During the peak of summer, I find myself going to the farmers’ market once, sometimes twice, a week to see what’s new. I may be a bit too excited because lately I’ve been buying so many goodies, I’m not eating and baking fast enough! I had a few apricots and plums shoved in the back of the fridge, poor things, and they would have made a great after-work snack, but instead, I used them in tarts.
During the summer months, I often spend twice as long at the farmers’ market. You can find me at the tomato stand sorting through heirloom tomatoes. I like to have a variety of colors. The deep red, almost purple ones are especially pretty. As far as shape, the knobbly, deeply ridged ones are fun, but for this tart, I selected the more traditional round shape.
My tart obsession began with the fruit tart. Buttery crust, creamy, lightly sweetened filling, juicy fruit on top. It was one of the first desserts I learned to make. After many years and tarts later, the one thing that has remained most important is no soggy crust! I will do everything in my power to ensure it stays crisp and that often means bringing components and tools (offset spatula, pastry brush) to parties to assemble just before serving. Note, even though I wish to assemble it fresh, the components can be prepared 1-2 days in advance.
Valentine’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. It’s the perfect reason to make everything heart-shaped and it doesn’t seem excessive. What can I say, I like hearts. After making my annual galette des rois in January, I asked myself, why is it only for New Year’s? I took the general galette concept of puff pastry with nut filling and came up with a Valentine’s Day version that has chocolate and toasted hazelnut cream filling.
I love to pair figs and cheese. Nothing beats that sweet and savory combination. I used mascarpone and a bit of cream cheese for the filling. I made one tart prior to this with goat cheese that my family deemed too strong. When they have specific criticism like that, I take it pretty seriously, considering 99% of the time, they’ve inhaled my desserts before they can properly assess for flavor, taste, texture, which I’m doing constantly throughout the baking process and after I’ve served it. I swapped for mascarpone and am very happy with the results.
