Ingredients
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For the crust:
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30 ml Double cream
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1 Egg
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1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
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170 g Plain flour
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60 g Sugar
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1/4 tsp Salt
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115 g Buttercold and cubed
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For the vanilla mascarpone cream:
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250 g Mascarponeat room temperature
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120 ml Double creamat room temperature
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30 Sugar
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1 tsp Vanilla extract
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For the fruit & glaze:
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Fresh fruitassorted and sliced
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2 tbsp Apricot jam
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1 tbsp Cold water
Directions
Fresh fruit tart on the menu today! The weather has warmed up enough to make this fruit tart! The wonderful thing about this classic dessert is that there’s minimal bake time. The crust is only baked for about 15 minutes, then you let it cool and fill it with the cream and the fruit.
This classic dessert starts with a sweetened pastry crust. It’s sort of like pie dough, sort of like a cookie. Crust like this lends the perfect sweet crunch under the blanket of vanilla cream and mountain of fresh fruit. It can be made ahead and refrigerated or stick it in the freezer for later this spring.
Start by whisking the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Place the flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to blend. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs– a few larger crumbs is OK. Add the wet ingredients, then pulse until the dough comes together and forms a ball. After a little mixing, the dough comes together in a mass. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and flatten into a thick disc. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. At this point you’ll chill it for at least 1 hour. Remember, cold dough is the best dough. It will hold its shape and structure better when heading into the oven.
Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll out into 20 cm circle. Place into a greased tart pan and press it down into the pan and up the sides until it is even all around. Refrigerate as the oven preheats or for at least 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200°C. Remove crust from the refrigerator, line the inside with foil, and fill with pie weights. The pie weights prevent the crust from puffing up, shrinking, and/or losing shape.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove crust from the oven, reduce oven heat to 180°C, and carefully remove the foil and weights. Use a fork to prick a few holes into the bottom of the crust and bake, without weights, for 5-6 more minutes or until lightly golden brown. Before filling, you’ll want the tart crust to completely cool after baking.
A walk in the park with the filling. Just mascarpone, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla. A lot of fruit tarts call for pastry cream or custard and while it’s delicious, this cream is different and less complicated.
For the cream filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the mascarpone for 1 minute on medium-high speed. Then, very slow add the heavy cream with the mixer running on low. Do not add it all at once, the mascarpone could curdle. Next, add the sugar and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Spread into cooled crust. Refrigerate until ready to garnish with fruit or garnish right away. Spread the filling into the crust and you’re almost done.
Garnish the tart with fresh fruit. You can decorate the tart with circles or rows of fruit or you can pile it all randomly on top. Either way will taste good. Whisk the optional glaze ingredients together, warm for about 15 seconds in the microwave, then brush on top of the fruit. Slice and enjoy! Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator for a few days.
