Fruit Tart

Ingredients

• For the crust:
• 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) chilled sweet butter
• 2 1/4 all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract or 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon ice water, more if needed

Directions

Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Cut the chilled butter into large chunks and then cut it into the flour with two knives or with a pastry blender. (A wise investment if you make a lot of pastry; it turns a fifteen minute job into a three minute one) Repeat this process until the mixture is the size of tiny peas. Beat the egg, egg yolk, and ice water together in a small bowl. Add this mixture to the butter/flour mixture and combine with a few swift strokes until it comes together into a ball. Add a tiny bit of extra water, but not too much, if necessary. Gather the dough into a ball, divide it in half and pat each piece into a disk about five inches in diameter.Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for an hour or more. (This recipe makes enough for two 9" or 10" pie crusts; the extra crust can be frozen.)

To make the pastry shell, lightly butter a nine or ten inch round or 5 x 12" rectangular pastry pan with a removable bottom. When the dough is thoroughly chilled, unwrap it and lay it on a wooden board that has been dusted with flour. Roll the dough out until it is about 1/8" thick. Then, gently fold it in half and then in quarters. If it doesn't lift off the board easily, slide a thin spatula under it to lift it up. Place the folded dough gently in the buttered pan with the folded corner in the center. Unfold the dough until it is flat and then ease it into the corners of the pan. Try not to handle it too much as this will make the crust tough. When the dough has been shaped to fit into the pan, cut off the extra dough that overlaps the edges with the flat side of a knife or roll your rolling pin once over the edge to cut off the excess.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prick the flat surface of the pastry shell with the tines of a fork. Line the interior of the shell with a layer of aluminum foil and then weight this down with a half inch layer of dried beans or pie weights. Bake the pastry shell for about 15 minutes or until the crust looks dry when you lift up the weighted foil. If the crust still doesn't look like it's cooked after 20 or 25 minutes, remove the crust from the oven, remove the weights (The beans can be reused as pie weights but I don't know about their edibility after being baked.) and put the crust back into the oven for a few minutes to dry it. The crust should look dry and slightly golden when it is fully cooked. Allow the crust to cool before filling.

For the filling:

8 ounces cream cheese (for a 9" diameter pan, use a little more if using a larger pan)
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place the cream cheese in a large bowl and cream with a wooden spoon until soft. Add the honey and cream some more, then add the lemon juice and stir vigorously to combine. Taste the mixture and add more lemon juice if you prefer it tarter. Spread the filling onto the cooled pastry shell with a rubber spatula, making sure that it is spread fairly evenly across the bottom.

For the topping:

15 - 20 medium sized ripe strawberries
3 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced thinly

or

1/4 pint fresh raspberries
1/4 pint fresh blueberries
2 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced thinly

or any other combination of fresh fruit that you prefer.

Place the fruit in concentric rings around the filled pastry shell. For the first version, put the strawberries around the edge of the shell and then place the kiwis in overlapping concentric layers. For the second version, put two concentric rings of blueberries around the edge of the shell, followed by two concentric rings of raspberries. Then layer the kiwis in the center. For a rectangular shell, you could make zigzag patterns or strips with the various fruits and berries.

Submitted 6/13/05.
Source: Internet
Submitted By: Marlen
matchlessm@aol.com
Fruit Tart