Since it's now berry season, it seems appropriate to post Randall's favorite dessert recipe. He starts begging me to make this in March, long before there's a possibility of getting a ripe berry. While this recipe is long, no step is really difficult. I try to do this tart in stages to make the process less onerous. Since there's just two of us at home, there's enough tart dough and pastry cream to make this two weeks in a row!
I've spent years trying to find the perfect tart dough recipe. The one below came from Sweet Life, and makes a very tender tasty tart. However, it is quite fragile. The book tells you to roll out the dough, but I don't see how this is humanly possible since it breaks constantly. Instead I press it into the pan. Other tart doughs, while more robust, result in a tough dough.
Note: use only seasonal berries. Do not use out of season berries shipped from South America. Not only is this not environmentally friendly but the berries are picked prior to full ripeness.
Yield: one 8-9" tart or six to eight 3-4" tarts
Berry Pastry Cream Tart
Sweet Tart Dough (enough for two 8-9 inch tarts or six to eight 3-4 inch tarts):
16 T (8 oz) butter, ideally at temperature, just slightly soft
1 1/3 cups icing sugar
Zest of 1 lemon or tangerine (optional)
2 egg yolks at room temperature (can put them in a warm bath to speed up warming)
2 cups plus 2 T flour
1/4 t salt
Cream the butter in a stand mixer for 1 minute. Add the icing sugar and zest and beat on medium-high speed until fluffy and almost white in color, 6-8 minutes, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. The butter should not be so warm that it starts getting greasy, it's better to use cold butter from the fridge and beat longer. If it starts looking greasy, put the bowl of butter in the fridge for 5 minutes and then finish beating. (You can also use a hand mixer, but this means you can't multi-task.) Beating well is important to capture little air pockets in the butter.
Add the egg yolks one at a time and continue to beat until incorporated and the batter looks smooth and glossy, 1-2 minutes.
While the butter is creaming, whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Once the yolks are incorporated into the butter, add the dry ingredients. Mix the dough on the lowest speed just until blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir on low speed for another 30 seconds. Do not over mix.
Separate the dough into two mounds. Wrap each mound in plastic wrap and press to form two 1 inch thick disks. Refrigerate for two hours or overnight. I usually use one tart dough and put the other one in the freezer. Well wrapped the tart dough will keep for weeks.
You can use one large tart pan or six to eight small 3-4 inch tart pans. Using a butter knife, slice off an 1/8 inch thick piece of chilled tart dough and press it gently onto the floor of the tart pan. Keep slicing and pressing until the bottom is covered. Continue using the same technique for the sides. Fill any cracks that form. The trick is to be gentle and not over handle the dough while trying to get an even thickness. As you finish up the dough it will be room temperature and quite soft. At this point take a jar (or other implement) that has a flat bottom and straight sides and using a turning motion, press the bottom of the jar lightly to smooth it out to relatively even thickness. Run the jar gently along the side of the tart to even out the dough thickness. Uneven thickness will result in uneven shrinking (which can be unsightly and lead to filling problems). This is a fragile tart dough, so be very gentle.
Freeze the tart dough for half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove the dough from the freezer and line with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill it with a few pie weights or dried beans. Do not add too many or they will cause the parchment to stick to the dough. Bake for 25 minutes for a large tart or 20 minutes for smaller ones. Remove the tart from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. This will allow you to remove the parchment without breaking the dough. Very gently remove the parchment and return the tart dough to the oven for another 5-10 minutes. Bake until golden brown. Do watch the cooking time, I've found this recipe to be erratic.
Let cool completely before filling. This dough will keep well wrapped at room temperature for 2 days.
Pastry Cream (2 1/2 cups enough for one large tart or about eight small ones):
(Adapted from Chez Panisse)
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup flour
7 T sugar
1/8 t salt
7-8 egg yolks (use 8 if making one large tart or 7 for small ones, you need increased thickness for the large tart to prevent the berries from sinking)
1-2 T butter
Vanilla extract
Mix together the flour, sugar and salt in a medium sauce pan. Slowly add the milk and whisk until smooth. Cook over medium heat stirring CONSTANTLY until the mixture has boiled for a minute or two.
While the milk is cooking you can beat the egg yolks in a stand mixer until thick and light colored.
Slowly add a cup of the hot milk to the yolks to warm them; whisk the yolks while doing this. Add the yolks to the remaining hot milk in the sauce pan and whisk thoroughly. Be sure to mix in the milk from the sides and bottom of pan. Return to heat. Cook over medium-low heat stirring CONSTANTLY until the temperature reaches 170 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Do not cook too quickly as this breaks down the cream and NEVER let it boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Put the cream through a medium-fine strainer into a bowl. Press plastic wrap onto the surface of the cream (this prevents a skin from forming) and refrigerate until cool. You can do this several days in advance, it will keep well sealed in a container in the fridge.
Glaze:
1/2 cup red currant jelly
1-2 T water or lemon juice
Heat the jelly in a small sauce pan over medium heat until it simmers and is thin and runny. If it is too thick, add a tablespoon or two of water or lemon juice. Depending on the sweetness of your berries, you can choose to reduce the sweetness of the glaze by adding lemon juice. Start warming the glaze as you begin assembly. Glaze that is unused can be returned to its jar and reused at a later date.
Assembly:
I usually make the pastry cream and raw tart dough the day before. The morning of consumption I bake the tart dough. I wash the berries a few hours before assembly and let them dry on a clean lint free towel.
4-7 cups ripe berries; blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries; (you will need 6-7 cups for one large tart, much less for smaller tarts) well washed with stems removed, large strawberries should be sliced to about 1/4 inch thick
Fill the tart shell with pastry cream to about 1/4 inch from the top. Heap the berries onto the cream (or if you are extra ambitious, make berry patterns). Using a brush, brush the tops of the berries with the glaze. Avoid getting the glaze on the tart shell, it will become soggy. The glaze will make everything look shiny and add some sweetness to tart berries. It also acts as glue to hold the berries together, vital for transporting to a dinner party. If the glaze starts to harden, put it back on the stove to reheat. Add a tablespoon of water if the glaze becomes too thick to spread.
You are ready to eat. Note, a large tart is impossible to cut nicely, bring the tart out to your guests before cutting so they can ohhh and ahhh. Or better yet, make individual portions. This berry tart is best eaten the day it's made, preferably within a few hours. And lastly, besides using local seasonal berries, do use organic berries. Non-organic strawberries use a lot of pesticides, more so than other fruits and vegetables. If you are particularly lucky to live in Austria (hint, Karin), use the small mountain strawberries, they are the best!
