It's Tart but Very Sweet

I hope you are having a lovely week so far! Unfortunately, I got a sore in my mouth over the weekend, so I haven’t been able to eat any of my Halloween candy yet (real torture). But luckily it’s slowly going away, so I’m going to eat my fill of candy soon enough~! Anyway, today’s recipe is a Fruit Tart! This recipe is really simple, doesn’t take long, and it’s so delicious you won’t be able to stop at one piece! I’ll be going through the recipe for both the crust and the filling, but feel free to buy pre-made dough or crust if you’re limited on time. And as for the fruit decorations on top, you can use whatever your heart desires on top. I change it up every time I make it because it’s more fun to come up with different patterns!

Ingredients:

·      CRUST

o   5 tbsp cold unsalted butter

o   3 tbsp cold vegetable shortening

o   1-1/3 all-purpose flour

o   1 tbsp sugar

o   ¼ tsp salt

o   4 tbsp ice water

·      FILLING

o   1 cup cold mascarpone cheese

o   ¾ cup cold heavy cream

o   ¼  cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

o   1 tsp vanilla extract

o   Whatever and however much fruit you would like~!

FOR THE CRUST: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Scatter the butter and shortening over the flour mixture, place in a pastry blender, and blend until the mixture forms large crumbs (I prefer to use a stand mixer with a dough paddle fitted in, but you can use whatever you’d like to evenly mix the ingredients to form a dough). Sprinkle the ice water over the crumbs and mix until the dough comes together to form a ball. Form the ball into a 6-inch disk, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to overnight. Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Lightly grease a tart pan/round pan, roll out the dough disk until it’s about 1/8-inch thick, and gently lift the dough to line it on the greased pan. Line the crust with aluminum foil (do not press the foil down too hard onto the dough, or the dough will stick when baking) and fill with dried beans, uncooked rice, or ceramic/metal pie weights. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes or until the crust dries out (if the foil still sticks after the 15 minutes, return the crust to the oven and continue to bake, checking every 2 minutes). Reduce the heat of the oven to 350ºF and remove the weights and foil from the crust. Continue to bake until the entire crust is golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool completely.

FOR THE FILLING: In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract using a whisk or hand mixer on medium speed until firm peaks form. Spread the filling evening in the cooled crust. Arrange the fruit on top however you’d like, and you have completed it!

It’s funny how making the crust takes a whole lot longer than putting together the tart itself, but it is well worth the effort! I hope you enjoy~