"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard
Here's another Tart of the Month!
I've been slacking on my tart prep in 2016. Things have been hectic and I've had very little time for baking, but this tart is so quick and easy, it barely counts as baking at all!
I had leftover cheese and fruit from a dinner party we had, so I decided to put it all together in some puff pastry for a tasty snack.
You can use virtually any combination of cheese and fruit - blueberries and cream cheese, peaches and goat's cheese, apples and cheddar, pears and blue cheese... the possibilities are endless.
Simply slice up the fruit and place it on a sheet of thawed puff pastry.
Then top with the cheese of your choice either sliced, spread, or crumbled over the fruit
I attempted to get fancy and create a braid pattern by slicing the puff pastry in diagonal strips on either side of the filling. I should have started braiding at the bottom though.
My braid pattern didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped, but it's still kind of neat!
Mix an egg with a little water and brush over the pastry and sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until browned and crisp. The cheese will melt out the sides a bit but that's ok!
Slice and serve warm or at room temperature. This makes a great snack or appetizer for a party. Or even a not-too-sweet dessert, perhaps with a little whipped cream or ice cream.
Enjoy this easy tart with all the fruits coming into season soon!
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:
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:
Last fall in Las Vegas we bought tickets to a food event at Yellowtail at Bellagio that was all you can eat & drink for an afternoon. Unfortunately, due to having too much fun the night before, we couldn't bear to eat much sushi or oysters. I had a glass of champagne and lots of water and we were thinking of admitting defeat, until the bartender offered to make us a spicy cocktail that might perk us up while we enjoyed the view.
He made a delicious concoction of Bombay Sapphire East gin, strawberry purée, jalapeños and cucumber. It was so refreshing, we felt cured! We had another and felt so good we vowed to track down the gin to make it at home.
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:
Fresh berries are in season! My birthday falls near Canada Day, so I never have cake. I always prefer fresh berries with cream, shortcake, ice cream or just on their own.
This is a delicious breakfast, snack or dessert.
Fresh, local strawberries...
...and raspberries...
combine for a delicious, sweet, tart burst of flavour.
I sprinkle them with a tiny bit of vanilla sugar (I put a vanilla pod in a jar with white sugar), but it's not necessary when the berries are fresh and sweet.
In a glass, layer the berries with Greek Yogurt.
And granola. I used Kashi cereal.
Add a second layer of berries, yogurt and cereal.
You can use any berries or fruit that are fresh and in season. Tasty, healthy for breakfast or a snack!
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