Tart of the Month - Apple Pie

For Thanksgiving this year I was in charge of making apple pie. I know this is not technically a tart, but I prefer apple pie with crumble topping, rather than a double-crust pie, so it's very close to a tart.

I used The Food Lab's easy pie dough recipe to make the dough ahead of time and kept it in the fridge for a few days, then assembled and baked the pies the day of our dinner.

The dough is very easy to make in the food processor. I've been afraid to attempt pie crust in the past but I'm finding it pretty simple these days.  As long as you keep things very cold it isn't scary at all!

Here's what you need for two apple pies with crumble topping:

Tart of the Month - Mini Bumbleberry Tarts

Bumbleberry isn't a real berry. I thought everyone knew that but when I was searching for bumbleberry tart recipes, one of the search autofill results was "bumbleberry tree". So I guess some people think it's a magical berry!

Bumbleberry is a mix of several different berries, and it makes a wonderful combination in pie, tarts and other desserts.  

For these tarts, I used raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. 

Here's what you need for these tasty tarts:

Tart of the Month - Strawberry Rhubarb Galettes

I think I finally discovered the key to loving rhubarb. It seems so obvious, but mixing it with strawberries makes all the difference! Strawberry and rhubarb go so wonderfully together. The tartness of the rhubarb is a great compliment to the sweet berries. 

These galettes are very easy. A galette is a free-form tart, and making these with frozen puff pastry mean you can whip them up in minutes.

Here's what you need for these yummy spring treats:

Tart of the Month: Chocolate Tart

Perfect for February when you need a chocolate pick-me-up. This tart is very rich with a buttery crust and caramel-chocolate filling. 

This recipe comes from David Lebovitz, an awesome American pastry chef living in Paris. 

I've learned so much from my tarts of the month. I used to be afraid of making pie crust, but I learned last month how easy it can be. This is a whole new way to make crust that reminded me of the pâte à choux I used to make gougères, except with no eggs.

Here's what you need for this chocolate tart:

Tart of the Month - Roasted Vegetable Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin is usually dessert.  Fruit, usually apples, is cooked in caramel and baked with pastry on top, then flipped over to serve, with the browned fruit dripping in caramel on top.  This recipe uses root vegetables and savory herbs instead of fruit.  It comes from Bon Appetit magazine and it tastes amazing!  

I even made the pastry from scratch!  And it wasn't hard at all.  I used the food processor and it was a breeze.

This tart is amazing warm from the oven, but it's great at room temperature the next day too.  It would make a fantastic vegetarian main dish.  Here's what you need:

Jamaican Patties

My Jamaican jerk turkey breast went over so well that I decided to try another Jamaican recipe.  These spicy beef patties are full of flavour.  They take a little time to come together, but they're not difficult at all.  

The dough comes together easily in a food processor and the spiced beef filling cooks quickly.  This recipe is adapted from Serious Eats.  

Here's what you need...

Tart of the Month: Strawberry Tarts

June's tart of the month is strawberry, of course.  Just like the Queen of Hearts would serve on a summer's day. Strawberry season here in Ontario is generally mid-June to mid-July.  These beautiful, local strawberries are so different from the imported strawberries we get at other times of the year.  They smell so sweet and taste amazing.  

Once again I'm using store-bought pastry because I happened to have one last pie crust in the freezer.  But I did make pastry cream for the first time for these tarts.  Pastry cream is a thick cooked custard that can also be used to fill éclairs.  If you make your own pastry, the pastry cream recipe will fill at least 4 tarts.  My store-bought pie crust only made three tart shells, so I had pastry cream left over, which I used to make a quick berry trifle later in the week.   

Here's what you need for these delicious seasonal tarts:

Tart of the Month: Spring Asparagus & Goat Cheese Tart

We have an asparagus patch in our garden and it is the greatest.  Every year it gives us more and more fresh asparagus in the spring.  But not quite yet this year.  The asparagus from this tart came from the store but maybe I'll make it again with garden asparagus when it's ready.  

This tart also uses spring onions if you can find them.  They are the ones with large white bulbs and green stems.  Once again, I didn't have any ready yet so I used regular green onions.  

Here's what you need for this spring tart:

Tart of the Month: Meyer Lemon Tart

Finally a tart recipe!  I've mentioned before that I'm not a baking expert but I'm trying to learn. I still haven't made a true pie crust, but this tart crust is close.  It does not need to be rolled out and I mixed it in the food processor, so it was pretty easy.  

Meyer lemons are in season this time of year.  They are generally smaller and sweeter than regular lemons. They are actually a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange.  

Here's what you need for this simple, tasty tart:

Gougères (Cheese Puffs)

It is the secret dream of my life to become a pastry chef. Pastry is usually considered more exact and less forgiving than savoury cooking and it appeals to my love of being careful and following rules.  Particularly, I would love to make croissants.  There's a course at the Cordon Bleu school in Ottawa on Viennoiseries (croissants, brioche) that I would love to attend.  

These little cheese puffs are made from pâte à choux.  The dough steams to create a light, fluffy puff that can be used to make cream puffs, profiteroles and éclairs.  Or you can add cheese like I did for a delicious, savoury treat.