Sweet cookie tart crust recipe

July 6, 2:25 AMLA Baking ExaminerHilary Cable

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Building a tart crust using the form press-in method. /Bon Appetit

This recipe makes a sweet, buttery, firm crust that is perfect for fruit tarts or tarts filled with pastry cream or curd. It is especially good with lemon tart a la Daniela, which can be found here. 

This recipe is from “The Pie and Pastry Bible” by Rose Levy Beranbaum. ISBN: 0684813483.

Baranbaum has taught me a lot about baking pastry since I bought her book, and I highly recommend it. 

Ingredients:

8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes

¼ cup superfine white sugar

1 ½ cups bleached all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp. salt

1 large egg yolk

2 tbsp. heavy cream

Method:

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and salt until blended.

Incorporate the butter using a pastry cutter or two knives until the mixture looks like coarse meal.

Mix the yolk and the cream in a small bowl.

Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until the dough comes together and can be formed into a ball.

Flatten the dough into a 6-inch disk, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Bake the crust:

Preheat oven to 425°.

Press the dough into a 9 1/2-inch or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  

Cut a 16-inch diameter circle of parchment paper. Spray the side that will come in contact with the dough with no-stick spray.

Line the dough with the circle of parchment, pleating at you go to make it fit.

Fill the lined crust with rice, dry beans or pie weights.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425°.

Reduce oven temperature to 375°. Bake 20 minutes.

Carefully lift out the parchment paper and rice, beans or pie weights.

Prick the crust lightly all over with a fork and return to the 375° oven. Bake 10-15 minutes more until the crust is light golden brown but is still soft to the touch.

Cool on a wire rack.

When the crust is completely cool, fill with pastry cream and fresh fruit, homemade lemon or lime curd, chocolate ganache, or with pastry cream and fresh raspberries.

Makes one 9 ½-inch tart crust, one 9-inch pie crust, or 8-10 4-inch tartlets.

Cook’s notes:

• Beranbaum offers a food-processor method for this crust that I also like.
• Beranbaum suggests coffee filters for commercial size coffee urns as an alternative to fussing with the parchment paper. She says they stick less often than parchment and can more easily be made to fit the dough.  
• This crust may not feel done when you take it out of the oven. The crust will harden just like a cookie as it cools.
• If you’re going to use this crust with a curd or pastry cream filling, moisture-proof it. When you lift out the paper and weights, before you return the crust to the oven, brush it with egg white – a perfect use the for the one left over from the crust. Return the crust to the oven as directed above.
• “Chocolate creates the most moisture-proof glaze of all,” Beranbaum says. If it will work with your filling, brush the crust with melted chocolate while the crust is cooling.

Fill this crust with lemon curd for lemon tart al la Daniela.

Here's an alternative way to create the crust using the form press-in method. 

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