The art of tarts This tasty treat is easier than pie to make

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My first mouthwatering experience with tarts was in a pastry shop in France. We were visiting my cousin and had stopped to pick up dessert for the evening meal. The glass cases had rows and rows of these exquisite works of edible art. Every fruit topping imaginable was available, perfectly sliced and nestled in shells of varying shapes, glistening with glaze.

Some form of the tart has been consumed since before the birth of Christ. Historians believe that the Greeks first made pie pastry, and that, fortunately for us, the Romans carried home the recipe as one of their prizes of victory. By way of Roman roads, the culinary process spread throughout Europe, with every country adapting it to its particular customs and foods.

The tart as we enjoy it today has its roots in both England and France. English tarts are filled with lemon or lime curd, and topped with puffs of unsweetened whipped cream and served at tea. French tarts are filled with cr?me patissiere, jewels of fresh fruit and brushed with a sparkling glaze. Americans expanded tart cuisine to include fillings of mousse and native berries. The 1918 edition of The Boston Cooking School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer includes recipes for lemon and almond tarts, while a later version suggests that making small tarts is an excellent way to use up scraps of pastry dough.

Tarts make ideal desserts, and once you have mastered the knack of preparing the different parts, they can be assembled in minutes. The tart shell is a strong, buttery pastry that can be free-standing, The difference between pie crust and a tart shell is the addition of egg yolk, which provides extra strength and the shortbreadlike texture. Ground nuts are often used, yielding an even more distinctive flavor. A good food processor makes the pastry preparation a snap.

Unlike pie dough, tart pastry is much more forgiving. It is usually pressed into the tart pan, and does not become tough with handling. Tart pans with removable bottoms are available in all shapes and sizes. When pre-baking the tart shell it is important to fill it with “pie weights” to prevent the crust from bubbling up. I keep a jar of rice to weight the crust, or you may purchase actual weights from a cookware store.

Some of my favorite tarts are ones made on the spur of the moment: ripe strawberries topping a cream cheese filling in an almond crust slathered with a glaze of strawberry jam; fresh blueberries clustered in pastry cream shining with currant glaze. I’ve even sliced kiwi and oranges and combined them with rings of raspberries. The creation of tarts is limited only by your imagination. Let the artist in you run wild now that you know the secrets to the art of tarts.

Basic Sweet Crust

(Nine-inch tart)

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

1 egg yolk

ice water

(Ten-inch tart)

11/2 cup all purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

1 egg yolk

ice water

Combine the flour and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a stainless steel blade. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of ice water. Process until the mixture forms a ball and just holds together, adding more ice water if necessary. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill. Roll out the dough and fit into a greased pan. Bake as directed with filling recipe, or fill with pie weights and bake.

Nut Crust

(Makes 1-10 inch tart)

11/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

1 egg

3/4 cup ground nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamia nuts)

Combine the flour and sugar in the bowl of food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg and combine. Process the mixture with the ground nuts. Pat into a greased tart pan. Chill until the dough is firm. Fill the shell with pie weights and bake in 375-degree F oven until just golden.

Basic Pastry Cream

Makes about 11/2 cups

1 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons flour

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat the milk in a large glass bowl in the microwave or in a heavy-bottomed pan on top of the stove until hot but not boiling. Whisk the flour and sugar together and stir into the hot milk. Whisk until well blended. Cook on low heat, whisking constantly, until very thick and smooth. Add the beaten egg yolks and stir for a few more minutes. Cool slightly and whisk in the vanilla. Coat the top lightly with butter and cover with plastic wrap to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate until ready to fill the tart.

Basic Fruit Tart

9-inch tart crust

Cream cheese or pastry cream filling

2 cups fresh fruit

1 cup glaze

Prepare the crust and line a 9-inch tart pan. Bake the crust, then fill with either cream cheese filling or pastry cream. Arrange the fruit on top of the filling, then brush the glaze over the fruit. Chill until ready to serve. Serves 6.

Cranberry Hazelnut Tart

Nut crust prepared with ground hazelnuts

3 cups fresh Maine cranberries

1/2 cup red currant jelly

1 cup sugar

1 package unflavored gelatin dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water

Prepare the nut crust, fill with pie weights, and bake until golden. Let cool. To prepare the filling, in a medium sized saucepan on top of the stove, melt the jelly with the sugar, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Add the cranberries, stir and cook until the first cranberry pops. Remove from heat. Let cool 5 minutes, then stir in the gelatin mixture. Let cool to room temperature, then spoon into the tart shell. Refrigerate the tart until the mixture is set. Remove from tart pan and serve. This recipe fills a 10-inch by 1-inch high tart. For a 3-inch high tart, double the filling recipe and use 6 cups of cranberries.

French Lemon Tart

9-inch basic sweet crust

Lemon cream filling:

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons lemon extract

1 cup ground almonds

2/3 cup lemon curd (available is some supermarkets & health food stores)

Prepare the tart crust, grease the pan and pat the crust into place. Chill until set. Prebake the crust in a 350-degree F oven until it just starts to brown, about 15 minutes.

To prepare the lemon cream filling, cream the butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg yolks and lemon extract, blending well. Stir in the nuts. Spread the mixture in the pre-baked 9-inch tart shell, and bake in a 350-degree oven until the filling is set, 20- 22 minutes. Allow the tart to cool to room temperature, and spread the top with the lemon curd. Chill until ready to serve.

Chocolate Pear Tart

(Adapted from a recipe by Anne Willan in “La France Gastronomique”)

10-inch basic sweet crust

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

3 ripe dessert pears

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons sugar

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare the tart crust, line the tart pan, and chill in the refrigerator. In a medium- sized bowl or blender, beat together the egg, egg yolk and vanilla until well blended. Peel the pears and slice thinly. Sprinkle the bottom of the tart crust with chopped chocolate. Arrange the pear slices in rows like flower petals over the chocolate, overlapping the slices as needed. Spoon the custard mixture over the top so the pears are just coated. Sprinkle the top of the tart with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Bake the tart for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake until the crust is golden and the custard set, about 15 more minutes. If necessary, place the tart under the broiler just briefly to caramelize the pears.