Category: Dessert – Tarts & Pies

Servings: 6-8
I originally developed this recipe using amaretti — very sweet, very light, very crisp almond meringue cookies. You can often find them in Italian and specialty groceries. Almond biscotti work well, too. Choose plums that are ripe but still a bit firm so they’re easy to slice. My usual plum of choice is the popular Santa Rosa, but red-fleshed plums, such as Elephant Heart, make a dazzling tart. You could also use sliced nectarines or peaches.

Yields 1 galette; serves six to eight

Ingredients
1/3 cup crushed amaretti or almond biscotti (use a food processor or put the cookies in a plastic bag and crush with them a blunt object until they’re the texture of coarse sand)
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
6 ripe plums (about 1 lb.), rinsed and dried
1 disk Sweet Galette Dough (below)
1 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbs. sugar
3 oz. fresh raspberries
2 Tbs. strained raspberry jam (optional)
Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 400°F. Combine the crushed amaretti and the flour and set aside.

Sweet Galette Dough
Freeze any unused dough well wrapped in plastic; defrost the frozen dough in the refrigerator for a day before using it.
Yields enough dough for two galettes about 11 inches in diameter.

11-¼ oz. (2-½ cups) all-purpose flour
2 Tbs. sugar
½ tsp. salt (omit if using salted butter)
8 oz. (16 Tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces and chilled
5 oz. (about 2/3 cup) ice water

Directions
Cut each plum in half, remove its pit, and cut the flesh into ¼-inch-thick slices.

Cover a baking sheet, preferably without sides, with kitchen parchment. (If your baking sheet has sides, flip it over and use the back.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the galette dough into a 15-inch round. Transfer the dough by folding it in half, picking it up, and unfolding it on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the crushed amaretti over the dough evenly, leaving a 2-inch border without crumbs. Arrange the plums over the crumbs in concentric circles, overlapping slightly. Lift the edges of the dough and fold them inward over the filling, pleating as you go, to create a folded-over border. Brush the border with the melted butter and sprinkle the entire galette with the sugar. Bake for 30 min. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the raspberries over the plums. Return the galette to the oven and bake until the crust is browned and the fruit is cooked and tender, another 15 min.

Slide the galette off the parchment and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for about 10 min. before slicing. For a shinier filling, brush on the jam before slicing.

Sweet Galette Dough

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the chilled butter using a stand mixer, a food processor, or a pastry blender until the butter is evenly distributed but still in large, visible pieces. Add the ice water all at once to the flour and butter. Mix the dough just until it begins to come together (if using a stand mixer or a food processor, be especially careful not to overmix the dough). Gather the dough with your hands — don’t worry if you see streaks of butter — and shape it into two disks. Wrap the disks in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Servings: —
Prep Time: 40 min
Inactive Prep Time: 3 1/2 hrs
Source: Jean Banchet, Le Francais; Gourmet page 175-176, October, 2008

Ingredients
FOR PASTRY DOUGH
Use “Pâte Brisée (Basic Pastry Dough)” recipe

FOR LEMON CURD
3 whole large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
EQUIPMENT: a 10-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom; pie weights or dried beans.

Directions
MAKE PASTRY DOUGH:
 Make Pâte Brisée. Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round. Fit dough into tart pan. Trim, leaving a ½-inch overhang, and fold overhang inward. Press dough against side of pan, pushing dough ¼ inch above rim. Lightly prick bottom of shell all over with a fork and chill until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.
 Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until side is set and edge is pale golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil and bake until golden, 20 to 25 minutes more.

MAKE LEMON CURD WHILE DOUGH CHILLS:
Whisk together whole eggs, yolks, sugar, zest, and juice in a medium metal bowl set over a medium saucepan of simmering water. Cook, whisking frequently, until mixture is thick enough to coat back of a spoon. Remove bowl from heat and whisk in butter 1 piece at a time, letting each one melt before adding the next. Transfer to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with plastic wrap.

MAKE TART: Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
 Preheat broiler. Put tart shell on a baking sheet, then pour lemon curd into shell. Broil (on low heat?) tart about 6-8 inches from heat until filling is golden in patches, 2 to 5 minutes. (Watch carefully; tart burns easily.)
 Cool completely in pan on a rack.

Servings: 8-10
Prep Time: 50 min
Source: Gourmet
November 2003; originally published January 1991
recipeNotes: Great for Thanksgiving
Nut pies can be very sweet – mixing in tart cranberries keeps everything in check.

Ingredients
Pâte Brisée recipe for pastry
3 large eggs

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups chopped fresh or frozen cranberries (7 oz; thawed if frozen)

1 cup chopped walnuts (1/4 lb)

Directions
Do not use tart pan. It leaks. Use a regular pyrex pie pan.

Special equipment: a 10- to 11-inch round tart pan (1 inch deep) with a removable bottom; pie weights or raw rice

Make shell:

Roll out dough into a 13-inch round (1/8 inch thick) on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin and fit into tart pan. Trim edge of dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang inward and press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Lightly prick bottom of shell all over with a fork, then chill 30 minutes. Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 425°F. Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until pastry is set and pale golden on rim, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake shell until pale golden all over, 5 to 10 minutes more. Transfer shell in pan to a rack.

Make filling:

Move oven rack to middle position and reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Whisk together eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt, and vanilla in a bowl until smooth, then stir in cranberries and walnuts. Pour filling into shell and bake tart until filling is set and golden, 40 to 45 minutes. (If pastry edge darkens before tart is done, cover edge with a pie shield or foil.) Cool completely in pan on rack.

Cooks’ notes:

Tart can be baked 1 day ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

For a more unusual presentation, you can make the tart in an 11- by 8-inch rectangular fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

Servings: 8
Preheat: 350°
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 50 min
Source: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/peach-blueberry-galette.aspx
This rustic fruit tart is the perfect vehicle for ripe summer blueberries and peaches. The crust is free form—it just gets folded over the filling and then baked. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of crème fraîche.

Ingredients
For the crust

6-3/4 oz (1-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour, more for rolling
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
5-1/2 oz (11 Tbs.) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2″” dice
1 lg egg yolk
3 Tbsp whole milk

For the filling

1 lb peaches, peeled and cut into 1/2″” slices (ab 2 cups)
3/4 lb blueberries, rinsed and picked through (ab 2 cups)
1/4 cup light muscovado sugar or light brown sugar
2 Tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of table salt
1 lg egg, beaten
2 Tbsp demerara sugar

Directions
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment at low speed. Add the butter to the flour. Mix until the flour is no longer white and holds together when you clump it with your fingers, 1 to 2 minutes. If there are still lumps of butter larger than the size of peas, break them up with your fingers.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk and milk, and add to the flour mixture. Mix on low speed just until the dough comes together, about 15 seconds; the dough will be somewhat soft. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, press it into a flat disk, wrap it in the plastic, and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes before rolling out.

Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Make the filling & roll out the dough. In a medium bowl, toss the peaches and blueberries with the muscovado sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt.

Lightly flour a large work surface and roll out the dough to a 12- to 13-inch round. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Arrange the fruit in the center of the dough, leaving about 1-1/2 inches of space around the perimeter of the dough empty. Fold the outside edge of the dough over the fruit, making occasional pleats. Brush the crust with the egg. Sprinkle the demerara sugar evenly over the dough and fruit.

Bake the galette until the crust turns a light brown and the filling bubbles, about 50 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into wedges and serve warm.