Fresh Fruit Tart with Vanilla Custard Pastry Cream
The dough for the pie crust and pastry cream filling can both be made ahead of time and refrigerator for up to 2 days , so all you have to do is bake and cool the pie crust , pour in your pastry cream filling , arrange the sliced fruit and add a finishing glaze if desired .Place it in the fridge until you are ready to serve and that's it !
This is an awesome recipe .If you don't have a lot of time on your hands , mainly because everything can be made ahead of time and assembled in minutes before serving !
Tips
Blind Bake
The most common way to ward off a soggy pie crust is by a process called blind baking .Blind baking means you pre-bake the crust (sometimes covered with parchment or foiled and weighed down with pie weights to prevent the crust from bubbling up) so that it sets and crisps up before you add any wet filling .
You can fully blind a pie until it's completely cooked , which you have to do when adding a cooked filling like blind baking goes along way in keeping everything nice and crisp!
Brush with egg
Another way to prevent a soggy crust is to basically seal the surface of it to make a barrier between te crust and the filling .Brushing te surface of the unbaked crust with beaten egg or egg white mixed with water before adding the filling means that as it bakes , the proteins in the egg will form a moisture barrier over the crust and provide a layer of protection .
Keep Moisture Out
One of the easiest ways to prevent a soggy pie crust is to keep the moisture out in the first place .Toss your fruit with sugar , let it sit for a while so the juices start to come out ., then strain out those juices .You can discard those juices or boil them down into a syrup that gets tossed back in with the fruit before baking .
And if you're doing a double -crust fruit pie , don't forget to cut a little circle in the middle or slits in the top crust - it's important to create a vent where steam from the filling has a chance to escape instead of settling into the crust .
Brush with Chocolate
Along the same vein as brushing unbaked crust with egg to make a moisture barrier is the tasty method of brushing blind baked crust with chocolate to make things even crispier .Let your fully blind baked crust cool completely , then brush with melted chocolate and let that set before adding your filling .Not only do you end up with a super crisp crust , but you get a sweet bonus layer of chocolate tool .
Ingredients
Crust (may sub refrigerator store-bough pie crust ):
11/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter , ice cold , cut into 1/2 " cubes
2-4 tablespoon ice water
Pastry Cream
2 cups half & half
1/3 cup +1/4 cup granulated white sugar , divided
pinch salt
5 large egg yolks
3 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Flavor Variations
Flavored: Add 1/2 t flavor extract of your choice : coconut , almond , mint,etc ( add in with vanilla extract )
Liqueur: 1 tablespoon flavored liqueur (add in with vanilla extract )
Chocolate : 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (add in with cornstarch )
Cinnamon : 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (add in with vanilla extract )
Espresso :Stir in 1 tablespoon espresso powder / instant coffee granules in with the half & half
Citrus :Zest and juice from 1/2 - 1 whole lemon, lime, orange , etc (add in with vanilla extract )
Extra Light & fluffy : 1/2 -1 cup whipped cream (fold into cooled pastry cream )
Fruit Topping
2-3 fresh fruits , sliced if necessary fresh blackberries , a kiwi , canned sliced peaches , fresh strawberries and a few fresh blueberries .
Glaze(optional)
2-4 tablespoon apricot or peach jam or jelly.
Method
Pie Crust ( skip this if using pre- made refrigerator pie crust ):
Combine flour , sugar , and salt with a pastry blender until mixture looks sandy , like a coarse meal , with tiny balls of butter .Add water 1 tablespoon at a time , until dough comes together .If dough is still crumbly , add more ice water a little at a time if needed .Flatten dough into a disk and cover with plastic wrap . Do not over knead dough , little balls of butter will be visible .Refrigerator for at least an hour or up to two days .
Preheat the oven to 40 degrees F .Press dough into a pie plate .Line dough with foil and fill with pie weights or dry beans .Bake for about 30 minutes .Remove from the oven and remove the foil and weights .Continue to bake . about 5-10 minutes longer until golden brown .Place on a wire rack to cool .
Pastry Cream:
Bring the half and half , 1/3 cup of sugar and salt to a simmer over medium / high heat , in a saucepan , stirring occasionally .In a medium bowl , whisk together the egg yolks cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup sugar for about 45 seconds .
Once the half and half mixture has reached a simmer , slowly whisk half of it in to the egg yolk mixture to temper the yolks so they don't cook when you put them in the hot pot .Then, slowly whisk the tempered yolk mixture back into the saucepan .Reduce the heat to medium and cook , whisking vigorously until nice and thick , and a few bubbles burst on the surface , about 30 seconds .
Remove from heat and let cool a minute. Whisk in butter and vanilla .If there are any lumps , remove them with a spoon , or strain the pastry cream into a bowl through a fine mesh sieve or strainer .Press a layer of plastic wrap directly on to the surface of your pastry cream (this will prevent a layer of skin from forming on top )and refrigerate until cold and set , at least 3 hours or up to 2 days .
Assemble :
Just before serving , pour your chilled pastry cream into your pie crust and arrange your fruit on top .If you want a glaze on your tart , simply heat your jelly in the microwave for just a few seconds , until slightly melted and brush it over the fruit .Serve and enjoy !
