A fresh fruit tart set up for easy slicing that lets you avoid trying to slice the fruit. The thin slices of peaches mark where to cut for eight nicely sized pieces. Be forewarned: Odds are most people will crave seconds, so consider making a second one for larger crowds.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
The use of thin peach slices to create a sort of fruit “wall” that shows where to cut into this tart is almost genius. It looks good and makes for cleaner portioning.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
The ingredients for a fresh fruit tart that uses mascarpone to create a thicker filling able to support all the fresh fruit. Including the limes, there are five fruits in this, four of which I was able to get fresh at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
To keep the “fresh” in this dessert, I wanted to make it as soon as I saw it on America’s Test Kitchen, figuring there was a good chance most of the fruits (except for the limes, which aren’t local) would still be available at the Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market. Sure enough, MT and I arrived on Public Square not only early enough last Thursday to get fresh peaches (they are plentiful this time of year), but also to find blackberries, blueberries, and even the raspberries.
I intended to make the tarts the following day, but got tied up in yard work and ended up putting it all together Saturday. While all the other fruits held up fine, the raspberries had started to get past their prime. The moral of the story: If you want to make this a truly “Fresh Fruit Tart,” time the fruit purchase, and use thereof, as close to serving day as possible.
That said, even with a few of the raspberries a tad soft, this looks absolutely beautiful once done. And please don’t let the detailed fruit placement daunt you. If you look at the picture of the finished product, you can see it’s much simpler than it sounds. Just think a bit geometrically, as though you are arranging the slices of tart in advance using the fruit.
The crust is firm enough to stay crunchy for the next day’s leftovers, if you actually have any. Thanks to the marscapone (this was the first time I used it in decades of cooking and baking) the filling also stays firm enough to hold up the fruit without seeping into the crust. And having the fruit arranged into slices (with slivers of peach as your guideline) is near genius, assuring you won’t be trying to cut through any individual piece of fruit. You could even slice it all up before serving, but I highly recommend letting guests admire the pre-cut beauty.
“It tastes marvelous,” MT said, “And it looks like a work of art.” She also enjoyed the “refreshing citrus aspect,” but mistook the flavor of lime juice and zest for lemon.
That first evening, I had a hard time resisting eating a third piece. MT took a slice to her mom and reported back that she “was raving about the tart; she said to tell Mark it was delicious.” By the end of the evening, with only three of us, five of the eight slices were gone, and the next day we each had one of the last three remaining pieces.
Which means if you are making this for more than four fruit lovers, consider making a second tart.
My only note: Don’t get carried away as you near the end and omit the last steps of the glaze. I did, forgetting to microwave the preserves before straining (and forgetting to add a teaspoon of lime juice). I don’t think it mattered as far as flavor goes, but I’m sure it would have been a bit easier to apply the glaze if properly done.
The tart pan, by the way, was harder to find than I expected. The first two stores I tried had none. One reason I made this Saturday instead of Friday was the decision to have another go at finding a pan. An online search suggested Michael’s (the arts and crafts store) had them, and Saturday morning I bought a set of three sizes (the only option) from the Wilkes-Barre Township location.
Which means, perhaps, that I should be trying a lot more tart and quiche recipes in the future?
Dobru chut!
Fresh Fruit Tart (America’s Test Kitchen)
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons melted butter, browned
2 tablespoons water
⅓ cup white chocolate chips
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon lime zest
Pinch of salt
¾ cup mascarpone
8 teaspoons lime juice, divided (6 and 1 and 1) (4-5 limes)
1 peach, peeled (use serrated peeler)
Raspberries
Blueberries
1/3 cup apricot preserves
Heat oven to 350°.
Whisk flour, sugar and salt together in large bowl. Melt butter in saucepan and set heat to medium high, swirling pot occassionally until it begins to brown, about 1-3 minutes. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons water. It will rise rapidly and boil down quickly. After the bubbling stops, swirl the pot a bit and add the browned butter to the flour. Mix by hand with a stiff spatula/bowl scraper or wooden spoon until well incorporated (you may want to get your hands into it once it’s cooled enough). Put dough in tart pan and let cool 10 minutes. Press to fill tart pan bottom and sides. Be patient, it’s pliable but not all that easy to spread evenly.
Place pan on wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating half way through. Remove and let cool for an hour.
Add white baking chips to heavy cream in a microwaveable bowl. Add 1 teaspoon lime zest and pinch of salt. Stir a bit and microwave 30-60 seconds, stirring every 10 seconds, until melted and combined into a creamy mix.
Add ¼ cup mascarpone and whisk (this helps further cool the mixture). Add remaining mascarpone and six teaspoons of lime juice and whisk until combined. Spread in crust and let sit.
For fruit: The goal is to arrange it so the peaches create “walls,” or clear lines where you will slice the tart into eight roughly equal portions. This avoids having to cut through fruit (it also is very eye-catching).
Put one blackberry at every quarter near rim, then put one blackberry midway between each of those. They should each mark one-eighth of the tart. Peel the peaches using a serrated peeler, then cut one side off, running the knife next to the pit. Slice the opposite side off, then slice the two remaining sides off. Place each of these flat side down and cut into thin slices (with one flat edge and one arched edge). You want a total of 24 slices, three for each eighth of the tart.
Spread three pieces to create a “wall,” the end of one peach slice overlapping the other by a bit. Place one “wall” onto the tart filling, arched side up, one end near the pie crust, the other end near (but not at) the center of the tart. You want enough room at the center when done to place a blackberry in the middle, and enough room between the inner end of each wall to place a raspberry.
Put one peach “wall” on the same side of each blackberry division. When done, it should be obvious the peaches serve as radii (or spokes, like a bicycle wheel) splitting the tart into eight wedges ready for slicing. Add another blackberry or two as needed near the crust to fill the outer rim between peach slices.
Nest three raspberries top to bottom for a little arch, and press them a bit into the filling next to the blackberries. Add another raspberry if needed so the arc of raspberries, like the arc of blackberries, reaches from one peach “wall” to the other. Add one raspberry at the inner ends of each pair of peach “walls” near the center. Fill the space between raspberries with blueberries. Put a blackberry in the center of the tart.
Microwave apricot preserve about 30 seconds. Add 1 teaspoon lime juice, strain into bowl to remove lumps, and dab with a brush onto fruit, avoiding crust. Dabbing will make it less likely you’ll displace any of the fruit.
Chill at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. Remove from mold and slice along peach walls to serve.
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