 % whipping cream so that the topping is more stable and thick
• yogurt—specifically Greek yogurt which has less water. Please opt for yogurt that has at least 2 % fat for better taste and creamier texture
• fresh strawberries—I prefer to bake with local seasonal strawberries whenever possible because they are smaller and more flavourful
• herbs—fresh basil or mint leaves work great to garnish strawberry recipes

Please read the recipe card for more information on quantities and ingredients.

Substitutions And Variations

Here are a few ways to tweak this recipe. Remember that any drastic changes beyond these may require more testing.

• Yogurt:
  • mascarpone cheese—replace the yogurt with full-fat mascarpone
  • plain whipped cream: replace the yogurt with extra whipping cream if you aren't a fan of yogurt and its tangy flavour
  • vanilla pastry cream: you can use the pastry cream filling from this fruit tart recipe instead of the whipped cream filling
• Whipped cream flavouring—along with vanilla extract, you can also add a little citrus zest (either orange or lemon), or even replace the vanilla with a sweet flavoured liqueur, like Amaretto or Grand Marnier.
• Strawberries—try another berry, like blackberries or raspberries, depending on what's in season and available!
• Fresh herbs—instead of garnishing with mint or basil, you can also sprinkle with chopped toasted almonds for a strawberry almond tart or pistachios for a strawberry pistachio version.

Tip: use fresh strawberries in season! This is not a good recipe for frozen berries, which will become very soft and lose a lot of water when defrosted. If you must use frozen strawberries, you will have to cook them into a compote or even strawberry jam and drizzle that over the cream instead!

Instructions

There are three components to this strawberry tart recipe: making the shortbread cookie crust (using the creaming mixing method), macerating the strawberries, and whipping the cream.

Step 1: make the shortbread cookie dough in the bowl of a stand mixer or with an electric mixer by first creaming the butter with the sugar (image 1), then adding the vanilla (image 2) and finally the flour (image 3). Mix the dough until it comes together and the flour has disappeared (image 4), but don't overmix it.

Step 2: prepare the tart crust by scraping the dough out of the mixer bowl with a bowl scraper (image 5) and crumbling it evenly into a 9-inch tart pan (image 6). Use the palm of your hand to flatten the dough out evenly (image 7).

Step 3: The shortbread cookie dough should fill the tart pan from edge to edge (image 8). Bake the tart until the edges are golden brown (image 9) then cool it on a wire rack in the pan.

Cool the crust before assembling! Make sure to cool the shortbread tart crust completely before spreading the whipped cream over top. If you don't, the whipped cream will melt and the fats will loosen, making the filling more liquidy and creating a messy look and a soggy bottom.

Step 4: Prepare the strawberries while the tart is baking and cooling. Hull the washed berries to remove the stem and slice them in half or thirds (depending on the size of the berries) (image 10). Place the sliced berries in a bowl (image 11) and stir in maple syrup (image 12).

Step 5: Just before serving, place the cream and yogurt in a large bowl (image 13). Whip it with an electric hand mixer (or with a balloon whisk by hand) until the mixture is thickened but still soft (image 14). Add the icing sugar and vanilla to the bowl (image 15) and continue whipping until the whipped cream is thick and spreadable (image 16).

Proportions for the yogurt whipped cream: I used 60 mL (¼ cup) of Greek yogurt for 125 mL (½ cup) of whipping cream, so 1 part Greek yogurt to 2 parts whipping cream. The rule of thumb for sweetening whipped cream is to use 10 % of the weight of the cream, so in this case, we used about 10 % of the total weight of yogurt and cream combined.

Step 6: Place the shortbread crust on a serving plate and spread the whipped cream filling over top (image 17), leaving a little border around the edge, then top with macerated strawberries (image 18).

Hint: Make it cute! Garnish the tart with fresh herbs like mint or basil leaves, or even some lavender buds or elderflowers.

Top Tip

Use a small bowl to unmould the tart from the tart pan: invert the bowl and place the tart pan over it. The ring will drop down and you can lift the base of the pan up with the crust. Use an offset spatula to loosen the tart crust from the base and then slide it onto your serving plate.

Baking Recipe FAQs

Other Tarts To Bake

Looking for other beautiful tart recipes like this? Try these:

If you tried this recipe for the best chewy chocolate chip cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Strawberry Cream Tart with Yogurt Whipped Cream

Learn how to make a gorgeous strawberry cream tart with this easy recipe with a shortbread tart crust, yogurt whipped cream and fresh strawberries macerated in maple syrup.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8

Calories 281kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Braun mixer
• Tart pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• Bowl scraper

Ingredients

Shortbread cookie tart crust

• 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 40 grams icing sugar
• 2.5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 125 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Maple macerated strawberries

• 450 grams fresh strawberries washed, hulled, and sliced
• 30 mL pure maple syrup

Yogurt whipped cream

• 125 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 60 mL greek yogurt use at least 2% fat greek yogurt, see notes for substitute
• 20 grams icing sugar
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 5–6 basil leaves or mint leaves (for garnish)

Metric - US

Instructions

For the shortbread cookie tart crust

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 ºC).
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar until it is well mixed.
• Add the vanilla and stir it in.
• On low speed, add the flour and the salt. When the flour is mostly incorporated, increase the speed of the mixer until the ingredients come together to form a cookie dough.
• Crumble the dough in an even layer into a fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Press the cookie dough flatly and evenly. The dough should fit the pan from edge-to-edge. Use a flat-bottomed glass (or your palm) to press the dough and spread it out evenly.
• Place the tart pan in the oven, and bake the cookie until the edges turn golden, about 20 minutes.
• Let the tart cool completely before unmolding onto a serving plate (check out my tricks for removing a tart from a tart pan!).

For the strawberries

• Mix the sliced strawberries with the maple syrup in a medium bowl. Let them macerate while you prepare the cream. Store them in a bowl, covered, in the fridge.

For the yogurt cream

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using. an electric hand mixer), whip the yogurt and the cream until thick but soft.
• Add the sugar and vanilla, and continue whipping until the yogurt whipped cream is thick and spreadable. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

Assembly

• Spread the thick whipped cream over the cooled cookie base, leaving a half-inch edge.
• Top with the macerated strawberries, and garnish with a few fresh basil or mint leaves.

Notes

Before tackling this recipe, please read through the blog post, including the recipe card and tips so you know what you are doing. Here are a few things to note:

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Press the dough in the pan: You may need to use a little flour (or even a little water) to prevent the glass (or your fingertips) from sticking to the dough.
• Cool the crust completely! Do not top with the whipped cream or the strawberries until you are sure the tart has cooled completely.
• Unmould the tart easily: Don't stress about unmoulding your cookie tart crust from the tart ring: use my tricks for removing a tart from a tart pan, like an inverted bowl (see photo above)! Works like a charm!
• Making the whipped cream: If you don't want to add yogurt to make the whipped cream topping, replace it with the same amount of whipping cream or even mascarpone cream, if you have it!
• Make ahead tips: You can make the components ahead of time, bake the crust and let it cool, macerate the berries in maple syrup, and prepare the whipped cream ahead of time. Store the berries and whipped cream covered in the fridge, and keep the cookie crust in a cool dry place until you are ready to assemble the dessert, preferably just before serving so that the crust doesn't get soggy.

Nutrition

Calories: 281kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 49mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 151mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 745IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Fresh Strawberry Cream Tart With Yogurt Whipped Cream appeared first on The Bake School.

I found some frozen passion fruit purée at Yasolo, a little shop in my neighbourhood, owned by a lovely couple from Côte d'Ivoire. Obviously, I was ridiculously excited about it and the shop owner wondered why on earth I'd buy it if I wasn't going to make juice from it. So I explained to her, in French, that I was going to make a passion fruit spread of sorts, that's thickened with eggs and butter. Actually there isn't a French baking term for "curd" and often lemon curd translates as "crème de citron."

You can enjoy fruit curds like this passionfruit curd served with best scones or smeared on toast, and also as a filling for cakes and cookies (remember when I made grapefruit coconut cookies that were sandwiched with grapefruit curd? Yum!). In this case, I used it to fill green matcha tart shells to make these matcha tarts. 

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Matcha Tart with Passion Fruit Curd

A recipe for matcha tarts with passion fruit curd. This recipe would work great with lemon curd too! The tart dough is made with a tablespoon of matcha, which adds colour and flavour.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

Servings 5 tarts

Calories 858kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Mini tart pans
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Rolling pin
• Mini tart pans

Ingredients

Passion fruit curd

• 125 mL passion fruit purée
• 60 mL fresh lemon juice
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 8 large egg yolk(s)
• 150 grams unsalted butter

For the matcha tart dough

• 86 grams unsalted butter softened
• 63 grams icing sugar
• 33 grams ground almonds
• 8 grams matcha green tea powder
• 1 large egg yolk(s)
• 156 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1 pinch Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 22.5 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat)

Garnish

• 2 Passion fruit for decorating, or you can use fresh raspberries

Metric - US

Instructions

Passion fruit curd

• In a medium saucepan, combine the passion fruit purée, the lemon juice, and half the sugar.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar until the mixture has lightened in colour. Set aside by the stove.
• Have the cubes of butter ready by the stove (away from heat) and also, place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl nearby. Have a couple heatproof spatulas at the ready.
• Heat the juice mixture on medium–high until it comes to a boil almost. Pour the juice over the lightened yolks and whisk like mad to temper the eggs. When the egg-juice mixture is well mixed, transfer it back to a saucepan.
• Heat the curd on medium–high until it comes to a boil, whisking constantly. When the mixture comes to a boil, set a time for 1.5 minutes and boil the mixture while whisking non-stop. Move the saucepan around over the burner to avoid scorching if your burner/pan have hot spots. At this point, the curd should be thick. Take the pan off the heat, and begin whisking in the butter, a little at a time. When the butter has disappeared and the curd is well mixed, pour it into the strainer set over a bowl. Use a spatula to get every last drop of curd out of the pan. Press the mixture through the sieve.
• Cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the entire surface of the curd, then close the bowl with another piece of plastic wrap pulled across the top. Chill overnight.

Matcha tart shells

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, icing sugar, ground almond, and matcha. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
• Add the egg yolk and mix it in.
• Add the flour and salt. Mix it into the dough on low.
• Sprinkle the milk over the crumbly mixture in the mixer bowl, and mix until the crumbles become a cohesive green dough.
• Dump the dough onto a work surface and press/gently work the dough into a uniform mass. Divide the dough into five pieces (~75 grams each). Flatten each piece into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
• Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough so that it is larger than your tart pans (about 1.5 inches larger). Transfer the dough to the tart pan and work it into the mold. Be sure to not pull or stretch the dough but rather let it fall into place.
• Chill the unbaked tart shells for another 30 minutes or more (if you have the time, an hour is better). Place the chilled tart shells on a baking sheet, dock the dough, and bake on the middle rack for about 20 minutes or so. No pie weights needed! Bake the tarts until the edges are golden brown.
• Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then using a glass, unmold the tarts (check out my post about how to remove a tart from a tart pan for more info). Let cool completely before filling.

Assembly

• Fill the tarts with passion fruit curd and top with fresh passion fruit pulp or fresh raspberries.
• Chill until ready to serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 858kcal | Carbohydrates: 91g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 51g | Saturated Fat: 28g | Cholesterol: 453mg | Sodium: 43mg | Potassium: 272mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 60g | Vitamin A: 2408IU | Vitamin C: 22mg | Calcium: 81mg | Iron: 4mg

The post Matcha Tarts with Passion Fruit Curd appeared first on The Bake School.

This post is sponsored by Cacao Barry.

I think one of the easiest tarts you can make is a chocolate tart that is filled with ganache and chilled in the fridge to set the filling. The dark chocolate ganache filling and whipped cream topping require no baking. The graham cracker crust is pressed into the tart pan and baked. No rolling pins are required for this crust!

I used leftover homemade graham crackers for this graham cracker crust, but by all means, use store-bought graham crackers or graham cracker crumbs to save time!

If you are a fan of tea-flavoured desserts, check out this recipe for Earl grey panna cotta tarts and this Earl Grey cake!

Ingredients

• graham cracker crumbs made from graham crackers (but you can also just buy a box of pre-ground graham cracker crumbs!)
• sugar, both granulated sugar for the crust and icing sugar (also called powder sugar)—if you aren't sure of the difference, please read all about sugar in baking
• butter, preferably unsalted because we don't want the components to be overly salty
• cream, both 10 % fat and 35 % whipping cream
• loose leaf Earl Grey tea to infuse the filling and to add to the whipped cream topping
• high-quality dark chocolate—I used 70% dark chocolate from Cacao Barry, but Lindt and Valrhona are also great options depending on your price point
• vanilla accentuates and brings out the flavours in this recipe—use pure vanilla extract (storebought or homemade)
• salt to balance out the flavours and also to make them pop more. I use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If you are using regular table salt, use half the amount!
• mascarpone cheese is added to the whipped cream to stabilize it, yielding a thick creamy whipped cream topping that is stable and doesn't weep.

Baked graham cracker crust versus chilled

The recipe below has you bake the graham cracker crust. Baking it helps the crust stay together when sliced and served so that it is less crumbly. Technically, baking is entirely optional when it comes to graham cracker crusts. 

If you want to make a no-bake chocolate tart, this recipe will work fine. To skip the baking step for the graham cracker crust, chill the tart shell while you make the ganache filling. Then pour the filling into the unbaked graham cracker crust and chill again to set the filling (preferably overnight), just like you would do for a no-bake cheesecake with a graham cracker crust. The crust will be a little more delicate without baking, but will still work well!

Special equipment

Remember to use a square tart pan with a removable bottom to make serving easy. Use this trick to remove the tart from the tart pan. 

Dark chocolate ganache versus truffle filling

The original tart recipe is from Abby Dodge and was published in Fine Cooking. This is a gorgeous recipe for a decadent chocolate tart that is sure to please chocolate enthusiasts and lovers of all things graham cracker.

The ganache filling is referred to as a truffle filling because it's more than just a dark chocolate ganache made from dark chocolate and cream. The truffle filling includes a little butter, vanilla, and a pinch of salt to round out the texture and flavour of this no-bake chocolate filling.

It's still just as easy as a simple chocolate ganache filling, and the butter helps add shine and stability to ganache fillings. Some will make the dark chocolate ganache filling for tarts with eggs (either whole eggs, egg yolks, or a mixture of both). Again, the eggs help with the emulsion. In this case, when egg yolks or whole eggs are added to a ganache mixture, usually the tart is baked in the oven to set or cooked on the stove, like for stovetop chocolate pots de crème.

Note that to make the best chocolate truffle fillings and chocolate ganaches, you should use the best chocolate that you can buy. For this recipe, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70% dark chocolate, which is a professional quality dark chocolate that you can buy in IGA grocery stores in Quebec and online from Vanilla Food Company. It comes in 1-kilo resealable bags as pistoles (which resemble giant flattened chocolate chips). The texture of the dark chocolate ganache filling is wonderfully smooth with this chocolate!

Substitutions

If you aren't a fan of dark chocolate, you can use milk chocolate, but you will have to modify the ratio of chocolate to cream to ensure the tart filling sets firmly. Check out this raspberry chocolate tart which has a milk chocolate ganache filling that you may prefer. You can use that exact filling with this graham cracker crust, though you will have to prepare more filling (1.25 times the milk chocolate ganache filling is required to fill a 9-inch square tart shell).

Do not use chocolate chips or compound chocolate for chocolate ganache. These are too sweet and contain unnecessary fats (often hydrogenated) that make for a less tasty filling. If you need help picking what chocolate to bake with, check out my guide to the types of chocolate for baking to find the best chocolate for every baking recipe.

Mascarpone stabilized whipped cream

I topped this dark chocolate tart with whipped cream, but a more stable version of whipped cream made with mascarpone. When you incorporate mascarpone into whipped cream, you form a more stable whipped cream that is less prone to weeping. Mascarpone stabilized whipped cream can be used to garnish tarts and desserts without worrying that the whipped cream will deflate, lose volume, and break down.

Other ingredients to stabilize whipped cream include:

• gelatin that is softened in cold water and then melted before adding to whipped cream—this is a favourite method of pastry professionals to stabilize fillings
• cornstarch but this can leave a powdery mouthfeel so use with caution
• yogurt (check out this fresh strawberry cream tart)

I added finely chopped Earl Grey tea leaves to the whipped cream topping, lending a slightly floral, citrusy note to the cream. I loved the look of the flecks of tea throughout the bright cream and these too could help absorb any moisture released from the whipped topping. Honestly, I'd use this mascarpone cream again for other recipes that benefit from refrigeration, like maybe for a trifle.

Other baking recipes infused with Earl Grey tea

If you like Earl Grey tea, you can also try these other Earl Grey tea-infused desserts:

1. Earl Grey panna cotta tarts with a tea-infused panna cotta filling and a sweet tart crust made with a little ground almonds
2. Earl Grey tea layer cake, where Earl Grey tea leaves are incorporated in the cake batter and used as a garnish, while tea is steeped in the milk for the Earl Grey buttercream
3. Earl Grey hot chocolate, for which you infuse cream with Earl Grey and then use that cream to make hot chocolate with real dark chocolate
4. Earl Grey chocolate truffles with a dark chocolate ganache made with tea-infused cream

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Earl Grey Chocolate Tart

Learn how to make a beautiful easy Earl Grey chocolate tart with whipped cream and a graham cracker crust. You can make this a no-bake dessert by chilling the graham cracker crust instead of baking it! The mascarpone helps stabilize the whipped cream topping so that it doesn't weep.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Chill time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 55 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 337kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Square tart pan
• GIR spatula
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Mini offset

Ingredients

Graham cracker crust

• 255 grams graham cracker crumbs
• 25 grams granulated sugar
• 85 grams unsalted butter melted

Earl Grey chocolate ganache fiilling

• 250 mL half-and-half cream (10 % fat)
• 30 grams loose leaf Earl Grey tea more or less depending on how strong a taste you want
• 340 grams dark chocolate (70 % cocoa content) chopped
• 57 grams unsalted butter cut into pieces
• 2.5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 0.625 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Earl grey whipped cream

• 250 grams mascarpone cheese
• 188 mL whipping cream (35 % fat)
• 50 grams icing sugar
• 12 grams loose leaf Earl Grey tea finely chopped

Metric - US

Instructions

Graham cracker crumb crust

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Have a 9-inch square tart pan with removable bottom ready (like this one from Amazon), placed on a baking sheet so that you can easily transfer to and from the oven.
• In a medium bowl mix the crust ingredients until the butter has evenly coated all the crumbs.
• Pour the crust mixture in the tart pan, and press it out firmly and evenly all over the base and up the sides of the pan.
• Bake the crust for about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool. If you are unsure about this step, check out my tips on how to remove a tart from a tart pan.

Earl Grey chocolate ganache filling

• Begin by simmering (not boiling) the cream in a small saucepan with the tea bags for about 10 minutes over medium-low heat. Remove the pan from the stove, but leave the tea bags in while you work on the chocolate.
• In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave on power level 5, microwaving for 1 minute at a time, then stirring, and repeating, until it is all melted and smooth.
• Remove the tea bags from the cream and add the tea-steeped hot cream to the chocolate mixture and stir until it is smooth (if the cream was a little cold, and the mixture appears curdled, just microwave it again for a couple minutes on power level 5, stirring every minute).
• Add the vanilla and salt.
• Let the chocolate ganache you’ve just made sit on the counter, for an hour or so, to cool and set just enough that it is still pourable, but not super liquid (you know what I mean?).
• Transfer the ganache to the tart shell using a rubber spatula, being sure to not get chocolate on the edges, and also to not disturb the delicate edges of the crust.
• Let cool completely, cover, and refrigerate until the filling is set, about 4 hours and up to 8 hours before proceeding with the recipe.

Earl Grey whipped cream

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the mascarpone, cream, sugar, and tea leaves on low, to combine, then on medium-high, until the mixture is thick and holds firm peaks. Don’t overbeat, or you’ll make butter (tasty, but not what we’re going for here…).
• With an offset spatula, spread the topping over the set tart, leaving pretty swirls and peaks of cream. Don’t worry if a little ganache is peaking through the cream. It looks better like that.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For a no-bake chocolate tart, skip the graham cracker crust baking step and instead chill the crust thoroughly while you make the filling. The no-bake graham cracker crust might be slightly more delicate than a baked graham cracker crust, but the crust will still be sturdy enough to unmold and slice once the filling has properly set.
• For the dark chocolate, I used Cacao Barry Ocoa 70 % dark chocolate. Ocoa is a dark chocolate produced by Cacao Barry. It has a 70% cocoa content and is not overly sweet! Ocoa is available at IGA stores in Quebec, or you can order it online from Vanilla Food Company and have it shipped across the US & Canada!

Nutrition

Serving: 16g | Calories: 337kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 121mg | Potassium: 209mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 460IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 3.2mg

This post is sponsored by Cacao Barry. I was compensated monetarily and with product. Thanks for supporting the companies that allow me to create content. As always, please know that I wouldn’t work with a sponsor nor recommend a product if it wasn’t worth it.

The post Earl grey chocolate tart with whipped cream appeared first on The Bake School.

I don't know why, but I thought this recipe for homemade pop tarts would be easy to develop. Hah! I'm funny that way. Of course, I was absolutely wrong!

The filling

Pop-Tarts have a jammy, thick filling. Starting with a homemade (or store-bought) fruit compote like a rhubarb apple compote (with a few raspberries thrown in to help the compote achieve a pretty pink hue) is too watery to fill them.

• mix it with cornstarch or a thickener, and heat it to get that cornstarch to thicken it—not recommended. This doesn't work super well and the Pop-Tarts end up hollow.
• cook it down to a thick fruit butter (like apple butter)—recommended! Boiling it down to remove as much water as possible until it is super thick, almost like a fruit paste just on the verge of caramelizing works well to make a filling.

Minimizing puffing in the oven

The puffing led me to believe that maybe I also should bake from frozen so as to minimize the ability of the pastry to lift upwards before setting. So I tried that, but I still wasn't satisfied and I didn't like how the top pastry appeared slightly under-baked.

I also tried baking at a higher temperature and baking at a lower temperature. At a higher oven temperature, the pop-tarts burned too fast. At a lower oven temperature, the pop-tarts just looked funny.

Getting the pastry right

Then I started to tweak the pastry dough recipe because I noticed it was a bit sticky as I rolled it, so I made two half-batches of dough, one using the sanding method and the other using the creaming method, and both with less milk added at the end. Both versions of the crust seemed pretty similar to me once baked. Perhaps the dough made by the "sanding" method might have been ever so slightly sandier (duh!).

I also tried docking the top pastry layer extra before baking with the hope of venting them better. That might have worked, but it also resulted in a more broken top pastry layer.

I can say that cooking down the compote into a rhubarb apple butter was brilliant. The filling tastes a lot like tart rhubarb but mellowed by the apple, and it is absolutely dreamy when sandwiched between two pieces of sweet pie crust.

I can say that with less milk added to the crust recipe, there was less puffing in the oven, or rather there was puffing and cracking, which helped let steam escape. I suppose with more milk, the hydrated starches glue the dough better, leading to puffing of the dough that doesn't crack or break as easily. I noticed this while rolling as well: the dough with less milk was a touch more fragile. I guess it's a little "shorter" in texture.

If you try this recipe, please let me know how it goes. I did my best to get it right, but after a while, I also hit a point where I was saturated and couldn't see straight. Or if you have suggestions on ways of improving this, I'm all ears! And if this story sounds familiar, that's because I also toiled over other hand-pie recipes, like these blueberry almond mini pies and these blueberry hand pies. Don't worry, if you don't have the patience for pop-tarts and hand pies, there are also lots of full-sized pie recipes to explore!

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Rhubarb Apple Breakfast Pastry

Learn how to make rhubarb apple breakfast pastry with this easy recipe. You will make a thick apple butter filling and a pastry dough, then assemble and bake. These Pop-Tarts are glazed and decorated with sprinkles.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time 22 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 7 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 252kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

For the dough

• 250 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 3.75 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 125 grams unsalted butter diced and kept cold
• 1 large egg yolk(s)
• 60 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) you may need up to 85 mL or ⅓ cup

For the pop tarts

• 188 mL rhubarb apple butter
• 1 large egg(s) whisked

For the glaze (optional)

• 125 grams icing sugar
• 15 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) hot
• 1½ tablespoon light corn syrup
• 2.5 mL pure vanilla extract
• Rainbow sprinkles

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the dough

• In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt. Drop in the cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a crumble. Add the egg yolk and half the milk, and pulse. Add more milk as needed until the dough comes together in the food processor.
• Divide the dough in 2, patting and pressing each half to combine and form rectangles. Wrap each in plastic wrap and chill for at least 45 minutes.

To assemble and bake the pop tarts

• Working with half the dough, roll it out very thin into to a large rectangle and trim into a 9"x16" (if you can, if not, don't worry). Cut into 12 pieces that are ~3"x4" (or if your dough is too uneven, cut less pieces and reroll the scraps!). Brush 6 of the pieces with the whisked egg and dollop 1 tablespoon of rhubarb apple butter along the center of each, leaving a border. Top each with another rectangle of pastry and press the edges to really seal them. Transfer to a parchment lined tray and refrigerate for about 20 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C). Transfer the chilled pop tarts to a parchment-lined baking sheet and dock the tops of each to make lots of little air holes for steam to escape. Bake for about 20 or so minutes until the edges are golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Repeat to form 6 other pop tarts with the other half of the dough.

To decorate the pop tarts

• Make the glaze by whisking the hot milk into the icing sugar with the corn syrup and the vanilla. The glaze will be thick but fluid. You can add a couple drops of lemon juice to help perk up the flavour.
• Spread a thin layer of glaze on top of each pop tart and top with a generous amount of sprinkles.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 252kcal

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Rhubarb Apple Butter

This is an easy recipe for thick rhubarb apple butter, which is a very thick fruit compote that can be used to fill pop tarts, breakfast streudel pastries, and hand pies

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 2 cups

Calories 29kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

• 525 grams McIntosh apples 4 cups peeled and chopped
• 450 grams fresh rhubarb 4 cups chopped
• 30 mL water
• 10 Fresh raspberries
• 150 grams granulated sugar

Metric - US

Instructions

• Combine all the ingredients in a large soup pot and heat on medium–high. Bring the mixture to a boil.
• Mash the fruits with a potato masher and continue simmering the compote on medium heat until it's reduced to about 2 cups. The compote will get very, very thick, and you will be able to run a wooden spoon through it and form a pretty stable groove. It will be thick like tomato paste almost.
• Cool overnight in the fridge

Notes

Calories calculated based on 1 tablespoon (15 mL) serving of rhubarb apple compote

Nutrition

Calories: 29kcal

The post Rhubarb Apple Breakfast Pastry appeared first on The Bake School.

Classic French desserts can be a little daunting, even the "simpler" recipes. Apple tarte tatin is definitely simple, calling for only a few ingredients, but the steps can be a little scary, especially because it involves making caramel from granulated sugar. Some recipes will have you melt the sugar and make the caramel at the same time as you cook the apples, but I find that can be a little stressful because you can't see exactly what's happening under the apples.

I've broken the recipe down into the four big steps it takes to make an apple tarte tatin at home, to help alleviate some of the stress and the worry, and to help us all get a little control over the whole process:

1. make the dry caramel and stop the cooking by cooling it down with butter
2. add the apples and roast them to get them par-baked
3. put the pastry on top and bake the dessert a final time
4. unmould it to serve warm

If you go through the recipe, step-by-step, you shouldn't have any trouble with this dessert, and using store-bought puff pastry or pie dough will take a good amount of stress away so you can focus on having fun!

What you need to make this apple dessert

The ingredients to make an apple tarte tatin are very simple!

• butter, preferably unsalted, but if you use salted butter, just omit the pinch of salt
• apples that hold their shape when cooked, such as Cortland, Gala, Honeycrisp, or Golden delicious apple varieties,
• sugar, preferably white granulated sugar so that you can more easily monitor the caramelization
• salt, preferably Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, which is less salty than table salt
• vanilla bean paste, though vanilla extract will also work and both are optional
• one disk of either pie dough or frozen puff pastry (enough for a single crust with approximately 10–11-inch diameter)

See recipe card for quantities.

Best apples for tarte tatin

Like for the maple apple pie, choose an apple variety that will hold its shape when cooked. These are the most common apple varieties that bakers favour, but you may have to find a suitable substitute in your area if one of these varieties isn't available:

• Gala
• Golden Delicious (also called Yellow Delicious)
• Jonagold
• Fuji
• Cortland
• Granny Smith
• Bramley
• Braeburn

Personally, I find Granny Smith apples are a little sour for this dessert because though it does have a fair bit of sugar, the sugar is caramelized so it's not that sweet.

I don't recommend varieties that are suited for apple sauce because they break down when they cook and they become too soft. The varieties that you shouldn't use include:

• Macintosh
• Empire
• Spartan

Where I live, the apple we bake with usually is the Cortland variety. Cortlands are large apples that look a lot like jumbo-sized Macintosh apples, so red and yellow/green on the outside with very crisp, bright white flesh. The Cortland apple can hold its shape, even when heated for an extended period of time. This is the type of apple I used to make this maple apple pie and this easy apple galette, for example.

For best results, use Honeycrisp apples. Honeycrisp apples are large, crunchy, firm, and very juicy. The flesh of this apple is more yellow than the Cortland. Honeycrisp apples are more expensive than the other varieties, but in this dessert, they work extremely well and stay firm!

The area you live in will limit your choices and you will may have to choose an apple that I might not have mentioned. If you aren't sure which apple to use, I'd suggest visiting your local market and talking to the vendors and growers. They should be able to guide you to find a suitable apple that can be cooked without falling apart.

Tip: Older apples tend to go soft as they mature off the tree, which means that an older apple may set you up for a tarte tatin with a soft, mushy apple layer... Use fresh apples that were recently picked!

Puff pastry versus pie crust

Some people prefer puff pastry, while others prefer an all-butter pie crust or a pâte brisée (the French baking term for the dough used for quiche, for example). I've seen people even suggest pâte sucrée (the sweet cookie crust you use for tarts). What you decide to use is entirely up to you, but I highly recommend that you bake the tart long enough so that the pastry turns golden-brown delicious (GBD, for short). You want to make sure that the crust has baked long enough that it isn't raw, especially in the area that's in direct contact with the fruit. Don't skimp on the baking time!

Now if you decide to go the puff pastry route, you can make your own puff pastry, but that takes a lot of extra time and quite a bit of patience. If you don't want to go there, I highly suggest visiting your local bakery and seeing if they sell all-butter puff pastry frozen. They will often sell it rolled out into a sheet that is then rolled with a layer of parchment. They've done all the hard work for you! 

The only problem with puff pastry is that when you invert the tart, the fruit will sit on the crust, and the moisture from them will begin to soak into the base almost immediately. The longer it sits, the more the pastry will absorb and the tougher the pastry becomes because saucy puff pastry becomes tougher and tougher. For this reason, many bakers prefer to use a pie crust or pâte brisé that holds up better to the moisture of the fruit and doesn't become so tough as it sits.

Steps to make it at home

There are three major components to the apple tarte tatin:

1. the caramel
2. the apples
3. the crust

Let's break them down to understand the ins and outs of this French dessert and what your options are.

Dry versus wet caramel

Most of us make caramels, like salted caramel sauce or salted caramels, from a combination of sugar and water. Usually, you start with the water at the bottom of the saucepan and you add the sugar on top. The water isn't necessary, but it helps to dissolve the sugar so that when you bring the mixture up to a boil, you might have an easier time caramelizing the sugar without it crystallizing. Of course, there are other tricks to keeping caramel from crystallizing, but starting with a little water in the pan does help.

Dry caramel is made from sugar and nothing else. Some pastry chefs put all the sugar in the pan, then heat it slowly over medium heat, tilting the pan and swirling the sugar often so that as it melts, it stirs itself. The tilting and the swirling help mix the unmelted sugar with the hot melted sugar. If you don't mix the dry caramel as you heat it, you may end up with a burnt patch of caramel surrounded by granulated sugar. Not ideal. Keep it moving!

Dry caramels are actually easier to make than wet caramels. With dry caramel, you are literally melting the sugar crystals with heat. On the other hand, with a wet caramel, you start by dissolving the sugar in water and a little heat. But the more you heat the mixture, the more water evaporates, and there's a point when the sugar has so little water to keep it dissolved that it may "crash out" or crystallize. 

Though dry caramels seem scarier to do, they are harder to screw up (well, unless you heat the sugar so much that it smokes and burns...). By all means, if you prefer to start your caramel with a splash of water in the pan to dissolve the sugar, do that! All roads lead to caramel!

Cutting and arranging the apples

Some recipes will have you quarter or slice the fruit to arrange in a decorative pattern on the bottom of the pan, but if you slice the fruit too thinly, the risk of the fruit breaking down and turning soft and mushy is even greater. I suggest cutting the apples in half and using a pairing knife to cut out the core. The bigger apple pieces will be able to withstand more heat without falling apart.

When you first arrange the fruit, it might not all fit. When you par-bake the fruit in the oven, they will lose some water, soften, and shrink a little. You'll be able to rearrange them before you top them with the pastry layer so that they all fit in an even layer. 

Best pan for tarte tatin

To make a tarte tatin, any large oven-proof skillet will work here. I tested this recipe on purpose in a stainless-steel pot to make sure it can be unmoulded without trouble from a regular pan that is not non-stick. It works! A lot of bakers suggest using cast iron pans or enamelled cast iron, but you don't have to. Don't worry about buying a new pan. Use what you have, as long as it is ovenproof and has a large flat surface where you can lay out as many apples as possible. I used a 10-inch Le Creuset stainless steel Rondeau pan. It's my favourite pan for poaching fruit. I use it to make wine-poached pears and poached quince, for example.

The rondeau pan is a wide pan that isn't too deep and it has two handles which makes inverting the tart easy. Feel free to use a cast-iron skillet or an enamelled cast-iron skillet. A "sauteuse" pan would also work, again because it has a flat bottom and straight sides.

If you don't have a large oven-proof skillet, cook the caramel on the stove and transfer it immediately when it's still hot to a 10-inch baking dish. You can butter the inside of the dish if you are worried it will stick to the pan.

Unmoulding the tart

Let's be honest: unmoulding desserts is stressful. I've shared with you the tricks for getting a tart out of a tart pan. But in this case, the tart is baked upside down and it's basically an upside-down apple tart that has to be flipped: the topping is on the bottom of the pan and the crust is on the top! You have to flip it. There's no way around it. Your best bet is to:

• use a large flat plate that is at least the same diameter as your pan, if not an inch larger if you can. It should be flat because the crust is flat and you want it to sit flat on the plate. No slopey sides here!
• don't flip the tart as soon as you take it out of the oven. You want to give the tart a few minutes to set and you want the juices to thicken a little. Plus if it's burning hot, it's dangerous.
• flip the tart when it's warm, but not too warm like we did for the rhubarb raspberry upside-down cake. Take the tart out of the oven and set the pan on a cooling rack at room temperature to slowly cool down.

The thickness and set of the caramel sauce

I think people often expect apple tarte tatin to be saucy, dripping with caramel. Actually, if your apples are fresh and ripe, they are full of pectin. As the apples cook in the caramel, they release a ton of water and pectin. Then with the heat of the caramel and the oven, the pectin is activated and gels the juice released from the fruit.

In the end, the juices will gel and set into a matte jelly that has a texture similar to the French fruit juice candy called pâte de fruit. There will still be a little sauce that doesn't set up or gel too firm, but most of the juices will gel and that gel is what glues the fruit together, actually.

If you find your apple tarte tatin is too liquid, it means that either your fruit were old (pectin breaks down as fruit age) OR the apple layer didn't come to a full boil. It's just like when you make pies and also when you make jam or marmalade, the filling has to heat up sufficiently to reach the point where the water is boiling and the pectin can do its job. It's exactly like the marmalade setting point and a few degrees too low, your sauce will be watery, just like with marmalade.  

Unlike other fruit pies, apple tarte tatin doesn't require a thickener because the pectin from the fruit does most of the work to thicken the sauce and to hold the fruit together. You don't need to resort to flour, cornstarch, or another pie thickener for the apple layer to gel properly.

Tips for success

Get the caramel colour right at the beginning

The colour of the caramel is very important and will determine the flavour and colour of your tarte tatin in the end. The caramel won't colour any further in the process so you have to start by making a caramel that has the colour and flavour you are going for:

• If you want a deep, rich dark mahogany tarte tatin that is less sweet, cook the caramel longer until it's smoky and dark
• if you want a golden brown tarte tatin, cook the caramel until it's amber (reddish-orange brown, verging on mahogany, as in the photo above—think of the colour of a dark copper penny) 
• if you want a golden tarte tatin that is more sweet, cook the caramel less, until it is a paler yellow colour, more blonde 

Once you've got your caramel to the right colour, immediately take it off the heat to carefully add the butter. The butter will bring the temperature of the caramel down and stop the caramelization. This will help you gain some control because you don't have to worry about rushing. Cook the caramel to the desired amber colour, take it off the heat and add the butter. At this point, you can pause if you need to! 

Once your caramel is done, you place the apples over top which will further lower the temperature of the mixture. And once the apples start cooking in the oven, they will release water and that water will buffer the temperature of the caramel enough that it won't go much higher than the boiling point of water (or a little above), but certainly not high enough to caramelize or colour any further.

When you add the butter to the dry caramel, you will also add the vanilla bean paste, and the salt. You can always use vanilla as a substitute here, or even skip it entirely. I like to use the paste because you can see the flecks of vanilla on the final dish.

How to avoid a soggy crust on a tarte tatin

When the tarte is still in the pan, the crust is on top and the fruit and the juices/sauce are on the bottom. This is ideal for keeping the crust crispy. But the minute you flip the tart onto a plate, the fruit will make the crust soggy, within an hour even. Don't flip the tart until it's time to serve it. 

But what if you want to make the tarte tatin ahead to serve later? That's okay! Here's what you do:

1. let the tart cool in the pan, undisturbed
2. when it's almost time to serve it, turn the oven on to about 300 ºF and warm the tart in the oven in the pan. Warming the tart will loosen up the fruit from the base of the pan so that you can flip it onto the plate. 

You can also do this on the stove on low heat to warm the bottom of the tart to unmould it more easily, but the oven does a better, more even job of warming up the dessert so that the tart is served warm.

What to do if the fruit stick to the pan

Don't panic, take a spoon and gently unstick the fruit from the pan, and gently place them back on the tart where they are missing. Again, don't panic! And if the fruit flop off the side, again, gently place them back where they belong. You can also run a mini offset spatula around the edges to nudge the fruit back into place gently and clean up the edges so that the tart looks round again. Remember that saying that perfection is the enemy of the good. You're going to love this tart, even if the fruit layer doesn't look as perfect as it does in magazines.

Serving suggestions

Traditionally, slices of this apple tart are served à la mode with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You can make homemade ice cream or use a top-quality store-bought product if you are short on time (like Ben & Jerry's or Häagen-Dazs). While vanilla ice cream is a great option, you might consider serving this with cardamom ice cream or even lemon custard ice cream. In the fall, this pumpkin ice cream or this spiced chai ice cream would be great options!

Storage

Tarte tatin is best eaten the day it's made. The pastry will soften with time if you don't eat it all right away. Store leftover apple tart in the fridge, wrapped tightly. You can reheat slices in a low oven (300 °F), but the texture of the crust won't be the same the next day.

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Apple Tarte Tatin

Use this easy recipe to make the classic French dessert apple tarte tatin, with puff pastry or homemade pie crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Calories 405kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Rondeau pan
• Rolling pin

Ingredients

Tarte tatin dough

• 156  grams all-purpose flour
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 98  grams unsalted butter  very cold and cut into small cubes
• 52  mL cold water
• 7 Honeycrisp apples or Cortland apples, or another firm baking apple that doesn't break down when cooked (a little over 1 kg of apples)

Apple tarte tatin

• 45 grams unsalted butter
• 150 grams granulated sugar
• 1 pinch Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 5 mL vanilla bean paste
• 300 grams all-butter pie dough either homemade or from the store OR use a disk of puff pastry
• Vanilla bean ice cream optional but highly recommended!

Metric - US

Instructions

Tarte tatin dough

• In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the cold butter and work it into the flour using your fingertips or a pastry cutter. The mixture should be uneven and chunky.
• Add the water and mix into it in until the dough begins to come together. You can use your hands to squeeze it together in places.
• Gather the dough and shape it into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes to 1 hour before using it.

Apple tarte tatin

• Preheat the oven to 375 ºF (190 °C).
• Peel all the apples. Slice them in half and remove the cores with a pairing knife. You can place the cut fruit in a big bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon to prevent them from going brown.
• Butter a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or stainless steel Rondeau pot.
• Place in on the burner. Sprinkle with one quarter of the sugar and tilt and swirl the pan to evenly distribute the sugar in an even layer.
• Heat the pan on medium–high, swirling the pan to melt the sugar evenly. When it's almost all melted, add a little more.
• Continue swirling and tilting the pan until all the sugar is in the pan and melted.
• Heat the mixture until the sugar has caramelized and is a deep amber colour.
• Take the pan off the heat and carefully add the butter, swirling the pan to mix it in.
• Add the vanilla bean paste and the salt and swirl the pan to mix it in.
• Arrange the apple halves, cut-side up so that the rounded side is down. It's okay if they overlap a little. You can always rearrange them later.
• Bake the apples for 15 minutes in the preheated oven.
• When the apples are par-baked, remove the pan from the oven. At this point, because the apples are softer, you can carefully rearrange the apples to fit them tighter. Set aside.
• Increase the oven temperature to 400 ºF.
• Roll out the homemade crust (or store-bought) and trim it to make an 11-inch circle (you can use a plate or a pot lid as a template to cut a circle). Prick the pastry with a fork. Carefully place the disk of rolled pastry overtop the baked apples.
• Return the pot to the oven and bake the tarte tatin for about 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown all over. The filling should be bubbling underneath (you will hear it).
• Take the pot out of the oven and set it to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.
• Run a knife around the edge of the tart to make sure it's loose. Place a large serving plate over the pot and carefully flip the pot/tart onto the plate. Lift the pot off the tart and rearrange any fallen apples.
• Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• The type of skillet you use may have an impact on the baking time. I used a stainless steel Rondeau pan from Le Creuset.
• You can make this recipe with 300 grams (⅔ pound) of all butter puff pastry (homemade or store-bought) or the same weight of pie dough (homemade or store-bought).

Nutrition

Calories: 405kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 101mg | Potassium: 193mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 36g | Vitamin A: 227IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg

Frequently asked questions

The post Apple tarte tatin appeared first on The Bake School.

Tarts filled with almond cream or frangipane are so easy and can be made into quite an elegant dessert that is both impressive in looks and taste!

When baking with pistachios, if you want them to be greener, you will need to learn how to peel pistachios to remove the darker skins. Also, read up on how to use a tart pan with a removable bottom if this is your first time baking with this type of bakeware.

Pistachio Cream versus Pistachio Frangipane

Almond cream and frangipane aren't necessarily the same thing though sometimes the terms are used interchangeably. Technically in classical and French baking terms, "almond cream" refers to a mixture of equal parts by weight of butter, sugar, and ground almond, bound together with eggs, while frangipane is almond cream lightened with pastry cream. Both fillings are baked to set them. In many countries though, the terms frangipane and almond cream are used interchangeably and are made following the formula for almond cream.

In this recipe, we fill the pistachio crust with pistachio cream, though as mentioned above, some may refer to it as pistachio frangipane.

Ingredients

Both the sweet pistachio tart crust and the pistachio filling are made with similar ingredients, so the list of things you need to make this pistachio dessert is quite simple.

• butter, specifically unsalted butter, though salted would also work here. You can either skip the salt in the pastry recipe if you use salted or lean into the salt because a little extra salt in the crust will bring a bigger contrast between the salty and the sweet
• icing sugar, leading to a more tender cookie crust
• pistachios, ground and slivered—ground pistachios make the dough more tender and contribute a ton of flavour to the filling, while the slivered pistachios add vibrant green pops of colour when you decorate the tart before serving.
• eggs to bind the crust and the filling ingredients together, and also to make the dough more pliable and easier to roll out
• flour holds the dough together and gives it structure, just like a rolled sugar cookie dough. You will also add a small amount of flour to the filling
• vanilla extract and spiced rum to flavour the filling. For the vanilla, you can use homemade vanilla extract or store-bought.
• salt, preferably Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, which is less salty than table salt
• fruit—I like to garnish pistachio tarts with a variety of fruit, picking what's in season, but also what fruits pair nicely with pistachios. For this tart, I used a combination of canned sliced peaches (choose fruits canned in sugar-based syrup or fruit juice because they taste better than any fruit canned in water, which is sweetened with sucralose!).

See the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Tip: For the greenest pistachios, bake with raw pistachios and pick raw shelled pistachios that are green. You may find them at Middle Eastern stores, for example. Vibrant green pistachios tend to be younger than yellow-green nuts.

Substitutions and Variations

This recipe doesn't have many ingredients so your substitutions and variations are limited:

• Icing sugar - the crust and filling recipe will work with icing sugar or granulated sugar. The textures may vary depending on which you use, but it will work.
• Pistachios - grind some sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds instead of the pistachios if you want to make a nut-free tart (obviously, it won't be pistachio anymore though if you replace the pistachios!) or use ground almond for a version featuring a different nut

One common variation you may see in many recipes for pistachio and almond tarts is to nestle the fruit over the almond cream before baking. You can certainly do that with this recipe, but in this case, you will use significantly less fruit because you don't want to overload the filling, which can break down in the oven and release water into the filling.

There are many other ways to make this pistachio tart differently. Here are a few other options:

• Pear—top this pistachio tart with poached pears instead of canned peaches
• Plum or pluot—I've topped this pistachio tart with sliced fresh plums or pluots in season. Apricots would also be great (fresh or canned).
• Lemon—skip the fruit and top the tart with a generous smear of homemade lemon curd from edge to edge
• Bakewell style—spread a layer of homemade jam over the entire surface of the par-baked tart shell before spreading the pistachio cream
• À la mode—skip the fruit on top and instead dust with icing sugar and ground pistachios to decorate the top, and serve with vanilla ice cream or either this cardamom ice cream or lemon custard ice cream!

Instructions

This recipe has two components: the sweet crust and the pistachio cream filling. You can work on the pistachio cream while the dough for the tart is chilling in the fridge, and then store the filling in the fridge while you line the tart pan with the dough. Or you could also make the filling while the tart shell is baking. Staggering the steps of each recipe will make the overall process faster and easier.

To make the tart shell

The dry ingredients (flour and salt) are whisked in a small bowl)

Cream the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Mix in the ground pistachios

Mix in the egg to bind it all together

Stir in the whisked dry ingredients.

Stir it all together until it's evenly mixed and a dough forms.

Shape the pistachio tart dough into a disk on a piece of plastic wrap.

Flatten it out and wrap the dough tightly to refrigerate for an hour.

Slice the cold dough into thin strips to line the bottom and sides of a tart pan.

Press the dough strips together to form a smooth tart shell from edge to edge with no gaps or holes.

Press into patties on the tray

Use a fork to dock the pastry and poke holes that will act as steam vents as the tart shell bakes.

Place the unbaked tart shell on a sheet pan to make moving it in and out of the oven easier.

Bake the tart shell at 350 °F until set and dry. Let it cool before filling (about 20 minutes).

How to make pistachio cream and bake the tart

While the tart shell is baking, cream the butter, icing sugar, flour, and ground pistachios.

Add in the egg, rum, and vanilla to bind the filling ingredients together.

The pistachio filling should be creamy and evenly mixed.

Fill the baked tart shell with the pistachio frangipane using a mini offset spatula.

Smooth the filling from edge to edge.

Bake the tart until golden brown and the filling is set.

Once the tart has baked and cooled completely, all you have to do is unmould it and then decorate it, either:

• dusting the tart with powdered sugar and more ground pistachios
• garnishing the top with fresh fruit or canned fruit (like slices of poached pears or canned peaches)

Tip: when buying canned fruit, read the ingredients and make sure to buy fruit packed in syrup or fruit juice. Verify that the ingredients feature sugar, as opposed to an alternative sweetener. Canned fruits packed in water are often sweetened with sucralose and the fruit tend to be cloyingly sweet, so much so that you can't taste the fruit as well.

Tart-Making Tips

You don't need any special equipment to make this recipe but you will definitely need a tart pan with a removable bottom so that you can easily get the tart out of the pan to serve it on a plate.

A tart pan is preferable to a pie plate for this recipe so that you can unmould the tart, and also get the pretty fluted edge. Remember, when it comes to unmolding the tart, use this trick to remove your tart from a tart pan with removable bottom.

Serving suggestions

This pistachio tart, whether garnished with fruit or not, would be great served à la mode with a scoop of ice cream. Browse through the ice cream recipes to find a flavour that would pair nicely with your version of this pistachio tart!

Frequently asked questions

Related

If you love pistachios, try these delicious pistachio financiers (cute mini pistachio cakes) and of course, the classic pistachio baklava. And if you are looking for other tart recipes like this? Here are some popular ones:

If you tried this pistachio tart recipe (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Pistachio Tart

This easy pistachio tart is made with a sweet pistachio cookie crust and a pistachio cream filling. You can serve it as is, or garnish it with fruit, like peaches and raspberries.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Chill time 1 hour hour 45 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Calories 313kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Tart pan

Ingredients

Pistachio tart crust

• 86 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 63 grams icing sugar
• 33 grams ground pistachios
• 1 large egg(s)
• 156 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Pistachio cream filling (pistachio frangipane)

• 115 grams unsalted butter
• 125 grams icing sugar
• 120 grams ground pistachios
• 12 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 2 large egg(s)
• 15 mL spiced or dark rum
• 10 mL pure vanilla extract

Garnish options

• fresh raspberries
• large peaches sliced, or canned peaches
• ground pistachios or slivered pistachios

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the pâte sablée

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter with the icing sugar, and the ground pistachios.
• Add the egg and beat it in, then mix in the flour and salt on low. Mix until the dough clumps together.
• Gather the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
• You will be using a 9-inch (23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. Slice the disk of chilled dough into thin, equal strips, roughly ¼ inch thick. Line the bottom and sides of the tart pan with the strips, pressing them together to flatten the surface so there are no holes or gaps. You will use all the dough to line the pan in this way.
• Place the pan on a baking sheet and chill the unbaked pastry shell for about 1 hour until it is cold and firm. You can speed this step up by freezing teh tart shell for 15–20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). When the pastry is very cold, remove the baking sheet with the tart from the fridge. Using a fork, poke holes all over the crust.
• Bake the tart shell on the middle rack of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and have pulled away from the sides just a little. As the tart shell bakes, check on it every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure there aren't any air pockets forming. If you see a lump of air, just poke it with a tooth pick, a fork, or a wooden skewer to release the air. Press the pastry gently to smooth it out.
• When the tart shell is completely baked, remove the sheet pan from the oven.
• Allow the baked tart to cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding. Check out my trick for unmolding a tart for this step. Cool completely on a wire rack. Place the unmolded baked tart shell on a serving plate.

Garnish options

• Decorate the cooled tart with fruit (like fresh raspberries and sliced fresh or canned peaches) and sprinkle with ground pistachios and/or slivered pistachios.
• Alternatively, you can also simply dust the top with powdered sugar and ground pistachios for a simpler look.

Notes

• Please read about how to use a tart pan if you have never baked with one before, especially if you are nervous about unmoulding the tart.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• There are many other ways to make this pistachio tart differently. Here are a few other options:
  • Pear—top this pistachio tart with poached pears instead of canned peaches
  • Plum or pluot—I've topped this pistachio tart with sliced fresh plums or pluots in season. Apricots would also be great (fresh or canned).
  • Lemon—skip the fruit and top the tart with a generous smear of homemade lemon curd from edge to edge
  • Bakewell style—spread a layer of homemade jam over the entire surface of the par-baked tart shell before spreading the pistachio cream
  • À la mode—skip the fruit on top and instead dust with icing sugar and ground pistachios to decorate the top, and serve with vanilla ice cream or either this cardamom ice cream or lemon custard ice cream!

Nutrition

Calories: 313kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 82mg | Potassium: 69mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 579IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg

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