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| Fresh fruit tart with lemon cream cheese filling. |
I often spend so much time planning the savory parts of my dinner parties, that I am too tired to think of a "sweet" for the end of the meal. I love any kind of a dessert with fruit and this one is adaptable, as you can use whatever fresh fruit is in the store. It is one of many very similar recipes. The common denominator is the very quick and easy lemon curd filling which is the base for the fresh fruit. I've made it with a couple of different types of crust, short dough crust, which is more like a cookie dough, pie dough, which won't be as sweet as the former and this one, from Nigella Lawson which uses a graham cracker crust. The most complicated part of the recipe is letting it chill for a couple of hours before you decorate it.
Fresh Fruit Tart
- 27 sheets graham crackers
- 8 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
- 2 (8-ounce) bars cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup lemon curd, at room temperature
- Assorted fresh fruit
- 1 loose-bottomed 10-inch fluted tart pan, 2 inches deep
- Process the crackers and the butter to a sandy rubble in a food processor and press into the sides and the bottom of a deep-sided fluted tart pan. Put it in the freezer or refrigerator for about 10 to 15 minutes.
- In a clean processor bowl, process the cream cheese and lemon curd (or just mix by hand) and spread it into the bottom of the chilled tart pan, covering the base evenly.
- Arrange the fruit gently (so it doesn't sink in too much) on top of the lemony cream cheese in a decorative manner.
- Refrigerator the tart, preferably overnight, or for at least 4 hours. It does need to get properly cold in order to set enough for the tart to be unmolded and sliced easily.
My loose-bottomed fluted pan was only 1" deep, so I ended up with a lot more crust than I needed. I made a couple of individual tarts with leftover crust.
OK, this is my next cooking adventure.
ReplyDeleteI made a special trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond and treated myself to a new tart pan. (I also brought a spring form pan.....for the "Black Beast" after this one. Already thinking ahead). My husband's a bit puzzled at my sudden passion for baking. His response whenever I present my new treats is usually...."You didn't burn it".
Yeah you! I'll have to think of more "toys" you need! I hope Andy's not going to hate me if he starts gaining weight! :-)
ReplyDeleteOk been having problems with posting using my iPhone.
ReplyDeleteI did it! I made 1 full tart and two little ones. For those he wants to know 27 sheets of graham crackers is about 3 cups. I found my crumbs did not seem moist enough to combine so I added another 2 tbsp for a total of 8 tbsp. My tarts llooked good... We'll see how they taste layer today!
Later got changed to layer on auto correct. At least the overall posting still made sense.
ReplyDeleteAngela, I found my crust was a little dry too. I am going to amend the recipe to reflect your changes! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should amend it some more..... My crust stll didn't hold together with 8 tbsps of butter. But even with a crumbly crust, the fruit tart was a big hit with the ladies at work! I had to fight them off whenI said I was saving the last piece for the girl that was not there today.... Their theory was what she didn't know she wouldn't miss! Not nice.
ReplyDeleteI thought Nigella's directions were a little sketch too, 27 sheets? I actually prefer the less sweet pie crust myself. I'll probably change it next time I make it to an easier crust.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if her 27 sheets meant 27 squares? Our graham crackers are 2 squares ... That would make sense why we had so much crust leftover and not enough butter.
ReplyDelete