Nothing Like a Fruit Tart

to make you smile.

Today has been another one of those rough days.  I wonder to myself if other people have as many rough days as I do and my friends reassure me that “normal” is a slanted scale that applies to no one, therefore “normal” becomes rather obsolete, lol.

I also broke a dish.  I seem to break a lot of dishes…and cups…and bowls for that matter!  LOL.  I’m very much a klutz.  I know, I know I seem so composed and elegant (haha) but now that I think about it, I really do seem to break a lot of dishes and I know that I break more dishes on days I’m preoccupied or flustered.  Today, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.

Enough on that.  Let’s move on to happier things.  Fruit makes me happy.  Fruit Tarts make me even happier.  No matter what the situation was, growing up, we always had lots of fresh Fruit.  It’s how we ended most meals and what we’d have for Breakfasts, Snacks, you name it.  I remember how thrilled I was when I discovered the concept of stretching Fruit out to pack different flavor punches.  I distinctly remember my first bite of a fresh slab of grilled Pineapple, dripping with it’s own juices and glossed over with melted Chocolate.  Now that is something deserving of a “foodgasm.”

Not much harder to achieve is this Fruit Tart.  People seem to get spooked whenever “Tart” is mentioned.  I think it has to do with it’s neat fluted edges that comprise of what most people freak out about: Tart Pastry.  I’m not gonna lie.  Rolling out Pastry is not one of my favorite things to do.  Then again, I wasn’t too keen on Play-Doh as a kid.  I watched too many of my friends eating the stuff.  It never appealed to me.  So don’t worry.  I wouldn’t impose upon you something that I wouldn’t do myself.  This Tart Pastry is endlessly forgiving.  It’s a matter of Mix and Smoosh.

Tart Pastry:

• 2 sticks of softened, unsalted Butter
• 8 oz of softened Cream Cheese (full fat, of course)!
• 2 cups Flour + 1 ts fine salt
• Cream together your Butter & Cream Cheese (you can smear it with a wooden spoon but a mixer is muuuch easier)
• After your Butter/Cheese mixture is nicely combined and fluffy, begin sprinkling in your Flour/Salt.  I would do about 3 separate additions.
• At this point, mix on low, sprinkle, and STOP when the dough comes together.  A soft, smooth dough ball will form. 
• Gently press the dough evenly up and around your pan, squishing it into every crevice.  You want it to be pretty even.  
• Pop your prepared pans into the fridge for 1 hour
• To pre-bake: line the inside with wax or foil and fill with dried beans or rice.  Bake at 350 for 12-15 min.

Pastry Cream:

• 1 c Heavy Cream + 1 c full fat Milk
• 1 scraped Vanilla Bean
• 2 Yolks
• 6 tb Sugar
• 2 tb Corn Starch (Corn Flour)
• Constantly whisk and cook until it bubbles and thickens.
• Cool and directly lay cling film on the surface of your Cream and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• If your Pastry Cream is lumpy, just pass it through a fine mesh sieve.

To assemble:

• Tip your cooled Pastry Cream into your cooled Tart shell.  Arrange whatever seasonal Berries you’d like on top.  Take a Pastry Brush and lightly brush the tops of each fruit with this mixture: 2 tb Jelly + 2 ts Water, zap in the microwave for a 20-30 sec, cool and brush on top of Fruit to make it glisten and shine.

 Breakin’ Dishes & Makin’ Berries Shine

Love,
Your only temporarily sad Squishy Monster

XOXO!!!