Remembering

Since this summer was completely swallowed up and eaten by the Great Big Real Estate Monster, I’m thinking back, fondly, to last summer (well, spring actually) when I made these amazing rustic fruit tarts for my editor at Hallmark magazine. The project: A big food feature centered around a progressive dinner (remember those from the 80’s?) that was photographed in my home and neighborhood. Hallmark sent out their production crew (including stylists and a makeup artist, which was so fun and yet kind of a trip–they put makeup on my husband even!) to photograph the event, which was a ton of fun. Too bad the issue of the magazine that this was slated to appear in was at the press exactly when Hallmark decided to pull the plug on the magazine and shut it down due to economic woes. Oh well. I’ll always have these tarts to show for myself. Recipe follows…

Rustic Fruit Tartlets
Serves 8; makes 4 medium-sized tarts, to be halved and shared
Note: You can make all of one kind, or some of each

Ingredients:

For the crust:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (two sticks) of unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1-inch chunks
½ cup or more of ice water

For the filling:

If you’re making plum tarts:
¾ cup thinly sliced plums (or other stone fruit)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour (for sprinkling on pastry dough)

For the apple tart:
¾ cup thinly sliced apples
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour (for sprinkling on pastry dough)

For the blueberry tart:
¾ cup blueberries (or other berry)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour (for sprinkling on pastry dough)

For the apricot tart:
¾ cup thinly sliced apricots
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour (for sprinkling on pastry dough)

For the glaze:
½ cup apricot preserves
1 egg, lightly beaten (to glaze crust)

For the whipped cream topping:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon Calvados liqueur

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat two baking sheets with cooking spray. To make the crust: In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt, and butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add ice water, in 2 tablespoon increments until dough begins to stick together. Form into a ball and chill for at least 30 minutes, covered, in the refrigerator. Add fruit to four separate bowls. In each bowl, mix in cinnamon, sugar, and ginger until combined. Set aside. Prepare cutting board or other work surface with flour. Divide dough into four sections, roll out each, and transfer to two baking sheets. Leaving a 2-inch border, sprinkle each circle of pastry dough with 1 teaspoon of flour. Arrange fruit (plums, apples and apricots look best arranged in concentric circles) in the center of each circle of dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Then, fold the dough over the fruit, overlapping now and then. Brush the egg glaze over the crust. Bake until the crust is golden, about 30-35 minutes.

In a saucepan over low heat, stir apricot preserves until they become fluid. Brush over the fruit, but not the crust. Let the tartlets cool, for about an hour. Mix cream, sugar, and Calvados with a freestanding or hand mixer until firm and fluffy. Serve room-temperature tartlets with a dollops of whipped cream.