Holiday Fruit Tart Recipes

HOLIDAY FRUIT TART

Steps:

• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out 3/4 of pate brisee to fit a rectangular 13-by-4-inch tart pan to thickness of 1/8 inch. Place pastry in pan; gently press down with your fingers into edges and along rim. Trim pastry along edge of pan. Cover with plastic; refrigerate, along with remaining dough, while making filling.
• Sift flour, salt, and spices into bowl. Add sugar, dried fruit, citron, orange peel, almonds, zest, and juice. Stir in brandy, molasses, and 1 beaten egg. Pack into pastry-lined tin.
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out remaining dough to 1/8 inch thick. Moisten edges of pastry in tart tin with water; place rolled dough over filling. Seal well, and trim excess dough. Chill tart for 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Make three slits with a knife for air vents. Whisk remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water in small bowl. Brush tart with egg wash, place tart in oven, and bake until pastry is golden brown and flaky, about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Let cool on wire rack to room temperature. Using a serrated knife, slice into 3/4-inch-thick slices.

FRESH FRUIT TARTS

Steps:

• Make the crust: In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and heavy cream. In the bowl of a food processor with a blade attachment, pulse the flour, butter, sugar and salt until no big chunks of butter remain. Slowly add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture. Blend to combine but don't overwork the dough.
• Remove the dough and, turning it out onto a lightly floured surface, knead it 4 or 5 times to incorporate.
• Divide the dough in half if making one large tart. Divide the dough into four pieces if making mini tarts. Flatten the dough pieces into discs with your hands, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes and up to overnight. (Freeze any remaining pieces for another project for up to 3 months.)
• Make the pastry cream: Put a damp kitchen towel under a medium bowl and whisk together the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar until the yolks are lighter in color, about 2 minutes. (The towel will ensure the bowl doesn't slide around.) Add the cornstarch and salt, whisk again, and set the bowl aside.
• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk and the remaining sugar 1/4 cup sugar and cook until the mixture almost boils, 4 to 5 minutes. With one hand, start whisking the egg yolk mixture; with the other hand, slowly drizzle the hot milk into the bowl, whisking until all the milk is incorporated.
• Pour the custard back into the saucepan and continue cooking, stirring constantly, on medium-high heat, until the mixture is thick and one bubble plops up on top, about 2 minutes.
• Remove the custard from the heat and pour into a clean medium bowl. Don't scrape the pot if the bottom looks burned or like scrambled eggs. Now, stir in the butter and vanilla. Keep stirring until the butter melts. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl so it is touching the pastry cream, then refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Bake the tart shell or shells: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is a circle (about 9 inches across and 1/2 inch thick for one large tart and about 6 inches across and 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick for four mini tarts.
• Lay the dough onto the tart pan, and then using your fingers, gently press it down. Try not to tear the dough or make it too thin. Ideally, it should be an even thickness all the way across.
• Using a sharp knife, carefully trim the edges so the dough is perfectly even with the top of the tart shell (see Cook's Note). Place the tart shell on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Using a fork, poke a bunch of holes in the bottom of the tart shell to keep bubbles from forming during baking. Refrigerate the tart shell for 20 minutes. Repeat with the remaining tart shells if using.
• Remove the pan or pans from the fridge and lay a piece of parchment over the chilled dough. Fill the uncooked tart shell with pie weights or dried beans or uncooked rice.
• Bake for 10 minutes, then, using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Remove the pie weights and parchment. Return the baking sheet to the oven, continuing to bake until the crust is golden brown, 5 to 8 more minutes. Let the pan or pans cool on a wire rack.
• Make the glaze and finish the tart: In a medium pot over medium heat, cook the apricot jam and water. Stir with a fork as it cooks until the mixture is a thin, shiny liquid, about 3 minutes.
• Take the pastry cream from the fridge and, in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed, beat the pastry cream to loosen it up. Spread the pastry cream in a thin 1/4- to 1/2-inch layer on the bottom of the tart shell.
• Carefully cut the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi, mangos and figs. Arrange the fruit so there is no visible pastry cream. (You can make the tart look awesome by laying the fruit in cool patterns.)
• Once the fruit is arranged, use a soft pastry brush to paint it with the warm apricot glaze. Don't leave any bare spots. Make sure to glaze all the fruit. Take your time.
• Cut and serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 12 hours.

HOLIDAY FRUIT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a small saucepan, combine cranberries, water and honey. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat until berries pop, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly., In a large bowl, combine pineapple, cornstarch and cinnamon; stir in cranberry mixture and apple. On a lightly floured surface, roll one half of pastry dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. Trim pastry even with rim. Add filling., Roll remaining dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle. Place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edge. Cut slits in top. Bake 45-55 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cover pie loosely with foil during the last 30 minutes if needed to prevent overbrowning. Remove foil. Cool on a wire rack.

PATE BRISEE FOR HOLIDAY FRUIT TART

Steps:

• Combine flour, salt, and butter in a food processor. Process until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 8 seconds. Add ice water drop by drop through feed tube with machine running, just until dough holds together.
• Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Press the dough down into disc with your hands. Wrap in plastic, and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.