Key Lime Tart

One of my favorite desserts (although there are a few), is key lime pie. I had made little key lime pie tartlets a long time ago and I was due to try making something with key limes again. We had a big family dinner this weekend and I wanted to make a nice summer dessert. I used an Epicurious recipe that called for both key lime juice and a touch of lemon juice. 

I started by making the graham cracker crust from scratch. You can buy graham cracker crumbs by the box, but I find it quite easy to crush graham crackers in a gallon Ziploc using a rolling pin. I pressed the crust into my tart pan and baked it as directed.

Then to make the key lime filling...and this is when I remembered why I had not made key lime anything for a while. The key limes are tiny - about the size of my thumb and I needed to squeeze more than one container of these little guys. 

I prepared the filling, poured it into the tart shell, baked it and let it cool. I wanted to use some whipped cream to put in top and looked into making stabilized whipped cream for the first time so it would hold its shape when I piped it.

I was fairly pleased with how it turned out and only hoped the crust would stay in tact when I removed the outside of the tart pan. 

Phew - it did...and yes, life is short, so eat dessert. I don't indulge too much or every day, but all in moderation.

I grated some key lime zest on the tart and cut a piece for each family member to enjoy. 

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

I have always wanted to make one of those fancy fruit tarts that you see in French bakeries with the perfect crust and the glossy fruit. After picking two flats of berries, I had more than enough to try different recipes, so I picked out the prettiest ones to put on display on my tart.


We went to our favorite local fruit farm to pick some fresh berries, which is a very comforting and nostalgic activity for me as this was my first job growing up. I would pick strawberries straddled over the rows of berries for hours. So, leisurely picking two flats is a cinch.

We had a school picnic to attend, so I thought this would be a good seasonal dessert to bring along. I had saved aside this recipe from Food 52 for the perfect occasion and this was it.

I tried my best to arrange my strawberries nicely to match their pristine arrangement. Below is the Food 52 tart image followed by mine.  Not bad, right? The recipe is below and updated to include all the ingredients along with a few notes so go ahead and try your own strawberry t(art).

Recipe for Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

Adapted from Food 52

Ingredients:

Crust

2 tablespoons cream

1 egg yolk

1 stick of butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 pinch salt

Filling

1 quart strawberries (washed, hulled and sliced)

8 ounces chilled mascarpone

1 tablespoon rum (I would suggest leaving this out)

1/4 cup sugar 

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 Directons:

For the crust: Combine the egg yolk and cream. In a food processor, pulse together the butter, sugar, salt, and flour until you have something that resembles coarse meal. With the motor running, pour in the egg yolk and cream. Process until the dough comes together in a ball around the blade. Remove dough from the processor bowl. Bring together into a ball quickly. Press into an 8-inch removable-bottom fluted tart pan. Pierce lightly with fork all over the crust. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and cover the tart pan tightly. Freeze for at least two hours. 

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake the tart pan (on a baking sheet) for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking another 10 minutes. Allow the crust to cool completely. 

Combine the sliced strawberries with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Allow them to rest for 15 minutes. While the crust is in the oven, start on the filling. Combine the mascarpone,  2 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla extract and whisk until glossy. (NOTE: the filling may separate if the mascarpone is not chilled so work quickly.) If you like the taste of rum, go ahead and include it, but I felt that even the small amount overtook the creamy mascarpone flavor too much. Taste and adjust sugar if necessary. Chill the filling while the crust cools. When the crust has cooled completely, spread the filling over it using a rubber spatula. Next, arrange the sliced strawberries over the the filling. Return assembled tart to fridge if not serving immediately, but it's best served the day it is made.

Peach and Blackberry Custard Tart

We have enjoyed all the fresh peaches at the farmers market the last few weekends and they are always giving out samples (which Audrey loves).  I've gotten several just to eat and decided to bake something with them this past week.  I have also been buying lots of blueberries and blackberries and thought the flavor and color contrast would be nice.

This tart was adapted from a recipe published recently in Martha Stewart Living for Peach-Custard Pie.  I chose to make it a more dainty tart and add the blackberries and I quite like my variation. The instructions for peeling the peaches was amazing and I thought the "naked" peaches were so pretty.  You scored them, boiled them for a minute and then placed them in an ice water bath before peeling.

What's not to like about custard?

I started putting the blackberries just in the center and ended up placing them around the entire tart so everyone would have a bit of blackberries. 

Add a huge dollop of fresh whipped cream and it's complete!

Jam Tarts

Jam tarts are one of the easiest treats to make and the absolute best use of leftover pastry. I made the peach and blackberry tart and made several of these with the extra pastry trimmings after making the tart crust.

Just combine your leftover pastry, roll it out and cut out several pieces of pastry with a large fluted biscuit cutter.  I have a special jam tart pan from England, but you could also make them as mini tarts, or place the pastry in the bottom of a muffin tin.

Grease the pan with Pam or butter, place the pastry rounds in the pan and fill them with a teaspoon of nice jam or preserves. I usually used homemade grape or strawberry jam, but haven't made any since I moved, so I settled for some nice organic jam from the market.  I bake them for around 10 minutes at 375 degrees or until the jam is bubbly and the pastry starts to brown slightly.

They are amazing warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk or a teatime treat!

Peach Tart with Mascarpone Cream

I was meeting some friends for an outdoor concert and wanted to take a fresh summery dessert for us to share for our picnic.  With peaches in season in Michigan, this was probably the perfect recipe that I could have found and we all enjoyed it immensely.  I found the recipe using my Epicurious app on my iPad, but you can access it online also. How can you go wrong with fresh peaches tossed in sugar and lemon zest, raw sliced almonds for a little crunch and a honey glaze. It was still warm when we ate it at the picnic and was topped with the rich, sweet mascarpone cream. 

 The peaches were so pretty. I just love the orangey/red fuzzy peaches and they smell so fresh even before they're cut open. But when you pit them, the flesh of the fruit is just as pretty as the outside.

The tart pastry was a perfectly pliable and smooth pastry with the addition of a little powdered sugar for sweetness. The edges were folded over to smooth it out and it made the side of the tart nice and thick.

I grabbed a few photos at home before I went to the concert for our picnic.  I don't have any photos of the tart cut and topped with  mascarpone cream. But trust me, it was decadent. And, we all had smiles on our faces....from the tart, the good music and great friends.

Raspberry and Red Currant Crumble Tart

I think I visited the farmer's market at least three times wandering past the stands with the pints of beautiful shiny red currants. I would ponder different uses of them, come home and research some recipes and I just didn't want to settle on using them to make jam. I decided that I had to bake with them. I didn't want to make a boring pie with such an exciting fruit and I had just made a cherry pie. So, after a few suggestions to mix them with raspberries, I settled on making a raspberry and red currant tart. I didn't want to just make one big impersonal tart, but instead I made tartlets with their own little collection of red currants and raspberries meant for individual enjoyment. Plus, this isn't just any tart, it's a crumble tart with a custard filling.

I had the fruit in my kitchen for a few days before I made these and was just taken aback by its beauty and vibrant color.

And, when baked inside these amazing oatmeal and almond tart shells that I made, I knew this dessert would be one to remember. This tart shell will probably be one that I make again for other fruit tarts. It's a combination of ground almonds, oats, brown sugar, flour and butter. After I ground the almonds, it was very easy to make and even easier to work with. I spooned it into the tart shells and used the same spoon to flatten it up against the sides and bottom. These were baked first and then I flattened them back down after baking make sure they filled the shell and made room for the filling.

After I washed and prepared the fruit, I put several red currants and raspberries in each shell, covered it with a custard batter to finish off the filling and it was topped with a crumble topping of almonds, flour and sugar.

While they baked the kitchen smelled of warm sugar, cooked berries and custard. Yum....I'm glad I had an extra one for us to sample! I thought the heavy use of ground almonds and sugar with the custard filling would be too rich, but it ended up being the perfect sweet compliment to the tart tastes of the red currants and raspberries. This was perfect warm out of the oven on its own or would be fantastic with fresh warm custard or vanilla ice cream.

Easter Egg Custard Tarts

This is my favorite pastry that I look forward to having when we go to England. You can find it in most pastry shops, bakeries and tea rooms. It's a simple egg custard in a pastry shell and the secret ingredient that makes this tart is the sprinkling of nutmeg on top. I used freshly grated nutmeg and just enough to compliment the sweet egg custard without taking it over. I used a simple pie pastry for the shell and could have tried to make them prettier with nice edging, but they looked nice and homemade! Aside from my pastry, the tarts turned out perfectly. I read through to make sure how to prepare it and the secret is to have the ingredients (eggs, milk, 1/2 and 1/2 and sugar) at room temperature and mix them over a warm bowl of water so the filling does not separate from the tart shell during baking. Plus, you bake them at a very low temperature - only 300 degrees for about 45-50 minutes.

I enjoy this for breakfast (it's eggs anyway, right?) an afternoon treat with tea or dessert. It's simple, yet decadent and doesn't need any topping or garnish to be enjoyed.

Chocolate Ganache Tart

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If you receive Martha Stewart Living or have seen it on newstands, you may notice this tart on the cover of the February issue. This chocolate tart has a buttery chocolate crust and a creamy ganache filling. It is to die for if you love chocolate and my sister, her husband and I all agreed it was one of the best desserts we have had in a while. It is rich, but has a smooth texture and great flavor. The Martha recipe was for individual tarts, but we made one large tart in a regular round tart tin. The crust had to be kneaded a bit after refrigerating, but was easy to roll out and transfer to the tin. One tip is to roll out the dough on cocoa instead of flour so as to not discolor the crust. The filling was easy to make and it's highly recommended to use good chocolate. We used 65% cocoa bittersweet chocolate and along with the heavy cream and whole milk, it was a dreamy filling. We waited until all the kids were in bed and then enjoyed it topped with whipped cream and a meringue heart. It would also be great with strawberries or raspberries on the side. To drink? A glass of smooth red wine!