Happy Monday! Happy wake-up-to-find-out-your-gas-is-being-shut-off-even-though-you-thought-you-were-paying-the-bills-and-your-work-colleague-has-bailed-on-you-again-day! I think of all the days that exist, this is my most favoritest day of them all. And with delicious photos of fruit tarts to boot, too. Whoa. I’m a lucky gal. The cool thing about me is, 1)I’m not bitter. Like, at ALL. Totally fucking fine. And yes, my leg has always shaken neurotically like that…And 2)I’m not one of those passive aggressive chicks that likes to write a blog post that is supposed to be about a fruit tart but instead uses it as a chance to bitch. RIGHT. This has just been one of those days, where you wake up and everything goes wrong. This bitterness (even though I am NOT BITTER) is not the tart’s fault. The tart itself was delicious and was made and eaten under happy circumstances, so lets try to honor that. More tart, less bitter. The tart is a creation of a pastry shop I used to work for, and I love making it with a variety of spring and summer berries. The base is a basic shortcrust dough, which produces a crust that is crumbly and crisp, which I prefer because it stands up to the filling instead of being a pussy and getting all soggy from it. The filling is really simple, you just melt the butter and vanilla bean together until the butter turns brown and smells nutty, then let it cool slightly. You temper it into an egg and sugar mixture, stir in some flour and lemon zest, and you’re good to go. It is a quick filling to make that bakes up into a partially set, partially gooey and delicious mess. Thankfully, I baked this delicious tart before they shut off my gas. And before I found out that the bills I thought I had been paying might not have been paid, which means I may owe the gas company a shit ton of money I don’t have (and thought I had already paid to them). Which is AWESOME. And I’m still not bitter. Not bitter at all. Did I mention that I am not BITTER? Cuz I’m not. And I thought you’d like to know. OR maybe you’d just like to bake a freaking tart, and my rant is preventing you from that. Fair enough. Here you go, with a little food porn to boot. Hey, you deserve it for putting up with me.
Brown Butter Tart Filling 6 oz butter ? vanilla bean 3 eggs 1 lemon, zested 1 ? cups sugar ? cup flour Directions: *Melt butter and bean until brown. Remove bean and scrap the insides into the pot. *Let cool slightly, then mix with other ingredients. *Line tart pans with pate sucree or your favorite tart dough and squish sides with thumb to make 90 degree angles *blind bake the tarts @ 350 F for 10-12 minutes or until just slightly brown, let cool. *Add brown butter filling so it goes just below the top of the pastry. *Add fruit, like sliced strawberries, and press slightly into filling *Bake @ 350 for 20 minutes, or until the top is slightly puffed and looks just barely set. You can bake it longer if you prefer a more solid filling, but I like my filling gooey. ~LTG!
