In Your Heart Of Tarts – Early Season Berry Tart

Originally posted on March 4, 2015 

I was going to post one last recipe that includes my favorite citrus fruit – bergamot – today, but I received an unexpected boon this week and decided at the last minute to re-route this post. Sorry, not sorry.

My friend Keith, a Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association market manager, knows what a fanatic I am about fresh fruit and surprised me with a flat of early season organic Seascape strawberries from Watsonville. Of course I was skeptical of their quality since it’s so early in the season, but let’s be real: Great produce comes out of Watsonville almost year round. Lucky us!

These gorgeous strawberries were plump, juicy, sweet and perfect for baking, so I made another batch of that super crispy tart dough used in my bergamot-Meyer lemon Shaker tart, filled the bottom with my personal adaptation of David Lebovitz’s recipe for almond frangipane and topped it all with my perfect strawberries and a handful of surprisingly tasty (also early-season) raspberries.

This is a rustic-looking tart that provides the perfect end to any meal. It’s light, fruity, crunchy and pairs perfectly with a silky dollop of barely sweetened whipped cream. I love this recipe because it still tastes great with a variety of ingredients that can be kept, added or omitted. For the frangipane component of the tart I substituted honey for the granulated sugar and bourbon for the kirsch, while also adding the freshly grated zest of a Meyer lemon, a pinch of salt and a drop or two of vanilla extract. Basically, feel free to make it your own!

Other types of fruit sub into this tart surprisingly well, too. While they’re in season try topping it with pitted cherries, halved apricots, rhubarb and strawberries, plums, pluots, apples, or poached quince and pears. It’s truly a dessert for all seasons if you’re creative enough to make it work! I’d definitely recommend spreading a light layer of something fatty underneath your fruit, though. The butter and nut fats in the frangipane help prevent the juices released by your fruit of choice from absorbing into the baked tart dough and making it soggy. No one likes a soggy tart, so let’s keep it crunchy up in this kitchen, guys.

Strawberry-Raspberry-Meyer Lemon-Frangipane Tart
Tart Crust recipe adapted from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food
Almond Frangipane recipe adapted from David Lebovitz

Makes 10 servings

Ingredients:

The Tart Crust:

4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
12 ounces butter, chilled
1 cup ice water
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

The Almond Frangipane:

6 ounces almond paste (not marzipan)
grated zest of one Meyer lemon
3 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch kosher salt
3 ounces unsalted butter, cubed and room temperature
1 whole egg, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
2 drops almond extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons bourbon (or whichever type of alcohol or flavor you prefer)

The Topping:

2 1/2 baskets washed, hulled and halved strawberries
1 1/2 baskets washed raspberries
Juice of one Meyer lemon, strained
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, separated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

The Whipped Cream:

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
Honey, to taste

Make and roll the dough:

Cut the butter into small cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes. Fill a measuring cup with one cup of ice, then pour cold water over it until the liquid reaches the one cup mark. Place the water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it. Toss the flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar and salt together in a large glass or metal bowl. Place the chilled pieces of butter into the flour mixture. One by one, use your fingers to flatten each chunk of butter, then mix it back into the bowl of flour. Continue doing this until each piece of butter is approximately the size of a flattened garbanzo bean. Take the ice water from the refrigerator and, while holding back the ice with your fingers, sprinkle 2 tablespoons onto the flour and butter mixture. Forming your hands into the shape of claws, rake your fingers through the butter and flour mixture until the water is evenly dispersed, taking care to not over mix. Continue pouring 2 tablespoons of water over the flour mixture and raking it in by hand until you’ve added half of the water. At this point take a small handful of flour mixture, squeeze it in your fist, and see if it holds the shape of the inside of your hand. If it does not, add another 2 tablespoons of water and check it’s texture again after raking in the water. If it does, briefly knead the dough until it forms a ball. You probably won’t use all of the water and that’s okay. Split it into two separate and even lumps, plastic wrap each tightly and store them in the refrigerator over night.

The following day remove one dough packet from the refrigerator a half hour before rolling it. You can make another tart with the other, or keep it well-wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer until you’re ready to use it. Line a 14″ aluminum pizza tray with a 12″ round of parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the slightly softened dough out to a 13″ round that will be 1/16 – 1/8″ thick. Gently transfer the dough round onto the parchment-lined pizza tray. Refrigerate while you prepare your fruit and filling.

Make the frangipane:

The frangipane filling can be made a day or two in advance and refrigerated, then brought to room temperature before spreading in the tart dough, or it can be made fresh while the tart dough is chilling after being rolled out. Break up the almond paste into 1″ chunks with your hands and place in the bowl of a stand mixer with the room temperature butter, honey, lemon zest and salt. Beat with a paddle attachment at medium speed until the mixture is smooth and homogenous. Stop the mixer, add the whole egg and combine on medium-low speed. Stop the mixer, add the egg white and combine on medium-low speed. Take the bowl off of the mixing stand and scrape around the bottom and sides with a rubber spatula, ensuring that all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Add the remaining almond extract, vanilla extract and bourbon and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in. If refrigerating it for over an two hours, make sure to tightly plastic wrap the frangipane and remove it from the refrigerator for long enough to allow it to come back to room temperature – at least one hour.

Prep the fruit and fill the tart:

Preheat your oven to 375°F. When your berries are washed, hulled and halved, remove the rolled tart dough from the refrigerator. Scoop the frangipane into the center of the tart and using a small off-set spatula, gently spread and smooth the filling in an 11″ circle, leaving 1 1/2 – 2″ of uncovered dough around the edge of the dough round. Place the strawberries, cut side down, lightly on top of the frangipane, starting from the outer edge of the circe of filling and moving your way inward. Place another strawberry half along the edge of of the very outer layer of fruit nearest the ends of the crust – this will provide more structure for the folded-over crust to bake on top of. Randomly place raspberries in open spaces between the strawberries across the top of the tart. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar on top of the outer 1″ of berries at the edges of the tart. Gently pull the edges of the tart dough up and over the outer inch of sugar-coated berries. This doesn’t need to look even or perfect – portions of dough can overlap and look roughly crinkled. Sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar over the uncovered berries in the center of the tart. Dribble the juice of one Meyer lemon over the exposed berries. Brush the melted butter over the folded over crust and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Brush any remaining butter over the uncovered berries in the center of the tart. Refrigerate for between 15 and 30 minutes.

Bake it:

Bake in the top third of the oven for 30 minutes, rotate the tart 180°, then bake for another 30 minutes or until the crust is firm and both the frangipane and crust are golden brown. Serve at room temperature.

While the tart is cooling, whip the cream topping. You can whip this by hand using a whisk, an electric hand mixer, or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Once soft peaks have been achieved, gradually add the honey of your choice until you are happy with it’s level of sweetness, starting with 2 tablespoon and gradually adding from there. Leave the whipped cream in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it, keeping it tightly plastic wrapped and lightly rewhipping it with a whisk before serving.

Eat it:

Slice and enjoy!