March 20, 2013

Beautiful Berry Cream-Filled Tart: My Favorite Dessert


This dessert seriously makes me swoon. It is my all time favorite dessert, ever since I was a teenager. I was that weird kid that was thrilled to see fruit in my lunch box (thanks Mom). I guess I have a special place in my heart for berries because they are so perishable and the season is pretty short. You gotta get 'em while the getting is good. Kinda like kisses from my kids - I'll take them whenever they are ripe for taking. Even the wet sloppy ones from the 2 year old!

The tart may look a little difficult because it's so showy (like the pavlova) but it's really not. Pull together the ingredients for the crust and press it into a pie pan or a tart pan (see below) and then make the creamy filling. After that, it's just a matter of piling on the berries!

Beautiful Berry Cream-Filled Tart

Ingredients
Pastry Shell
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1/8 tsp salt
8 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg yolk, beaten with 2 tbsp heavy cream

Put flour, sugar and salt into a bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse. Add the egg/ cream and pulse until the dough is chunky and holds together when squeezed. (You can also do this in a bowl with a pastry cutter, it just takes more work.) Dump the dough onto was paper and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Roll dough out into the shape of your tart pan. This dough makes enough for a 9" round pan. (A tart pan has a bottom that comes apart from the sides like a cheesecake pan to make serving a cutting the tart easier. You just lift the bottom of the pan out of the sides and serve the tart on the bottom. You can use a pie pan, just serve it right out of the pan like a pie.) Fit the dough into the pan and cover it with foil or parchment paper. Put some pie weights or dried beans on top of the foil to keep it from puffing up and bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, remove the weights, prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream Filling
2/3 c sour cream
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c heavy cream
Beat sour cream, cream cheese, lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, and cream together in a large bowl. Spread mixture over cooled pastry shell. Arrange berries over the top and garnish with mint leaves if desired.

Chill between 1-4 hours before serving. This doesn't keep well in the fridge for more than a day, since the crust gets soggy.
 
Photobucket

8 comments:

  1. Aimee - any idea if you could make this with a sugar substitute? this sounds yummy but we will have diabetic family in town for Easter. typically, you can sub pretty straight but just wanted to see what you thought.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually don't know. I would think the cream would be just fine since it's just a custard filling, but I've never baked a shell with sugar substitute. If you try it out, please let me know how it works.

      Delete
  2. This is absolutely beautiful. As soon as I can get good berries I will make it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have me anxious for fresh berries now! The tart looks perfect. I can never make pie shells or tart shells look that good. That filling sounds amazing.

    Happy Easter!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somehow, I'm a little surprised that YOU cannot make a beautiful pie shell! Come on over and I'll show you ;)

      Delete
  4. I love to make berry tarts! And yours is a real beauty!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jean. I enjoyed checking out your blog. I was thinking about making freezer jam again and wanted to reduce the sugar.

      Delete

I love reading your comments!! Write more, write often. I will respond to each of them either here or on your blog (if you have one). Thank you for spending time with me - come back soon and share the love on pinterest, facebook, twitter or however you social network.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...