Tarte aux Fruits Rouges

tarte aux fruits rouges, or red fruit tart is a simple summer berry tart thats hard to go wrong with. while i'm not sure if there's a fixed recipe to it but i think the most common version would be to use a pâte sucrée (sweet crust pastry) and crème pâtissière (pastry cream) or custard. in here though, i used pierre herme's pâte sablée crust, a really nice, rich and buttery crust with ground almonds hence the name 'sandy dough'. i then filled the tarts, or rather tartlets with creme d'amandes, a baked almond cream traditionally used in frangipane tarts and brushed with a generous a layer of raspberry jam before adorning them with berries.

tastewise i think its one of the best fruit tarts i've eaten. the tanginess of the berries and the sweet crust + filling complemented each other beautifully and made my effort all worthwhile. i was actually feeling pretty frustrated when lining the dough on the tart rings coz it was too soft, kept tearing and i was too lazy to re-refrigerate the dough repeatedly. despite that, the end result was still ok, you can't really tell the dough has been patched here & there. it also makes sense to make a larger batch of the dough and then freeze the remaining portion for later use so you don't hv to go thru the process of refrigerating it for 2-3 hrs again.

a closer picture of the innards. i just can't resist!

and i think my tart resembles a cake instead coz the tart rings i used were too deep, need to get shallower ones in future!

ingredients (makes nine 7.5cm Ø tartlets) :

for the pierre herme's pâte sablée crust :

250g flour

100g icing sugar

1 large egg

150g butter, room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract or bean paste

30g ground almonds

2 pinches of salt, omit if using salted butter

for the creme d'amandes (recipe from tartelette) :

115g butter, softened

115g honey

100g ground almonds

2 eggs

60ml whipping cream

 

raspberry jam for brushing

berries and fruits of your choice, for decor

 

directions :

1. to make the pâte sablée, sift the flour and icing sugar separately.

2. in a mixing bowl fitted with the flat beater attachment, whisk together eggs and butter and vanilla extract until just combined. add in the icing sugar, followed by the ground almonds. whisk until the mixture is well corporated, about 3-5 mins.

3. add the salt, if using and flour and mix until the dough is roughly combined and leaves the side of the bowl. do not overmix.

4. form dough into a ball and wrap in cling film (saran wrap) and refrigerate for a min. of 1 hr.

5. roll dough out to about 0.5cm in thickness, line them in tart rings and refrigerate for 30 mins. prick holes at the bottom of the dough with a fork and fill them with baking weights and bake blind on 180C for 15 mins. remove weights.

6. keep the oven running and prepare the creme d'amandes. place the butter, honey, ground almonds and eggs in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. add the cream but stir in it instead of whisking so as not to emulsify it or it will rise while baking.

7. pour mixture into the tart crust and bake for another 25-30 mins until the tops are browned and filling cooked.

8. let cool and brush with a layer of raspberry jam and decorate with berries and fruits of your choice.