Gina's Mom's Tart - Caity

This has been a Walsh family favorite as long as I can remember and has been in my mom's collection of recipes for years. Here is what she had to say about it:

"This is the most wonderful, easy, delicious recipe from Gina A.'s mom, adapted by Gina to this version.  The first time I had this, Gina had made a blueberry one and we couldn’t believe it didn’t come from a bakery; it was so beautiful and good.  I have given this recipe over the years to just about everyone I know and they all have loved it and tried many different versions of it—all wonderful.

Just about any fruit works—blueberry (fresh or frozen) or apricot has always been my favorite, but also great with plum, raspberry, pear, apple,

strawberry—I’ve never heard of anything that didn’t work well.  Maybe if you used cranberries you would have to increase sugar a bit though to compensate for the tartness. 

     A nice touch is to place fresh fruit on top right before serving—especially raspberries.  Also, if you are using a larger pan, it works fine to do the recipe 1 ½ times or double.

     Julie Mackie made some tarts one summer with fresh raspberries, but discovered that her family had eaten most of the raspberries.  She made the tarts anyway and just sprinkled the few she had on the crust.  She also doesn’t have a tart pan, so she just pressed the crust out onto a flat pan (which can only work if you only use a little bit of fruit like this.  She usually uses a regular pie pan which works well; it’s just harder to remove the tart from the pan.)  The tart was still delicious—it just tasted more like a raspberry cookie than a tart.  Just goes to show you that improvisation can work out great sometimes. "

One year ago: Peruvian Quinoa Salad, Quick & Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam, 

Two years ago: Hamachi Shots

Three years ago: Asian Grilled Salmon, Mexican Style Hominy

what you'll need:

crust:

1 cup flour

dash of salt 

2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into 6 or so chunks

1 Tbsp white vinegar

filling:

2 Tbsp flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 to 1 tsp cinnamon

dash nutmeg

2-3 cups fresh or frozen fruit

for the crust:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In food processor pulse a few times flour, salt and sugar (or by hand, whisk together with a whisk or fork).  

Cut in butter with a few pulses (or cut in by hand with pastry blender or two knives) until particles resemble oatmeal or large crumbs. 

 Sprinkle vinegar over mixture and mix briefly. 

 Shape into dough and with lightly floured fingers distribute evenly on bottom and up sides of a 9” tart pan with a removable bottom.

for the filling:

Mix together flour, sugar and spices (use them even if you think they sound weird with the fruit—it’s very subtle and nice).  

Mix together with fruit and spread in pan.  Place pan on a cookie sheet or other flat pan that is lined with foil or a non-stick baking sheet.  

Bake on lowest rack of the oven for about 50 minutes.  Should be bubbling in the center and the edges a nice golden brown.  Let cool, remove rim and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar.

One year ago: Peruvian Quinoa Salad, Quick & Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam, 

Two years ago: Hamachi Shots

Three years ago: Asian Grilled Salmon, Mexican Style Hominy