Rich Tart Crust Food

RICH SHORTCRUST PASTRY

Steps:

• Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it is the consistency of breadcrumbs.
• Lightly beat eggs together in a separate bowl; stir into butter-flour mixture. Add water and mix just until incorporated, using your hands to bring dough together.
• Turn dough onto a floured work surface and cut into 4 portions. Refrigerate dough for 15 to 30 minutes before using.

RICH CHOCOLATE TART

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Unfold pastry on a lightly floured work surface and roll it into a 12-inch square. Fit into a 9-by-1-inch round tart pan, making sure the pastry is not stretched. Trim excess pastry from pan by pressing around the perimeter with the tip of your thumb. Prick pastry all over with a fork.
• Spray the bottom side of a 9-inch Pyrex-type pie plate with vegetable cooking spray, then place it in the tart pan to keep the pastry from puffing excessively. Bake until crisp and golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove pie plate and let tart shell cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, microwave cream and chocolate in a 1-quart Pyrex-type measuring cup on high power until cream is hot enough to melt chocolate, about 3 minutes. (Or heat cream and chocolate together in a double boiler.) Whisk until smooth. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks. Slowly whisk a cup or so of the chocolate mixture into the yolks (this keeps them from curdling). Whisk this chocolate-egg mixture back into the remaining chocolate and stir until completely blended.
• Pour chocolate filling into tart shell. Cool until filling has set. (Can be covered loosely and refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.) Serve with whipped cream and optional raspberries.

NO-FAIL BUTTER TART CRUST

Steps:

• Make the dough-In a large, deep bowl, mix the flours, sugar, almonds, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and beat with an electric mixer with the whisk attachment on low speed until most of the butter is the size of peas, about 1 1/2 minutes. The mixture will look crumbly, and the crumbs will vary in size. Add the egg; mix until the dough is smooth and just comes away from the sides of the bowl, about 30 seconds; you should see distinct flecks of butter. Shape the dough into a 6-inch disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour before rolling it out.
• Roll out the dough-Lightly butter an 11-inch fluted tart pan. Lightly dust the work surface and rolling pin with cake flour. Roll the chilled dough into a 14-inch round about 3/16 inch thick. Lift and turn the dough several times as you roll to prevent sticking; dust the surface and the rolling pin with flour as needed. Use a dough scraper or a spatula to loosen the rolled dough; carefully roll it up around the rolling pin. Unroll the dough onto the prepared pan and gently fit it into the pan. Trim the edges, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fold the overhang over itself and press it against the sides of the pan to reinforce the sides of the tart shell. Chill for at least 30 minutes before baking. (The tart shell can be wrapped in plastic and then in foil and frozen for up to 2 months.)
• Blind-bake the crust-Heat the oven to 400°F. Cover the chilled tart shell, including its edges, with a double thickness of foil. (You don't need to prick the crust first.) Fill the tart with dried beans, rice, or pie weights, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the weights and the foil. Reduce the temperature to 350° and bake until the edges of the tart shell are lightly browned and beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan and the crust is golden, 12 to 15 minutes (Begin checking at 12 minutes.) Cool on a wire rack in the tart pan before unmolding and filling.

INDIVIDUAL RASPBERRY TARTLETS

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 375 F.
• To make the pastry in a food processor: Process the flour, sugar, and salt to blend. With the machine running, drop the butter through the feed tube and process with on/off turns until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. In a small bowl, beat the cream and egg yolk with a fork until blended. With the machine running, pour this mixture through the feed tube and process until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
• To make by hand: In a medium-size bowl, mix the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter with 2 knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine crumbs, In s small bowl, beat the cream and egg yolk with a fork until blended. Stir this mixture into the crumb mixture until the dough forms a ball and leaves the side of the bowl clean.
• Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Poll each piece into a ball. Press each ball evenly over the bottom and up the sides of lightly greased muffin pan cups or 3 x 1-inch tart pans. Place on a baking sheet and bake until the pastry looks dry and pale golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes. Set the tarts in the pan(s) on a wire rack to cool completely. Carefully remove the tart shells from the pans.
• Meanwhile, make the topping. In a medium bowl, crush 2 cups of raspberries with the sugar. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes very juicy.
• Press the crushed raspberries through a strainer set over a small bowl to remove the seeds. Stir in the lemon juice. Spoon the filling into the tart shells. Top with the remaining 2 cups berries and serve. You can store the tarts up to 2 days, covered and refrigerated. Serve them chilled.

RICH TART CRUST

Steps:

• Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Pluse once or twice.
• Add the butter and process about 10 seconds until the mixture looks like cornmeal.
• Add the egg yolks and process another few seconds.
• Place the mixture in a bowl and sprinkle 3 T of water over it. Gradually gather the mixture into a ball. Add more water if the mixture is dry.
• Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and freeze the dough for 10 minutes (or refrigerate for at least 30 minutes).
• Roll the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap - both sides sprinkled with flour.
• Roll from the center out. Add a little flour if it seems very sticky at first. But if it becomes sticky while you're rolling, put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
• When the diameter of the dough is about 2 inches greater than that of your tart pan, move the dough into the pan.
• Before filling, freeze the dough for 20 minute or refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Bake as directed in the recipe.
• Or if not so directed, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Prick the crust all over with a fork. Line it with tin foil and weight the bottom with beans, rice (I used quinoa). Bake 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, reduced heat to 350 degrees and remove weights and foil. Bake another 10-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove and cool on a rack.

RUSTIC APPLE TART WITH RICH CREAM CHEESE CRUST

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• TO MAKE THE FILLING: Peel the apples and cut them in half.
• Remove the cores with a paring knife.
• Cutting from blossom end to stem end, slice each half into 1/4 inch thick slices.
• Combine the apple slices with the lemon juice, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the cinnamon in a large mixing bowl.
• Stir to combine.
• Let the apples stand until the sugar is dissolved, about 15 minutes, stirring once or twice.
• Place a shaped large dough round on a baking sheet.
• Arrange the apples slices in 2 concentric circles on the large dough round or in one circle on the small rounds, overlapping the apple slices slightly.
• Brush the rim of the crust with the egg yolk.
• Sprinkle the apples with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
• Bake until golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature with Vanilla Whipped Cream or ice cream on the side.
• Rustic Apple Tart is best served on the day it is made.
• TO MAKE THE CHEESE TART DOUGH: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Place the cream cheese, butter, 1 cup flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor.
• Process until the dough just comes together.
• It will be sticky.
• Sprinkle the parchment paper with flour.
• Turn the dough out onto the sheet and, with floured hands, press the dough into a rough 10-inch circle or four 5-inch circles.
• Roll about 1/2 inch of the edge of the circle inward to create a lip to catch the juices.
• Refrigerate the crust for 1 hour or wrap the baking sheet in plastic and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours until you are ready to use it.
• Shaped Rich Cream Cheese Tart Dough, wrapped in plastic, may be frozen for up to 2 months and used directly from the freezer.
• TO MAKE VANILLA WIHPPED CREAM: Combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
• With an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip on high speed until the cream just holds stiff peaks.
• Do not over whip.
• Use immediately, or refrigerate it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 6 hours.
• Whisk it again for a couple of seconds before using.
• NOTE: If you are having eight or fewer people for Thanksgiving, double this recipe and make eight individual tarts.
• The dough can be made and shaped weeks ahead of time, and the rest of the prep is minimal, leaving lots of time to prepare the rest of the meal.

RICH CHOCOLATE TART RECIPE

Steps:

• Beat egg yolk and cream together in small bowl. Process almonds and sugar in food processor until nuts are finely ground, 15 to 20 seconds. Add flour and salt; pulse to combine, about 10 pulses. Scatter butter over flour mixture; pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 pulses. With processor running, add egg yolk mixture and process until dough forms ball, about 10 seconds. Transfer dough to large sheet of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disk; wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm but malleable, about 30 minutes. (Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; before using, let stand at room temperature until malleable but still cool.) Roll out dough between 2 large sheets of plastic into 11-inch round about 3/8 inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft and sticky to work with, slip it onto baking sheet and refrigerate until workable.) Place dough round (still in plastic) on baking sheet and refrigerate until firm but pliable, about 15 minutes. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375°F. Spray 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom with vegetable oil spray. Keeping dough on sheet, remove top layer of plastic. Invert tart pan (with bottom) on top of dough round. Press on tart pan to cut dough.Using 2 hands, pick up sheet and tart pan and carefully invert both, setting tart pan right side up. Remove sheet and peel off plastic; reserve plastic. Roll over edges of tart pan with rolling pin to cut dough. Gently ease and press dough into bottom of pan, reserving scraps. Roll dough scraps into 3⁄4-inch-diameter rope (various lengths are OK). Line edge of tart pan with rope(s) and gently press into fluted sides. Line tart pan with reserved plastic and, using measuring cup, gently press and smooth dough to even thickness (sides should be about 1⁄4 inch thick). Using paring knife, trim any excess dough above rim of tart; discard scraps. Freeze dough-lined pan until firm, 20 to 30 minutes. Heat oven to 250°F. Bring cream, espresso powder, and salt to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring once or twice to dissolve espresso powder and salt. Meanwhile, place chocolate in large heatproof bowl. Pour simmering cream mixture over chocolate. Cover, and let stand for 5 minutes to allow chocolate to soften. Using a whisk, stir mixture slowly and gently (so as not to incorporate air)until homogeneous. Add butter and continue to whisk gently until fully incorporated. Pour eggs through fine-mesh strainer into chocolate mixture; whisk slowlyuntil mixture is homogeneous and glossy. Pour filling into tart crust and shake gently from side to side to distribute and smooth surface; pop any large bubbles with toothpick or skewer. Bake tart, on baking sheet, until outer edge of filling is just set and very faint cracks appear on surface, 30 to 35 minutes;filling will still be very wobbly. Let cool completely on sheet on wire rack. Refrigerate, uncovered, until filling is chilled and set, at least 3 hours or up to 18 hours. Thirty minutes before glazing, remove tart from refrigerator. Bring cream and corn syrup to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat; stir once or twice to combine. Remove pan from heat, add chocolate, and cover. Let stand for 5 minutes to allow chocolate to soften. Whisk gently (so as no tto incorporate air) until mixture is smooth,then whisk in hot water until glaze is homogeneous, shiny, and pourable. Working quickly, pour glaze onto center of tart. To distribute glaze, tilt tart and allow glaze to run to edge. (Spreading glaze with spatula will leave marks on surface.) Pop any large bubbles with toothpick or skewer. Let stand for at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours. Remove outer ring from tart pan. Insert thin bladed metal spatula between crust and pan bottom to loosen tart; slide tart onto serving platter. Cut into wedges and serve. Cook's Note: Baking the tart at 250 degrees-about 100 degrees lower than in most recipes-might sound like a mistake,butwefoundthatheatingthiscustard-style filling very gently is the key to producing a texture that's silky smooth, not curdled.