fruit dessert

During this social isolation time, we’ve been having Sunday dinner at our house instead of with B’s family. With this new routine, I’ve been trying to bake something new each Sunday for us to try. And a few weeks ago when I asked B what he wanted, he replied fruit tart.” Fruit tart? I had no idea what he meant by that, but after scouring a few different places for recipes, got this one, and I have to tell you – it’s a winner. B, FW and LM all loved it. Even a week after eating it, FW asked for more and B told me it was one of the best things I’ve ever baked.

So, now I’m documenting the recipe for posterity – and sharing it with you! If you like fruit desserts, you must make this.

Fresh Berry Tart - I Crashed the Web

Fresh Berry Tart

Here’s what you need:

For the dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced
1 large eggs + 1 egg yolk

For the berry filling

About 3-4 cups of berries — I used 1 cup fresh blueberries, 2 cup fresh sliced strawberries and 1 cup raspberries
1 lime (fruit and zest)
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose four
1/8 tsp salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup apricot jam
1 TB water

Here’s what you do:

Make the dough:

Combine butter and sugar into the food processor. Cream until they are light and fluffy.
Add the eggs to the food processor and continue to blend.
Combine flour and salt, and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times, or until the mixture comes together and appears to make a ball. Don’t overmix!
Remove dough from food processor and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight.

Make the tart:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch tart or pie pan with non-stick cook spray. When chilled, remove the tart dough from refrigerator. Place the dough in the pie pan, and using your fingers, lightly press the dough and spread out onto the bottom of the pan and up the sides. The dough should be uniform in thickness (about 1/4-inch thick).
In a large bowl, toss the berries with sugar, zest and juice of the lime, and the 2 tablespoons of flour.
Spoon the berries into the tart shell. Drop pieces of butter over the top.
Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until the dough is light golden brown on the edges. Cool about 1 hour.
In a saucepan, heat the apricot jam and water until combined.
Use a pastry brush or small spatula to brush the warmed jam over the top of the tart.

I also made fresh a whipped cream to top the tart. It was great!

Some questions for you:

What do you prefer — fruit desserts or chocolate desserts?
What’s the last thing you’ve baked?

When it comes to desserts, B is a big fan of anything strawberry-rhubarb related, especially pies, crisps and cobblers. I, on the other hand, are more of a cookie fan – especially good chocolate and white chocolate chip cookies. Opposites attract? Perhaps (after all, as B says, I have more of a “sweet tooth” and he has a “meat tooth”). But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good crisp every so often.

Since strawberries, cherries and rhubarb are all in season (yay for summertime!) I decided to pair them all together for this recipe. The tanginess of the rhubarb goes great with the sweetness of the cherries and strawberries and the color of the fruit mixed together is simply gorgeous! Confession: I’ve now made a variation on this recipe THREE times this summer. Does that mean I’m now more of a fan of cookies than cobblers/crisps/etc? No … but this IS good! Definitely scroll down below the recipe for some notes to see other ways to make this delicious recipe.

Cherry, Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp

Here’s what you need:

8 Tablespoons cold butter, sliced into tabs
2 cups pitted cherries, sliced in half
2 cups strawberries, cut in half (or cut smaller if you have really big berries – I like all my fruit to be about the size of the rhubarb)
2 cups of rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
¼ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup old fashioned oats
¼ cup walnuts
¼ cup pecans

Here’s what you do:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or butter.
Toss rhubarb, strawberries and cherries with white sugar and spread in baking dish.
Put butter in a food processor along with brown sugar, flour, oats and nuts and pulse until it is completely combined, at least one minute. It will look like a dough and no longer be separate. This is the topping.
Crumble and spread the topping over the fruit and bake about 40-45 minutes or until it just starts to turn brown.

Notes:

You can make this with a variety of fruits, just make sure that you have 5-6 cups of fruit total. Got more cherries than strawberries? That’s fine! A cherry rhubarb crisp is delicious on its own. And, cherries and strawberries together work nicely also. If you’re doing more sweeter fruits (like strawberries) than rhubarb, you may want to cut down on the sugar, though.
The topping can be made with just walnuts, just pecans or a mixture of both. I prefer a mixture of both or just pecans.
For the topping, you must mix it well enough so it forms almost a dough. A few times I’ve made something like this but made the topping more crumb-like and it does not hold up well in baking.
What’s the difference between a crumble, crisp and cobbler? Why is this a crisp? Because the topping contains oats! See more, here. #nowyouknow