Plum tarts

Something to do with late summer stone fruits. Buttery crust envelopes a creamy custard and sweet and tangy ripe plums. What can be wrong about it? For interest sake I balanced the sweetness of the plums with a few herbs from the garden. Their presence is very subtle and add an interest to the layers of flavours.

Enjoy.

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Ingredients:

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Tart Pastry:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces, very cold (or use vegetables shortening for a vegan version)
4 tablespoons ice water (about)

Place flour, salt and sugar in food processor and pulse a few times to blend. Add cold butter and pulse a few times to break down the butter. Continue pulsing until butter is coated with the flour and the mixture is crumbly. Do not over mix.

Add the water, a tablespoon at a time and run the processor until mixture begins to clump together but does not form a ball quite yet.

Empty the dough onto a pastry board or your clean counter and bring it together with your hands (I often work on a piece of parchment, easy to clean that way). You can sprinkle the work surface with a light dusting of flour to prevent the buttery dough from sticking. Work fairly quickly, you do not want your warm hands to melt the butter in the pastry. As soon as you have a ball of pastry smooth it to bring it together and then wrap in plastic and refrigerate until cold, at least 30 minutes or overnight. I make this dough a day in advance, cut it in half, wrap each half with plastic and refrigerate until needed. this way i can use only half the dough for 4-5 tarts and use the other half later. It would keep in the fridge a few days or you can freeze it.

When ready to proceed remove dough from the fridge and let it warm up on the counter for a short while only until it is pliable enough to roll. It will soften as you roll it. You want a cold dough but the butter has to be pliable enough to roll smoothly. I usually beat the ball of dough a few times (ouch) with the roller to soften the butter and flatten it into a disk, it warms up faster that way.

Have individual small tart pans ready for the pastry  invest in a few if you can, the ones with the removable bottom).

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter cut the dough into rounds just large enough to fit into the tart molds with enough for the sides.
Lift the dough rounds and gently press them into the tart pans then place them in the fridge to chill again. This can also be done a day in advance. Cover with plastic and keep in the fridge overnight, or let it chill for 30 minutes before baking. No need to bring back to room temperature before baking as you want the pastry to remain cold.

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Filling:

2 plums per tart or as needed

1/3 cup sugar

1 cup cream

1egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

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Directions:

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Cut plums in half, remove stone and cut into thin wedges.

Mix the cream, vanilla and egg with a whisk until blended.

Remove tart pans from the fridge and sprinkle sugar on the bottom of each.

Arrange the plum wedges on the tart shells and sprinkle with additional sugar.

Place tarts on a foil lined baking sheet (I also have silpat lining the sheet to protect the tarts from too much bottom heat).

Pour some of the cream-egg mixture over each tart being careful not to go over the sides.

Place in a 400 degrees oven and bake until custard is set and the tarts are cooked through.

Remove and let rest for a few minutes before unmolding.

Sprinkle with a a little chopped rosemary before serving.

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