French Fruit Tart

This impressive-looking tart is delicious, but actually pretty easy to put together: blind bake the pastry crust, fill it with pastry cream, top with fruit, and brush on a clear glaze.

1 recipe tart dough: pâte sucrée (recipe below)
2 c pastry cream (recipe below)
3 c fresh fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, blackberries)
½ c apricot jam or marmalade for glaze
If not already made, prepare pastry cream and tart dough and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out dough on a floured surface to about a 10” diameter circle. Place dough in a 9” tart pan with a removable bottom. Blind bake the crust by lining it with a piece of parchment paper and filling with pie weights or beans. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then remove the parchment paper and weights and continue baking for 10 minutes, until the shell is a light golden color. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan with a tablespoon of water until it liquifies. Strain into a bowl to remove any bits of fruit. Fill the tart shell with pastry cream, smoothing the top. Next, arrange fruit on top of the pastry cream. Brush the tart with the apricot glaze.

Pâte Sucrée (sweet tart dough)

1½ cups/7 oz/200g all-purpose flour
3½ oz/100g unsalted butter, unsalted, cut into pieces
½ t kosher salt
1½ T granulated sugar
1 T water
1 egg
vanilla bean paste (optional)

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix water, egg, and vanilla paste together with a whisk or fork. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender, two knives, or fingers. When the mixture is sandy, with butter pieces about pea size, add liquid ingredients. Turn out onto the work surface, knead lightly until combined, and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Pastry Cream (Crème Pâtissière)

2 c whole milk
2 t vanilla bean paste
4 T cornstarch
¼ t kosher salt
½ c granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
2 T unsalted butter, cubed

Scald milk and vanilla bean paste in a medium saucepan.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together cornstarch, salt and sugar. Add the egg yolks, whisking until smooth and pale yellow, about 1 minute. Add about half of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking all the time. Pour the egg/milk mix back into the hot milk pan and whisk constantly over medium heat until thickened, like whipped cream. To cook the cornstarch thoroughly, it will need to come just to the boiling point, so you will see a few bubbles break the surface. Cook for 1 minute more. If it’s allowed to boil vigorously, it will curdle. Off heat, whisk in the butter.

Strain pastry cream through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap directly onto the cream so a skin doesn’t form on top. Refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours. When ready to use, whisk to smooth.