American Berry Tart Food

ELEGANT FRESH BERRY TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add orange zest and extracts; gradually add flour until mixture forms a ball. Press into a greased 9-in. fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack., For filling, beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice until smooth; spread over crust. Cover and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes., Meanwhile, for syrup, bring water, sugar, preserves and lemon juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool., Combine strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and kiwi; toss with syrup to glaze. Arrange fruit as desired over filling. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

EASY BERRY FRUIT TART

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450ºF.
• Make pie crust as directed on box for One-Crust baked shell using 9"pie plate.
• DO NOT PRICK CRUST.
• In a food processor bowl with metal blade, place almonds and sugar; process with on/off pulses until finely ground.
• Sprinkle almond mixture over pie crust; gently press inches.
• Bake 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.
• If crust puffs in center, flatten gently with back of wooden spoon.
• Cool 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile in medium bowl, stir together creme fraiche or sour cream and vanilla pudding.
• Add sprinkling of ground almonds.
• Top with berries.
• Refrigerate 2 hours or until serving time.
• Just before serving, sprinkle tart with powdered sugar.
• Store covered in refrigerator.

RUSTIC BERRY TART

Steps:

• TO PREPARE CRUST:.
• Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons sugar and salt in a medium bowl.
• Cut in butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger pieces.
• Add oil and stir with a fork to blend.
• Mix 1/4 cup water, egg yolk and 1 teaspoon lemon juice (or vinegar) in a measuring cup.
• Add just enough of the egg yolk mixture to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork, until the dough clumps together. (Add a little water if the dough seems too dry.)
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times.
• Form the dough into a ball, then flatten into a disk.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 425°F Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and coat with cooking spray.
• TO PREPARE FILLING AND ASSEMBLE TART:.
• Spread almonds in a small baking pan. Bake until light golden and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Let cool.
• Combine whole-wheat flour, 1/4 cup sugar (or Splenda) and the toasted almonds in a food processor or blender; process until the almonds are ground.
• Roll the dough into a rough 13- to 14-inch circle on a lightly floured surface, about 1/4 inch thick. Roll it back over the rolling pin, brush off excess flour, and transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
• Spread the almond mixture over the pastry, leaving a 2-inch border all around.
• Toss berries with the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar (or Splenda) and 2 teaspoons lemon juice in a large bowl; spoon over the almond mixture.
• Fold the border up and over the filling, pleating as necessary.
• Blend the reserved egg white and 1 tablespoon water with a fork; brush lightly over the tart rim. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 teaspoon sugar.
• Bake the tart for 15 minutes at 425°F.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake until the crust is golden and the juices are bubbling, 30 to 40 minutes.
• Leaving the tart on the parchment (or foil), carefully slide it onto a wire rack. Let cool.
• Shortly before serving, melt jam in a small saucepan over low heat; brush over the berries.
• Cut the tart into wedges and serve.
• MAKE AHEAD TIP: Prepare crust through Step 1; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
• INGREDIENT NOTE: Whole-wheat pastry flour is milled from soft wheat. It contains less gluten than regular whole-wheat flour and helps ensure a tender result in delicate baked goods while providing the nutritional benefits of whole grains. Available in large supermarkets and in natural-foods stores. Store in the freezer.
• TIP: To separate eggs safely: Use an egg separator, an inexpensive gadget found in cookware stores; separating eggs by passing the yolk back and forth between pieces of eggshell or your hands can expose the eggs to bacteria.

AMERICAN BERRY TART

Steps:

• In the bowl of a food processor, place the flour, salt and sugar. Process by pulsing on and off once.
• Add to that mixture the butter and shortening. Process, pulsing on and off about eight times, or until the mixture looks like lumpy cornmeal.
• Sprinkle the water evenly around the butter-flour mixture and process, pulsing, for five seconds.
• Empty the mixture out onto a pastry board or work surface. With the heel of your hand, start working the dough together by pushing it against the board and away from you bit by bit. Do this two or three times, or until the dough blends together and does not stick to the board. Be careful not to overwork the dough, which will make it tough. Gather the dough together in a ball, wrap the ball loosely with plastic wrap, then flatten it slightly to form a thick disk. Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
• Roll out the dough and place in a 10-inch tart shell. Refrigerate for one hour.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prick the pastry here and there with a fork or knife tip. Line the pastry shell with foil, then fill with weights or dried beans to keep the dough from rising.
• Bake the pastry shell for eight minutes, or until it is set. Then remove the weights and the foil, and return the pastry to the oven. Bake an additional eight to 12 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Let cool on a cake rack.
• Meanwhile, make the almond pastry cream by beating the egg yolks with the sugar, using an electric mixer or whisk. Beat until the mixture is pale, thick and forms a ribbon. As you do this, put the milk in a medium-sized pot over medium heat and bring to the boil.
• Add the flour to the egg mixture, stirring gently until smooth. Then add the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously all the time.
• Return the mixture to the pot and heat over a medium flame, whisking continuously. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens, almost to the consistency of a pudding.
• Remove the mixture from the heat. Stir in the butter, vanilla extract, almond extract and the pulverized almonds. Rub the top of the pastry cream with a bit of softened butter to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Let the pastry cream cool to room temperature.
• Spoon the pastry cream into the baked tart shell. Arrange the strawberries - either whole, with the tips up, or sliced - into a star pattern. Fill in the corners with the blueberries.
• In a small saucepan, melt the currant jelly. Paint the berries with the jelly to give them a nice glaze.