Summer Berry Tart Before Demerara Finishing Sugar
I have made a lot of tart recipes in my time, some simple, some complicated. This recipe from Alice Medrich printed in the Wall Street Journal, Summer 2020, is the easiest and tastiest sweet tart dough recipe you will ever need. No cooling the dough or rolling out the dough. It is the best. Use your favorite tart filling, but keep this tart dough recipe in your recipe arsenal.
Easy No-Roll Tart Crust
This smart recipe from Alice Medrich produces the easiest, most delicious tart crust you will ever make. Press it into a tart pan with a removable bottom for a tidy crust with beautifully fluted sides, or push it into a pie plate for a more homespun look. Either way, this crust is remarkably good for something so simple to prepare: buttery, intensely crunchy and deeply flavorful. This immensely accommodating recipe works with either granulated or brown sugar; the latter just gives the crust slightly more complex caramelized taste.
TOTAL TIME: 40 minutes
MAKES: Makes 1 (9½-inch) tart crust or (9-inch) pie crust
KATE SEARS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY LIZA JERNOW
Ingredients
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup granulated sugar or brown sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
Directions
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. Add flour and mix just until well blended. If the dough seems too soft, let it stand a few minutes to firm up.
Press dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a 91/2 -inch tart pan with a removable bottom or a 9-inch pie plate to make a thin, even layer. Press dough squarely into corners of pan to avoid extra-thick edges. If using a pie plate, press crust up the sides but not over the rim. (Crust can be prepared 2-3 days ahead to this point, wrapped and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before baking.)
Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake until the crust is fully golden brown all over, 20-25 minutes. If the crust puffs up during baking, gently press it down with the back of a fork and prick it a few times. Set pan on a rack to cool. (Once crust is completely cool, it can be kept at room temperature, wrapped airtight, at least 3 days.)
—Adapted from “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts” by Alice Medrich
Below is the filling recipe that went along with the above Easy No Roll Tart Crust by Alice Medrich, which is also fantastic. I have made it with strawberries, but also many other fresh fruits. In winter months you could do a lemon curd or chocolate filling without the mascarpone base. Enjoy!
Simplest Strawberry Tart
This is the simplest tart you’ll ever make, and it’s a stunner. Fill a baked crust with sweetened mascarpone and top with the ripest strawberries you can find. Other berries will work, too; so will halved fresh figs. Sprinkle it with Demerara sugar for seasoning and crunch. That’s it.
TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes
MAKES: 1 (9½-inch) tart
KATE SEARS FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY LIZA JERNOW
Ingredients
1 Easy No-Roll Tart Crust (recipe above), baked in a 9½ -inch tart pan with a removable bottom and left in pan after baking
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, very soft, for sog-proofing (optional)
2 pints ripe strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and halved if large, and patted dry
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar
Directions
In a small bowl, mix mascarpone with 4 teaspoons sugar and vanilla.
If you will not be serving the tart within 3-4 hours, sog-proof the crust by spreading the bottom with the thinnest-possible layer of soft butter. Chill crust to set butter, 10-15 minutes, before adding mascarpone mixture.
Spread mascarpone evenly over crust. Begin arranging berries, as close together as possible, around edges of tart and work toward the middle. Remove tart from pan and transfer to a platter. Refrigerate unless serving within 2 hours. Before serving, sprinkle with Demerara sugar. Tart is best on the first day but still very good on day two.
—Adapted from “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts” by Alice Medrich
Do you have a favorite “go to” tart recipe? If you make this tart recipe, and like it. Let me hear from you!
Bon Appétit and Bon Weekend….Bonnie