Fresh Fruit Tart

Wow, time to post again already?!! (Methinks I'm having a hard time keeping up these days.)

Coming in just under the wire, here is my entry for the monthly You Want Pies With That? blogging event. For July we were charged with coming up with a "Taste of Summer" pie. Thanks to Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake and Mary at alpineberry for this totally appropriate theme.

Our pie was to answer the question, "What does summer mean to you?" Whew! when I was thinking of what pie to make, I wondered how to wrap all of the following up into a pie:

- enjoying being able to sleep in a little
- wondering how to keep the kids far, far away from the dreaded "I'm booooored"
- my own efforts at trying to mimic our old family friends and their completely awesome strawberry patch
- appreciation of days at the perfect temperature
- irritation at days that are much higher than the perfect temperature
- hiking, play dates, playground visits, swimming lessons, sunburns, baseball.


OK, that's a tall order and one my pea-brain is not equipped to handle. So, taking the easy way out, I settled on the strawberry patch, added a few other fruits for variety, and went the route of "I don't feel like thinking too hard".

This is a perfect "no-recipe" type of recipe, or at least one that you can whip up as long as you've got the Internet and/or a few good cookbooks.

First, you search for "sweet pastry" or "pate sucre(e)" and make a batch of that. Blind bake as directed, or if there are no baking instructions, use 400 degrees and start checking at around 15 minutes in. You're going for "golden brown".


Next, search for "pastry cream" and make that. Chill until set, probably at least 4 hours. Then spread a healthy layer in your cool tart shell.


Next up, a layer of jam that compliments your fresh fruit. Stir it well to loosen it up and then spread on top of the pastry cream. I went thin with the jam, but it's up to you.



Last step, start sprinkling on your fresh fruit. Mix it up or go with one type.




Keep going until it looks right.


You can brush the fruit with apricot jam thinned with a tiny bit of water, or just warmed a bit, if you want. Or not. The jam adds a shiny, glossy look. (I skipped the jam glaze.)

And voila! A fairly simple and totally delicious summer tart... and you can change up the fruit to suit the season and your tastes.

Here are the recipes I used...

Pate Sucre recipe - click here... I would add slightly more than 2 Tbsp. cream next time as the crust was dry upon mixing and crumbly once baked.

Pastry Cream recipe - click here - I would chill overnight next time.

(Whew! made it by midnight!) OK, signing off for now, folks! Thanks for stopping by :)