Quick Classic Berry Tartlettes (TWD)

With all of the gorgeous fruit on display at my local farmers market, I was super happy that Christine of Cooking With Christine decided on Quick Classic Berry Tart for this week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe.

I definitely have a weakness for fresh fruit tarts. As I couldn't trust myself with a full-sized tart at home, I transformed this recipe into tartlettes --- I can have a little taste and then send the rest off to my hub's workplace.

The berries were abundant at the farmers market this past weekend, and I had hard time narrowing down my choices. Strawberries were definitely overflowing in the stands, but I was drawn to some beautiful golden raspberries. Golden raspberries are milder and less tart than the red variety, with a flavor that reminds me of apricots. Although they're a bit pricey (5 bucks for a small basket), these gems are worth the occasional investment.

As you can prepare the crust and pastry cream in advance, this beautiful dessert comes together super fast when it's time to serve it to your guests.

Here are my recipe notes:

Tart Dough
- The tart crust recipe yielded 21 tartlette shells.
- The little shells are made by pressing portions of dough into a mini-muffin pan. I used a shot glass to evenly press the dough up the sides of the pan.
- After freezing the dough in the pan for one hour, it is popped in a 375 degree oven for 12-14 minutes. The freezing step is critical for the shells to hold their shape while baking.

Vanilla Pastry Cream
- I used vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract (I love the little vanilla bean specks in the cream).
- I love Dorie Greenspan's pastry cream, but find that the amount of cornstarch makes the pastry cream a little too congealed for my personal preference. By reducing the cornstarch to 1/4 cup, I get the creamy consistency that I like.
- I had quite a bit of pastry cream leftover, as a little dollop will fill each tartlette shell. Halving the recipe will yield more than enough pastry cream. I don't mind the leftover cream - it's a perfect filling for eclairs!

Fruit Topping
- I skipped the drizzling of red currant jelly.

You don't need a fork to enjoy these tarlettes - just pick them up with your fingers and pop them in your mouth!

Buttery tart shell + creamy and slightly sweet pastry cream + sweet/tart and juicy berries = YUM!!!

If you'd like the complete recipe for this delicious and easy tart, please visit Christine's blog.

Peach Blackberry Cobbler & Crisp (TWD)

It was a friggin' hot this weekend in So Cal!!! I'll be the first to admit it...I'm a total weather wimp...anything that deviates from a sunny and temperate 75-80 degrees constitutes a climate crisis! We tried to be good citizens and not keep our air conditioning going around the clock to conserve electricity. One way to keep our house cool this weekend was to not cooking indoors (fruity, frosty cocktails by the pool didn't hurt either). The nice by product of our conservation efforts was doing a lot of great grilling on the barbeque. I almost made it through the entire weekend without turning on the range/oven...

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Mixed Berry Cobbler, was selected by Beth at Our Sweet Life. I missed out on making the peppermint cream puff ring last week, and was thinking of bailing this week as this recipe involved turning on the oven. I quickly changed my mind when I was at the farmers market, as I was inspired by all of the juicy and fragrant peaches, and decided to go for it and make a mini-cobbler.... and I'm so glad I did! Besides, the group is so much fun to bake with, I couldn't miss out on the action!


I don't frequently make or eat cobbler. I'm more of a fruit crisp person, as I like the flavor and crunch of the brown sugar, oats and nuts in a crisp topping. As I had extra fruit filling, I went ahead and made a mini crisp...after all, I had to put my taste buds to the test!

I decided to pass on the berries. Instead, I went with fresh peaches and blackberries, and put my own spin on the filling:

Fruit Filling
(this is enough for a 9x13" pan. I only used a quarter of the recipe to fill 2 small ramekins)
- 4 C peaches, large dice (if you cut up peaches too small, they will disentigrate when baking)
- 1 1/2 C blackberries
- 1/8 C honey
- 1/8 C maple syrup
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1-2 tbsp quick tapioca (depending on juiciness of fruit)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp almond extract
- dash of salt

I prepared the topping as written, but quartered the recipe. I did add just a 1/8 tsp of cinnamon for a little spice. The mini cobbler only took 22 minutes to finish in the oven at 375 degrees.

I was a little worried by the initial feedback about this recipe, but I really enjoyed the final product! I thought the topping had a nice flakey, crunchy biscuit texture and I didn't think it was too doughy or bland. I think of cobbler toppings as a vehicle to highlight the fruit, so I'm glad that it didn't overwhelm the delicious peach and blackberry filling. Also, perhaps it's a function of the topping, but I also liked that the blackberries held their shape and didn't disentigrate (it was a whole diffent story on the crisp...read on below).




I had some mascarpone ice cream in the freezer, and it was a decadent experience to have this creamy delight melt into the still-warm cobbler.

As mentioned above, I also made a mini-crisp, using the same fruit filling. For the topping, I went with my standby recipe, which follows below (only used a quarter of the recipe and still have some leftover):

Fruit Crisp Topping (makes enough to top a 9x13" pan)

- 6 tbsp butter
- 1/2 C flour
- 1 C quick oats
- 3/4 C brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- dash of salt
- 1/2 C sliced almonds

Combine the dry ingredients, then using your fingers incorporate int the butter. Do not overmix, as the mixture should have a crumbly texture. Crumble on top of fruit filling. The mini-crisp took 22 minutes to bake at 375 degrees.

I loved the texture of the crunchy topping with the warm syrupy fruit underneath. Unlike the cobbler, the blackberries kinda exploded and disentigrated into the peaches, creating a reddish pink filling. Tastewise, the fruit was just as flavorful.

So, has this week's experience changed my love for fruit crisps? Not exactly, but I'm willing to give this cobbler recipe another chance in the near future. If you're interesting in taking this recipe for a spin, Dorie Greenspan shares the original recipe for Mixed Berry Cobbler here. To see more delicious cobbler creations, check out the Tuesdays With Dorie blogroll.

La Palette's Strawberry Tart w. Mascarpone Ice Cream (TWD)

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie selection, La Palette’s Strawberry Tart, comes courtesy from Marie at A Year From Oak Cottage. This selection couldn’t have come at a better time, as my local farmers market is teeming with a wide array of gorgeous fruit. There were so many choices that I had a hard time deciding what to buy: gaviota strawberries or golden raspberries, blackberries or yellow peaches, blueberries or plums? Previously, my answer would have been “all of the above”. I would bring home so much fruit that my bewildered hubby would ask what mob I was planning to feed (at home it is just the two of us). Exercising some self control this time, I whittled my choices down to two: gaviota strawberries and blackberries.


I LOVED this recipe, as we had the opportunity to improvise as much as we wanted to suit individual tastes. Aside from baking the tart shell, this was an exercise of assembling the components (which left me more time to enjoy my weekend!). Here is my take on the recipe:

- Instead of using large tart pan, I went with two individual tartlette pans. I ended up making the full tart shell recipe, using half and freezing the other half.
- Blackberry and strawberry jams were used for the base.
- I didn’t bother tossing the fruit in sugar as both berries was perfectly ripe and super-sweet. I did sprinkle some blackberry liqueur on the blackberries and put a few drops of really good, aged balsamic vinegar on the strawberries (This is a DELICIOUS combination --- the balsamic really enhances the sweetness of the berries. Make sure to use a high quality, aged balsamic vinegar)
- Omitted the black pepper.
- Instead of crème fraiche/whipped cream, mascarpone ice cream stepped in to accompany the tart. This delicious ice cream is a twist on a crème fraiche version featured in David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop (the recipe is below). As I have plenty of ice cream left, I need to figure out what to do with the rest of the ice cream (tiramisu bombe, ice cream sandwich, affogato, more tartlettes?). I promise to post on this later.

Overall, this is a really terrific recipe! The strawberry tart definitely took an Italian turn with the balsamic and mascarpone, and the blackberry version was a perfect balance of tart and sweet. The crunchy shortbread-like crust and juicy berries were nicely complemented by the creamy, not over-the-top sweet ice cream. This tart recipe will be making many appearances at my house this summer!

Often, the best desserts are the simplest ones, and I’m glad we didn’t overlook this delicious recipe. Dorie Greenspan highlighted this recipe last summer at Serious Eats, so if you’re interested in creating this yourself (I highly encourage you to do so), here is the link. To check out the yummy creations of my fellow bakers, check out Tuesdays With Dorie.

Mascarpone Ice Cream
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
Makes 1 Quart

Ingredients
1 C whole milk
3/4 C vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
5 large egg yolks
2 C mascarpone

- Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then pour the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
- Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until it thickens. If you're using a candy thermometer, warm the mixture to 170F. Pour the custard through a strainer and stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.
- Once cool, whisk in the mascarpone, then freeze in an ice cream maker.