For the past three years, I have had a crush on rustic tarts. I saw them on the Today show or a cooking show, and the infatuation began. I felt a blush coming on and I thought, this is it. I was made to make this free form crust.

Similar to how it took me two years to get up the nerve to call my high school crush, it took me three years to build up the courage to make a rustic tart. What it it didn’t turn out? What if I messed it up? What if I made a huge mess of the oven? What if it isn’t as easy as it looks? How will I deal with the crushing disappointment that it wasn’t meant to be?

Now that I have done it, I feel I have found my calling. This is is the next go-to dessert recipe for my summers. It’s easy. I think it’s sexy (if a fruit dessert can be sexy) and you don’t even need to make a crumbly topping to finish it off. The fruit, not the crust, is what is showcased.

This tart also gave me a chance to work with peaches, a new medium, which was quite exciting. Check out this post for some tips on dealing with peaches.

This recipe was adapted from from America Test Kitchen’s Baking Book.

Rustic Tart Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

10 Tbsp butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch p

6-8 Tbsp of ice water

  1. Process salt and flour together in a food processor together until combined.
  2. Scatter butter pieces over and pulse until a coarse cornmeal forms.
  3. Add water through feed tube 1 Tbsp at a time. After 3 or so Tbsp, reach in to see if dough sticks together when you squeeze it. Add water until you reach that point.
  4. Place dough on plastic wrap and form into a disk. Chill for at least 1 hour. Note: I made a double batch so I had two discs.

Peach Blueberry Tart Filling

1 lb peaches, blanched, skinned and quartered

1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp cinnamon

  1. Toss ingredients together and let sit at room temperature for 25-30 minutes.
  2. While fruit sits, remove dough from refrigerator. Place between two sheet of parchment paper (click here to find out why it MUST be parchment paper).
  3. Roll out to approx a 12 inch circle (or oval in my case).
  4. Place back in fridge for 20 minutes.
  5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  6. Keeping the tart on the parchment paper, place tart on rimmed baking sheet.
  7. Leave a 2 1/2 inch border around the outside. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the filling onto the crust to reduce the excess juices in the tart. I used the peach slices to hold in the rest of the fruit.

  8. Fold crust up leaving a 1/2 inch between fruit and edge of crust.
  9. You can also pleat the crust but that was totally beyond my crafty talents.
  10. Bake about an hour, until the crust is golden.
  11. Let tart cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. then remove tart from pan and from parchment paper. Set on cooling rack for 25 minutes and then enjoy!

Why the tart was better than my high school love life

This was much more successful than my long awaited high school phone call which went something like: “Hi-this-is-badger-girl-how-are-you-did-you-happen-to-get-today’s-algebra-assignment-because-I-didn’t-write-it-down-and-that’s-why-I’m-calling.” Yes, all in one breath and yes, I called my crush to ask him about homework. I was really that much of a nerd. And no, we never dated. Apparently he couldn’t see through my algebra ruse. Shocking, isn’t it?

Well, at least I can make a mean rustic tart.

 


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