Happy 4th of July, Gang!
Just a quickie today 'cause I've got a parade to get to and a bunch of lobsters and corn to cook for our holiday BBQ, but our dessert for this afternoon, this red, white and blue tart turned out so well that I couldn't help tossing it up in a quick post.
The recipe is another from our friends at Cooking Light and is a wonderful combination of our seasonal berry friends, raspberries and blueberries, nestled atop a luscious pastry cream filled tart shell. A more artistic me (and one with a little more time on his hands) might have formed the raspberries in the shape of a star on top of the tart, then filled in around with the blueberries for a truly "fireworks" worthy presentation. As it is, I think my little red and blue bulls-eye turned out pretty well.
I baked the tart shell and made the pastry cream a day in advance, then finished the tart just before company arrived so that it'll stay fresh and beautiful for the afternoon. We wish all of our US based friends a very happy Independence Day, and a glorious long weekend. See you all next week!
Cheers – Steve
Ingredients
- 1 homemade or store-bought pie crust ( I used Dorie Greenspan's press-in tart dough, found here)
for the pastry cream:
- 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 cups milk
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
for the topping:
- 1 cup apricot jam
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 pints fresh raspberries
- 2 pints fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Pre-bake the crust at 350℉ in a 9" tart pan with a removable bottom until golden, remove from the oven and cool completely.
- for the pastry cream: Mix flour, cornstarch and sugar in a bowl. Add 1/3 cup milk; beat until smooth. Whisk in the yolks. In a pan bring the rest of the milk to a simmer. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Pour back into the pan and bring to a boil, stirring. Boil for 2 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat, beat in the butter and vanilla. Pour into a bowl, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pastry cream. Chill at least 1 hour.
- to finish the tart: Stir jam, lemon juice and 2 tablespoons water over low heat until the jam melts; strain. Remove crust from the tart pan; brush with the jam glaze. Spread the pastry cream into the shell evenly. Arrange raspberries and blueberries on top as your creativity dictates. Brush the top of the fruit with the remaining glaze.