Pâte Sucrée

Like an edible mosaic, the French fruit tart offers bright, colorful fresh fruit glistening with apricot glaze, each morsel nestled in rich, vanilla-scented pastry cream. The crust is a Pâte Sucrée (pronounced pat-sue-cray) -crisp and tender, a sturdy stage on which the filling can shine, yet yielding to the bite.

The filling for a French fruit tart is crème pâtissière, or pastry cream, a rich custard made from milk, sugar, eggs, and starch, flavored with vanilla, preferably from a fresh vanilla bean. Pastry cream is the foundation of many desserts and has dozens of applications--as filling for cream puffs and napoleons, as the base for souffles, as the cream in a cream pie. Although it is traditionally vanilla flavored in fruit tarts, almost any flavor can be infused into the milk, from chocolate to Grand Marnier to coconut to lavender.

For the traditional French fruit tart, the sweet and silky Pâte Sucrée dough, rolled out and pressed into a tart pan, is blind baked, cooled, filled with luscious pastry cream, and topped with vibrant fresh fruits and berries-preferably selected by hand from that morning's open-air market. The typical tart is topped with raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and kiwi arranged in concentric circles, gently brushed with sweet glaze to preserve the freshness of the fruit and add shiny appeal. One of the glories of the French fruit tart is its versatility: You can highlight any seasonal fruit-try fresh summer strawberries glazed with red currant jelly or fresh sliced winter pears or apricots glossy with apricot jam.

Another classic French tart is the Tarte au Citron, which combines the bright tartness of freshly squeezed and zested lemons with silky, tangy crème fraîche. The custardy filling is baked into the pastry, then garnished with twists of candied lemon peel or a dusting of sugar.

Perhaps a decadent chocolate ganache tart can satisfy a chocolate craving. Ganache is a rich emulsion of heavy cream and chocolate. Although it's usually made with a bittersweet chocolate, any type of chocolate can be used, but quality matters. Ganache lends itself to flavoring with fruits, liqueurs, mint, and tea infusions, and is simply poured into the pastry crust and chilled. Garnished with fresh fruit or chocolate decorations, it is almost humble in its simplicity, yet perfectly elegant and delicious.

Pâte Sucrée dough
from https://www.bonappetit.com/

3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour [can sub 1/4 cup almond flour]
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar [some recipes use confectionery sugar]
1/4 tsp kosher salt
[vanilla]

Whisk egg yolks and cream in a small bowl; set aside. Pulse flour, butter, sugar, and salt in a food processor until a coarse meal forms [or use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter by hand]. With machine running, gradually add cream mixture; blend just to combine (do not overwork dough or crust will be tough) [again this can be done by hand using a fork].

Transfer dough to a large work surface. Knead just to incorporate, 4-5 turns. Divide dough in half; shape each half into a 1-inch-thick disk and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 2 hours.

DO AHEAD Crust can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling out. Crust can also be frozen for up to 4 months. Thaw overnight in refrigerator before rolling out.

2 Crusts