What's the best part of spring for you? For me it's a whole lot of things, but the baker in me loves all the fresh fruits that show on the shelves at the grocery store. It's really hard to resist and not buy them all!
I have a very bad habit of book marking recipes, never to make them. I'm also a recipe book hoader, more about that some other time. Back to all the bookmarks on my computer, I decided a few weeks ago that I'm not going to add any more recipes to the list till I have tried a significant number of the recipes. So I started with this tart for mother's day brunch, but it can be served as a dessert on any day!
I used a combination of berries, but feel free to use a combination of any fruits that you like or happen to have picked up on your grocery trip.
I was going to use this recipe as an excuse to get a new tart pan, but it started raining and I got super lazy to go shopping and ended up making it in an 8 inch round pan and it turned out fine.
As tasty as fruit is, its also super fussy! I would recommend making the pastry crust and pastry cream ahead of time and assembling the tart right before serving.
Hope you get a chance to try it out and please do leave a comment sharing what fruit combination you tried!
The Very Berry Tart
Adopted from
joyofbaking.com
Ingredients
Sweet Pastry Crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Pastry Cream:
1 1/4 cups milk (whole or 2%)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp cornstarch (corn flour)
Topping:
3 cups fruit (raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries)
Extra Tools
8 inch tart pan or round cake pan
cling/plastic wrap
Method
Sweet Pastry Crust:
1. Beat butter until pale with an electric mixer. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the beaten egg, beating until just mixed.
2. Add the flour and mix just until it forms a ball.
3. Flatten the pastry into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15-30 mins.
4. Spray an 8 - 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.
5. Evenly pat the chilled pastry onto the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 400* F and place rack in center of oven. Lightly prick bottom of pastry crust with the tines of a fork, and bake for 5 mins. Reduce oven temperature to 350* F and continue to bake the crust for about 15 minutes or until dry and lightly golden brown.
7. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
Pastry Cream:
1. Mix the sugar and egg yolks together. Sift the flour and cornstarch (corn flour) together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.
2. In a saucepan bring the milk and vanilla paste just to boiling. Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.
3. Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes thick. Remove from heat immediately. Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.
To Assemble Tart:
1. Remove the tart base from the pan (if baked properly and cooled well, it will slip out without a problem)
2. Spread the pastry cream onto the bottom of the tart shell. 3. Place fruit randomly on top of cream or in concentric overlapping circles, starting at the outside edge.
4. If not serving immediately, refrigerate but bring to room temperature before serving. This fruit tart is best eaten the same day as it is assembled.
Enjoy!
Farhana
