Fruit Tart

Fruit Tart 

Ingredients: 

Tart Shell:

(buy one ready made or make your own. This recipe uses a pastry base, but you can also swap for a graham cracker base if that’s more accessible and you prefer the crumblier cookie texture)

-1 Cup GF flour

-8 Tbsp vegan butter

-¼ Tsp Salt

-1 Flax egg

-½ Tsp Vanilla

-¼ Cup Sugar

-1-2 Tbsp Ice water

Pastry Cream:

-2 Cups vegan milk

-¼-⅓ cup of sugar (sweetness to your taste)

-2 Tbsp vegan butter

-1 Tsp vanilla

-¼ Cup cornstarch or fine rice flour (if not vegan, you can swap for traditional 1 egg + 2 egg yolks)

Fruit Filling:

(any combination you desire) 

-Berries (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, blackberry)

-Kiwi, peaches and nectarines, mango, banana

-Citrus like mandarin oranges or sweetened grapefruit

-Fresh mint for garnish, or a thin jam for extra flavor and sauciness (optional) 

Steps:

Start by preparing your pastry crust. Grate your butter and mix into the dry ingredients with a fork, or by pulsing in a food processor until you get a sandy texture. Then add in your flax egg, and other liquids, and mix until you get a smooth and slightly flaky dough. 

Press into a greased pie tin (we used a 9 inch diameter), and dock with a fork (poke the dough to make little marks – it helps the dough keep from bubbling up while baking). 

Place in the freezer to chill for 15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 355 degrees fahrenheit. Then bake for 20 minutes until the bottom is cooked through and  it just begins to turn golden on the edges.

Next, prepare the pastry cream filling. In a pot, bring together 1 ¾ cups of milk and all of your sugar to a boil (reserve ¼ cup of the milk for later!). 

Take your reserved ¼ cup of milk, and mix in a glass or bowl with your cornstarch or rice flour, and vanilla (if using eggs, add them here too and whisk until smooth and there aren’t any stringy egg whites). 

If using the starch mix, bring your pot down to a simmer, and stir constantly as you pour the starch mix into the pot. If using the eggs, you’ll want to temper them first by adding small spoonfuls of the hot milk into your small glass and stirring, adding a little bit at a time until the egg mixture is close to the temperature of the pot. Then pour it into the pot and mix (this prevents your eggs from scrambling right away). 

Stir constantly until the pastry cream thickens and big bubbles start to form and pop on the surface. When you see the bubbles, turn off the heat, and stir in your butter. 

Pour the pastry cream into a shallow container (we used a brownie tin), and lay down some cling wrap on top, making sure it touches the top layer of the pastry cream (sounds weird, but this prevents the pastry cream from forming a ‘skin’ as it cools). Let it cool down on the counter, then stick it in the fridge to finish setting. 

Once your base is baked, and your pastry cream is cooled and set, it’s time to assemble! Start by washing and slicing your selected fruits. Scoop out your pastry cream, and generously fill your pie tin almost to the top. Lay down your fruit in any arrangement you wish (we’ve seen some people make little pin wheels out of fruits of the same color, or others layer slices to make it look like a flower. Just get creative and have fun with it!).  Garnish with mint or a jam drizzle. You can even serve with a bit of ice cream or whipped cream if you want to go all out. 

Enjoy!