A raspberry tart is the quintessential French Pastry. One bite provides everything you could wish for from a sweet. All at once, it is creamy sweet, fruity tart, and crispy crunchy with its buttery lightly toasted crust.
In truth, you have seen half of this recipe in a previous tart posting. Truth be told, I use the same pastry dough for tarts and pies. Here, the crust is pre-baked so that it is crispy before adding the chilled filling. I often partially bake the shells of open baked pies like pumpkin or key lime, just so that the bottom crust gains a little lift before accepting wet ingredients. For pies that call for both a bottom and top crust, the top and perimeter crust usually shine the brightest. Still, I highly recommend using two crusts on meat pies as the pie will be easier to serve portions and the extra bottom crust adds the comfort carbs that you might find in a dumpling stew.
Time: 2 Hours Serves: 8-10
Crust (Makes enough for two open-faced tarts)
Ingredients:
2 ½ c. AP Flour
1 tsp Sugar
½ tsp Salt
¼ pound Butter (1 Stick)
2 Egg Yolks
Ice Water
To begin, start making your pastry dough as it must rest for at least 20 minutes in the fridge before rolling it out and fitting it in the tart pan. I combine all elements in a food processor for the quickest, easiest dough. First, combine the dry ingredients with a short pulse, then add the cold butter, pulsing until broken into the size of lima beans. Then when you add the egg yolk with the cold water and pulse some more, it will bind all elements to the proper clumping consistency. Form the dough into the shape of 2 hockey pucks, seal it in cling wrap, and place in the refrigerator to rest while you prepare the other components for this dessert.
While the pastry dough rests in the fridge, it is time to make some silky smooth, creamy, buttery sweet pastry cream. This is the same type of filling you would find in an éclair or cream doughnut. This is a double-bound filling. Meaning it is held together with both the richness of egg yolk and the thickening action of corn starch. The secret is keeping things silky smooth by constant whisking and, if it is still a tad lumpy, pressing the lot through a sieve. A word of caution to all; This is a boiled filling, and you will be interacting with very hot ingredients that can stick like glue and burn you severely.
Pastry Cream (Makes enough for one tart)
Ingredients:
2 cups Scalding hot milk (or half and half)
2 Tbsp. Vanilla
¼ cup Corn starch
½ cup Sugar
¼ tsp. Salt
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Instructions:
Place the milk on low heat while you measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk the egg yolks into the dry ingredients. When milk steams pour ¼ of it into the dry ingredients whisking briskly. This is called tempering the mixture, b ringing the egg yolk up to temperature without actually cooking it just yet. Add ½ of remaining milk and whisk that in. Turn the contents of the bowl into the remaining milk and continue to whisk while heating at low. Turn in the vanilla and butter when the boil creates large lazy bubbles. Turn off heat. Whisk until butter is incorporated, then place the pan into an ice bath, whisking intermittently. When sufficiently cooled, place a skin of cling wrap atop the pastry cream so that it does not create a skin of its own. Refrigerate until cold.
Prepare the tart shell by removing a puck from the fridge, unwrap, and gently flatten with the heel of your hand on a lightly floured board. Evenly roll out the dough so that it is 1-1/2 inches larger than your pan on all sides. You may turn the dough over if it sticks but try not to over handle. Tuck the dough into the pan being sure to tuck the corner edge full and reinforce the wall of the tart. Return to the fridge while the oven heats to 385deg f. Prick the floor of the tart blank with a fork so that the floor does not balloon up. Alternatively, you could use rice/beans/ceramic pie weights to maintain the shape. I feel that if the shell bubbles up after being dimpled by a fork, simply pushing it down by hand when removing from the oven provides ample uniformity. Bake for ~20 minutes, or until golden. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely. (~20 min.)
Finishing
Ingredient:
2 Tbsp. Apricot Preserves
Final assembly is easy. Spread the chilled pastry cream evenly in your pie shell. Place raspberries in concentric circles to completely cover the pastry cream. I sometimes buy a package of blueberries as well when making this dessert for patriotic holidays. Once covered with fruit, glaze the fruit and tart lip with the universal glaze. Apricot preserves are sweet and have a large amount of pectin.
Take 2 Tbsp of apricot preserves mix with 2 Tbsp. water and heat ~30 sec in the microwave. Stir well and daub the liquid on the tops of all pieces of fruit and the edge of the tart shell. The resulting jelled coating adds a lovely sparkle and creates an air-tight seal on the fruit, dramatically reducing oxidation. This is especially important when you are using sliced fruit like kiwi, and such. Apricot is the standard, but I admit to using raspberry or strawberry jam, and even Welch’s grape jelly. No one has noticed enough to mention.
Wow your guests, they are worth it!
*** Please check out the video on Pinterest @brazemshop! ***
