Archive for the ‘Tarts’ Category
Guava, in the form of sweet guava paste, is a popular filling for all kinds of pastries in Cuban cuisine. There is a local Cuban bakery in my area – Porto’s, for anyone in the LA area – that makes all kinds of pastries with guava. It only takes one or two bites to realize that the sweet guava fillings not only a good match for buttery pastry, but are quite addictive! This guava tart isn’t inspired by a dish from that bakery, but it is a Cuban recipe from Eating Cuban, a cookbook that I really enjoy.
This tart is very simple. It has a filling made with guava paste sandwiched between two layers of tender and buttery crust. The filling itself – since it is only made with guava paste – is very sweet, but it is toned down very well by the lightly sweet pastry that makes up the rest of the tart. Having a filling with only one ingredient also means that this tart is easy to throw together without much prep work once you have a block of guava paste on hand to start with. The pastry dough is much like the dough for a butter cookie, and while it is lightly sweetened, the dominant flavor is butter once it has baked. It is tender and has a fantastic texture once it has baked, neither too soft nor too firm. The dough can be a bit crumbly if you’re not careful (and a bit sticky if you don’t chill it!), but it can easily be patched with small scraps of dough if you accidentally tear it while rolling.
Guava paste is typically available at Mexican and Latin American markets, although it can sometimes be found at regular grocery stores (depending in the area) and specialty markets. The amount of guava paste given in the recipe is my suggestion for how much you should use in your tart. Since the paste is sliced, it is easy to make the filling into a thinner layer if you are worried about the tart being overly sweet for your tastes. Another way to temper the guava filling is by serving this tart with a few slices of good, dry cheese. A sharp Cheddar is a good choice (just as it is a good choice with apple pie), but I like Spanish Manchego as a side to this tart. That said, I also like a generous layer of guava filling and a big scoop of ice cream on the side, but I’m not above just grabbing a slice and eating it for breakfast with a cup of coffee, either!
+Continue Reading
Tarte tatin is an upside down tart made in a skillet, with a crust made of puff pastry. They’re typically made with apples, but the tarts can actually be made with a wide variety of fruits. This is a Pineapple Tarte Tatin, made with cubes of fresh pineapple. The tart has a great combination of buttery pastry dough, sweet caramel and even sweeter pineapple.
The tarts are extremely easy to make because of the way they use a skillet. A caramel sauce is cooked in the skillet on the stovetop and fruit is added into it. A sheet of puff pastry is then draped over the cooked fruit and the edges of the pastry are tucked in around the filling mixture like a blanket. The whole skillet is then popped into the oven to allow the pastry to crisp up and then it is inverted onto a serving plate, revealing a beautifully caramelized fruit tart. It is imperative that you use an oven safe skillet to make this tart, so I recommend using an all-metal pan (such as stainless steel or cast iron) to cook and make sure you have a heavy duty oven mitt available when it is time to take the tart out of the oven.
I used fresh pineapple for this tart (and you should be able to get enough fruit from a medium-sized pineapple), but you should be able to used canned pineapple with no problems if you don’t have fresh fruit. The tart goes exceptionally well with extra caramel sauce and with coconut ice cream, although it is very nice to eat on its own. This type of tart is best when it is fresh out of the oven and the pastry is nice and crispy, so make it at the last minute whenever possible.
+Continue Reading
As tasty as pecan pie and other similar nut pies are, that rich filling can sometimes make the pies a little bit heavy. This Citrus Walnut Tart is a nut-filled dessert that is a little bit lighter overall, but no less rich in flavor. The tart starts with a cookie-like base that has a buttery flavor and a nice hint of crunch to it. It is topped with walnuts and a sweet, maple and citrus syrup.
The tart is easy to put together because the crust is made with the creaming method, like many cookie doughs, and there is no need to fuss with a pastry crust, pie weights or anything like that. It is simply pressed into the pan and baked. I used a lightly beaten egg white to create a little bit of a seal on the bottom crust to prevent the filling from saturating it and making it soggy. As you make it, it may not seem like there is that much syrup to create the filling for this tart, and that is true. This is because the walnuts are the star here and the citrusy syrup simply serves to give them a flavorful coating and bring new flavors into the dessert.
If you don’t have a tart pan, you can also press this crust into a 9-inch square pan and come up the sides of the baking dish about 1/3 of an inch. Although you’ll have to serve it in squares rather than slices, you’ll still get all the flavor of the original dessert. In fact, this is a great option if you’re looking for a slightly more casual way to serve this, or for something to take to a holiday party where bars might serve more people than a tart would.
+Continue Reading
Pecans are one of my favorite nuts and pecan pie is definitely a holiday classic, but even though I enjoy a slice from time to time, pecan pie tends to be a little too gooey and a little too rich much of the time – especially after a big meal. If you like a less gooey dessert, as I do with pecan pie, you might want to try a pecan tart instead. With the tart, you get the crunch of the nuts along with just the right amount of sticky, caramely filling in each slice.
Many versions of pecan pie use corn syrup as a sweetener and as the base for their filling. I’m not a big fan of this approach (corn syrup has a place, but not in my pies), so starting last year I set out to experiment with some different sweeteners in pecan pie. For instance, last year I made a Maple Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving. The flavor combination was great, but there are plenty of other options for sweets that go with pecans, so I ended up making a Honey Pecan Tart this time around.
The tart is a lot like a pecan pie, with a generous base of pecans. Honey is naturally very sweet, so I used roasted and salted pecans for this pie and the flavor balance turned out to be absolutely perfect. There is some additional sugar in the filling, as well as some eggs, butter and a little bit of flour to bind everything together. The tart bakes and cools more quickly than a regular pecan pie and can be made a day or two in advance. It has a wonderfully sticky consistency when it is served, but that is balanced with the nuts on top of the pie and the just-crisp crust below it.
I used a shortbread crumb crust for this tart, but graham crackers would work just as well and you can also choose to use a different tart crust entirely if you want to use something other than a crumb crust. Browned Butter Tart Dough would be a great choice.
+Continue Reading
Since I’m one of the featured bloggers for the 1,2,3 Puff Pastry contest this month, I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking about puff pastry and its applications. Fortunately, it’s pretty versatile. Vol-au-vents are cases made of puff pastry. They look like cylinders of pastry, with high, crisp sides and a light, buttery base. The top of the vol-au-vent remains open and can be filled with just about anything, although they’re primarily used for savory appetizers and main dishes. When they’re used for desserts, these same pastries are more likely to be called tarts or simply shells. I’ve stuck with that theme here and opted to call these caramel and pear filled vol-au-vents Caramel Pear Puff Pastry Tarts, instead.
These treats have a great combination of textures and flavors. A crispy, buttery shell is made very easily with puff pastry and the sweet, fruity filling is rich and satisfying. Eating one is a lot like having your own personal pie – only without the fuss of making a regular pie crust and waiting for the filling to bake. The filling is made on the stovetop, just a quick caramel sauce with lots of pears in it. I thickened the sauce with a little bit of cornstarch, since pears will release a lot of juice as they cook and you get a nice, thick consistency by helping it to thicken just a little bit. I used brown sugar and a hint of vanilla to accent the pears.
The cases are also easy to make. Start with a sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut out about a dozen 2 or 2 1/2 inch rounds with a circular cookie cutter. Cut a smaller circle out of the centers of half of those pieces. Stack the donut-shaped round on top of a solid piece, using a bit of water or lightly beaten egg to hold them together, and bake until golden. If you don’t want to make them yourself, it is possible to find this type of pastry shell ready-made in grocery stores, too. Both options are pretty quick to work with.
If all else fails, or if you simply have leftover filling, the pear-caramel mixture is great on top of vanilla ice cream, too.
+Continue Reading
