My 29th birthday was memorably depressing. I was soothing a boyfriend break-up, and my office “forgot” me. All day I waited for a cake that never came. Living in California with no family around left me at home by myself on a rainy night eating a Lean Cuisine. There was so much wrong with this picture. Although I had much to celebrate and was really doing quite well in life (as life goes), I still fell into the birthday pit.

Spinach Tiger is called “Tiger” for a reason and I vowed to never let this happen again. When I turned 30, I threw my own party, made my own food, ordered my own cake, and never again returned to the birthday pit.

It didn’t end there. I have taken stock in all birthdays. If you are my friend, I will bake you a birthday cake, throw you a party, and cook you a dinner. It’s what I do because I believe a life is worth celebrating and everyone has value.

I will make you a fruit tart of your choice.

It’s fun. It involves favorite foods and favorite cocktails. And, it’s good medicine. All your troubles go away on your birthday.

A while back we celebrated a friend’s birthday with this delicious tart. I used fresh berries.

The Berry Tart Process

The pastry cream was made in an unusual way, and it got thick really fast. But, it was delicious and it holds all this fruit without the crust ever getting soggy. The pastry crust is like a shortbread, perfectly sweet and sandy. There is a temptation to bake it past 25 minutes. Don’t.

Ingredients matter. This tart is all about the fruit. Only use the best pick of the season. I used blueberries that were picked on Wednesday and they were super sweet on their own. The finishing touch comes from a Bonne Maman four-fruit preserve, but you could use any high quality jelly or jam to brush the fruit.

If you want to make a no pastry cream tart, try this strawberry tart.

If you want to make a Raspberry Tart, try this recipe.

If you want to make a blackberry tart, try this recipe.

If you want to make a gluten free mascarpone blueberry tart, try this recipe.

More Tarts/Pies from Spinach Tiger

1Gluten Free Lemon Tart

Fresh Strawberry Pie

Blackberry Tart with Pastry Cream and Lime Basil

Gluten Free Berry Cherry Tarts in Muffin Tins

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Very Berry Tart

Classic French Pastry Fruit Tart

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• One Tart Shell recipe below
• 2 pints blueberry
• 1 pint strawberries
• 1/4 cup jam or preserves I used four fruit berry preserve; you can use berry or apricot
• handful lime basil finely chopped
• Pastry cream recipe below
• Small handful of lime basil torn into pieces
• !Pastry Crust:
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg yolk
• covered. Once frozen wrap in foil.
• Pastry Cream Ingredients
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 7 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

• TART SHELL
• Butter a tart pan that has a removable bottom.
• Pulse flour, sugar, salt in food processor for a few seconds. Add butter. Mix for about 30 seconds to one minute (it will look like coarse oatmeal). Add egg yolk. Pulse for 20 seconds. Dump onto counter. Bring together, making sure all ingredients are incorporated. Press into tart pan. Freeze uncovered. Once frozen, wrap in foil.
• To Bake: Bake at 375. Butter shiny side of foil. Place that side onto pastry. Bake frozen for 25 minutes. No need for pie weights.

Pastry Cream Instructions

• Get out a small and a medium sized sauce pan.
• In small sauce pan, boil milk. Remove from heat.
• In large sauce pan, mix egg yolks, sugar and corn starch. Incorporate on low heat, adding in 1/4 cup of hot milk. Continue whisking (an electric beater with a whisk wand works like a charm), and gradually add in remaining milk, boiling mixture for one minute. Immediately remove from heat.. Add in vanilla. Allow to sit for five minutes.
• Add butter. Cool completely, before assembling.
• FRUIT
• Wash and rinse fruit well, removing all stems. Dry fruit.If blackberries are very tart, add 1 - 2 tablespoons of sugar and allow to sit for an hour at room temperature. Add raspberries at very end, as they are more delicate.
• ASSEMBLE
• Spread pastry cream onto tart crust.
• Top with berries of your choice. Heat preserves or jam with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush fruit with pastry brush. Refrigerate. You can make this one day ahead. I like to make the cream and the tart crust the day before and assemble a few hours before serving.
• Top with lime basil.




The post How to Make a French Berry Fruit Tart appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I did this recipe years ago but it was featured as a French Tomato tart instead of a goat cheese, honey tomato tart, the name it deserved all along. I wasn’t proud of how it came out or what my photos looked like, but that all changed the other day when I made it over for a Food Blogger’s Picnic.

The tart sat there very nicely on the table along with my now legendary kale salad, Lisa’s amazing amazing pimento cheese deviled eggs and Scarlet’s frittata served in a cast iron pan.

Now let’s be honest. No one is going to take a dish to the Nashville Food Blogger’s picnic that they can’t share proudly with the whole world. So I did it over!

How many times in life have you heard yourself saying, “I want a do over” or  if I could only go back and change what I did or what I said, or where I drove.

Just the other day, I was driving my slow pokey self on a side street to pick up Mr. ST at a truck rental place and a cop stopped me and said I was going 15 miles over the 30 mile limit. I have to be honest. I think he made it up.

Everyone that knows me knows I’m a slow, carefree driver, not usually in a hurry, because driving is my thinking time and I enjoy it. I admit I was intensely preoccupied with the news regarding the Naval Base shooting, but I am quite certain his radar or whatever he used was for the driver in front of me. For the rest of the day, I fantasized about taking a different route. I turned on that side street when I could have just gone straight.

To make matters worse, I was in my most unattractive moment and trust me, I think I could have managed a warning had I combed my hair. Sexist thinking you say? Get over it. He had a gun and tablet full of tickets that he could write anyway he chose to, and I have my own weapons, aka make up and a flat iron, none of which I was armed with. So now I have to face traffic court, a big fat fine and/or go to the judge properly armed and plead not guilty. Sounds so 1950’s you say. Well, how 1950’s is it to get a speeding ticket at 45 miles per hour. (which I still say I wasn’t driving). If my speeding ticket (the first of my life by the way) was going 85 in a 70, then that would take us to 2013 and I would just say, “officer, you should ticket me.”

I can’t do that day over, the same day that Mr. ST went to the emergency room with a splinter under his nail, but I can make over this tart and tell you just a little more about why a tart crust is different from a pie crust. It should hold together more, be flaky but a little stiffer and that’s where adding in an egg helps. Often, I’ve made my pie crust without eggs and I’m fairly good at adjusting pie dough, but adding in the egg is a big help to the beginner, when baking a tart that you are hoping will slice nicely and stay in one piece.

The honey in the goat cheese honey tomato tart is the real secret, and now that I’ve resurrected this recipe, it is something I want to make over and over again. Use lots of honey. Don’t be afraid for the tomatoes to be honey kissed all over. The combination is simply divine, heavenly, sweet, all balanced by the tanginess of the goat cheese which is also drizzled with plenty of honey. This reminds me of an appetizer I made years ago that was a big hit and never made again, but while I’m thinking of it, perhaps bring it to the next blogger’s together or holiday party.

I saw the goat cheese, honey, tomato tart years ago on this blog. I was captivated by the fact that it was baked in Paris and had romantic appeal and swept me off my feet. My pictures never turned out quite right and I didn’t enjoy the tart the way I should have. But, today is a new day.

This is an amazing recipe that has me so re-excited, I am going to try it several different ways. Just the tomato with the goat cheese with the honey is enough of a flavor busting combination to make me want to give it a paleo twist. Never would I think that honey should touch tomatoes.

Never would I think that a grainy mustard belongs in this combination. But it does and when you taste all three together with a backdrop of tart crust, you will smile. Smile big. I promise. It will take you by surprise the way the boy you didn’t like all that much kisses really well and you go wow! (or girl). It’s the nice surprise of the day.

I used my end of season tomatoes, some honey cultivated via blueberries, and a good goat cheese log. Surpassing the recipe for tart crust, I simply added an egg to my own basic pie crust, but changed the quantities and added in a egg yolk.

So tell me, what’s the one thing you did this past year that you would love to have a do over for?

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Goat Cheese, Honey, Tomato Tart

Goat cheese, honey, tomatoes comes together to make a delicious end of summer or anytime tart with fresh herbs adapted from David Lebovitz.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

Tart Crust (makes 1 large tart)

• 1 1/2 flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted butter placed in freezer for 15 minutes
• 1 tablespoons iced cold water
• 1 egg yolk

Goat Cheese Honey Tart

• 1 tart shell or pie crust
• 2 tablespoons of dark grainy mustard or enough to cover bottom of tart
• herbs such as thyme tarragon, basil
• 3 large meaty tomatoes not too juicy sliced thickly
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces of goat cheese in a log easy to slice
• 2 tablespoons of honey may use more

Instructions

Tart Crust

• Using a food processor:
• Using a food processor, mix together flour, sugar, salt.
• Blend in butter and on medium speed, count to 10 seconds.
• Blend in water and blend for a few seconds.
• Blend in egg.
• Bring together to form a dough ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes at least.
• Using your hands:
• Mix together the dry ingredients. Blend in the butter until you have a mealy flour mixture. Add in water and egg and knead gently until the dough forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Roll out to three inches more than size of tart pan.
• Gently place in tart pan, and using rolling pin, roll off the edges.

Goat Cheese Honey Tart

• Fork the bottom of the tart shell. Spread on mustard until the base is covered.
• Cover with a scattering of fresh herbs.
• Arrange slices of tomato, keeping in mind that tomatoes do shrink.
• Drizzle olive oil over tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.
• Arrange 6 to 8 round discs of goat cheese cut about 1/2 inch thick on top of the tomatoes.
• Drizzle honey over the entire tart, saving some honey for drizzling once tart is out of the oven.
• Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. If making smaller tarts, reduce baking time.
• Goat cheese will bubble and turn a golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.
• Add more fresh herbs.

Notes

I found it best using lots of honey.

The post Goat Cheese, Honey, Tomato Tart with Gluten Free Option appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

There a million ways to make a fruit tart and I hope to experiment with them all. This is not just any tasteless tart you can find at the grocery store. It’s full of surprises such as lime basil and blackberry syrup.

I found lime basil at my local farmer’s market this spring and I was very impressed by how much lime fragrance this plant puts off. It’s not subtle. It’s bright citrusy zing hits your nose immediately. I used it to infuse flavor into some blackberry syrup that I drizzled over the tart and chopped up a handful to throw in the flour for the crust. You could also use lemon thyme.

Had I been thinking this through, I might have added some lime juice to the custard and some more lemon basil leaves into the butter and then re-chilled it. Layering flavors is the best way to boost a dessert that has several components.

Brush pastry with blackberry syrup. You can also use a raspberry jam or some other kind of flavorful jam before adding the pastry cream. Continue to brush berries with syrup (or jam) after the tart is assembled.

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Blackberry Tart with Lime Basil

A delicious summer tart combining summer fruits and summer fruits, blackberries and basil.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• One Tart Shell recipe below
• 1 pint blackberries 2 pints if not using raspberries
• 1 pint raspberries
• 1/4 cup jam or preserves I used four fruit berry preserve; you can use berry or apricot
• handful lime basil finely chopped
• Pastry cream recipe below
• Small handful of lime basil torn into pieces
• !Pastry Crust:
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 9 tablespoons unsalted cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg yolk
• covered. Once frozen wrap in foil.
• Pastry Cream Ingredients
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 7 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup corn starch
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 1/2 tablespoons butter

Instructions

• TART SHELL
• Butter a tart pan that has a removable bottom.
• Pulse flour, sugar, salt in food processor for a few seconds. Add butter. Mix for about 30 seconds to one minute (it will look like coarse oatmeal). Add egg yolk. Pulse for 20 seconds. Dump onto counter. Bring together, making sure all ingredients are incorporated. Press into tart pan. Freeze uncovered. Once frozen, wrap in foil.
• To Bake: Bake at 375. Butter shiny side of foil. Place that side onto pastry. Bake frozen for 25 minutes. No need for pie weights.

Pastry Cream Instructions

• Get out a small and a medium sized sauce pan.
• In small sauce pan, boil milk. Remove from heat.
• In large sauce pan, mix egg yolks, sugar and corn starch. Incorporate on low heat, adding in 1/4 cup of hot milk. Continue whisking (an electric beater with a whisk wand works like a charm), and gradually add in remaining milk, boiling mixture for one minute. Immediately remove from heat.. Add in vanilla. Allow to sit for five minutes.
• Add butter. Cool completely, before assembling.
• FRUIT
• Wash and rinse fruit well, removing all stems. Dry fruit.If blackberries are very tart, add 1 - 2 tablespoons of sugar and allow to sit for an hour at room temperature. Add raspberries at very end, as they are more delicate.
• ASSEMBLE
• Spread pastry cream onto tart crust.
• Top with berries of your choice. Heat preserves or jam with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush fruit with pastry brush. Refrigerate. You can make this one day ahead. I like to make the cream and the tart crust the day before and assemble a few hours before serving.
• Top with lime basil.

The post Blackberry Tart with Lime Basil appeared first on Spinach Tiger.