Last Days of Summer Fruit Tart

So, there has been quite a lot going on here.  In July, we welcomed our second son, who decided to arrive 4 weeks early.  Life with a toddler and a new born is quite hectic, leaving little time for baking.  In addition, our wonderful friends and family have been feeding us practically every night and I haven't been in the kitchen in weeks.  I think it will be a little more time before I go back to baking, but I thought I would share this tart with you before summer fruit is completely done.

I made this tart in back in June.  It is a great combination of slightly sweet tart shell, creamy pastry cream and sweet/tart berries and fruit.  One of the great things about this tart is that you can pretty much use any fruit you want.  I chose peaches, strawberries and raspberries since I love that combination and this tart was enjoyed by all.  I made the glaze with strawberry jam (homemade, recipe to come).

This is a Dorie Greenspan special -- the Classic Berry Tart.  You can find the recipe in Baking from My Home to Yours or here.

Happy Birthday America: Some July 4th Ideas

In case you were looking for some yummy treats for a 4th of July party tomorrow or any celebration that involves red, white and blue...


Red White and Blue Cupcakes

Red White and Blue Fruit Tart

A few red velvet things that could be made red white and blue with the addition of blueberries or blue sanding sugar...


Red Velvet Cupcakes (could also be done with blue cupcake wrappers to complete the look)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

And the ever popular all American pie...
Blueberry pie

Blackberry pie

And finally strawberry shortcake, which you could turn into strawberry/blueberry shortcake

Vegan By Design: Short on Time

Hi there! Long time no blog. It’s been an eventful week or so, with lots to celebrate and lots of occasions for baking. There was Rachel’s graduation from Drisha (which involved a crapton of baking, more on that later) and my friend Brianna’s graduation from Columbia (which involved less “baking” and more “eating half a tube of Pillsbury’s cookie dough while watching The Devil Wears Prada”). But today I am going to talk about my officemate, Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn is very cool. She is unfailingly pleasant to be around, she works harder than anyone in the office, and she always has nice clothes. She is also a vegan, which means that she rarely gets to enjoy Baked Goods Fridays. Once I made vegan cookies. It was a huge deal. It was that ridiculous (but wonderful) chocolate chip cookie brittle from Kosher by Design: Short on Time that only has four ingredients. I for one was impressed that it only took six months of me working with Kaitlyn for me to finally make something vegan. [Sarcasm.] But with her birthday coming up, I thought I should make something that was actually vegan on purpose. 


So when I came across this vegan chocolate peanut tart on Couldn’t Be Parve, I knew it was destiny! Chocolate and peanut butter just happens to be Kaitlyn’s favorite combination. Score. I bought a jar of coconut oil, a carton of coconut milk, and a couple of bars of vegan chocolate and got to work. 


I don’t know if you’ve ever seen coconut oil. We had a big tub of it in my apartment in college because one of our summer subletters had been a vegan and vegans use it a lot. When I saw it, I thought that it had somehow gone rancid, because it was so much more viscous than any other oil I had ever seen. Turns out that’s how it’s supposed to look, phew. But I guess unsurprisingly for an oil-based dough, the crust was very…oily. This is kind of exactly the opposite of what you want in a tart crust, and while the final baked product was not greasy, it was a little tough on the bottom. Meanwhile, the top of the sides melted off during the baking. On the flipside, the dough was incredibly easy to manipulate, and putting it in the tart pan (a process that typically takes me a good 15 or 20 minutes) was the work of mere moments. 


The ganache was easy-peasy, and quite tasty. It didn’t suffer at all from not having cream; in fact, considering the richness of the chocolate-peanut butter combo, I think it may have been a blessing. 


Like most ganache tarts, this is also a really good to make if you’re in a hurry. Well, I guess not that much of a hurry, since you have to bake the crust and wait for it to cool and then wait for the ganache to set. But the component parts all come together very quickly. The recipe for the ganache can be found here, and the recipe for the crust can be found here. And a very happy (belated) birthday to Kaitlyn! 

French Lemon Cream Tart

This is a Dorie Greenspan classic that we have made many times and it is hard to believe it has never made it onto this blog.  Dorie calls this the Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart and she is right -- and not just because there is an extraordinary amount of butter in this tart.  You really don't want to know how much.

On account of the butter, this is not a tart that you might make on a whim for a regular night, but for a special occasion and for someone who loves lemon, this is definitely something I would turn to.  I made this for a lemon-lover in my office for her birthday and it was a big hit.  The filling is not a curd, it is most definitely a cream, like you would find in a chocolate cream pie, but lemon flavored.  It is delicious, soft and silky and much lighter than you might imagine given the ingredients.  Make this for a special lemon occasion.  You can find the recipe here, on Dorie Greenspan's website.

Last Days of Summer Fruit Tartelette

Oh those lazy hazy crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and beer. Except that soda will rot your teeth, beer will rot your liver, and pretzels will dehydrate you, and with the recent heat wave we've had in New York, you can't really afford that. Ah, are none of the simple pleasures of summer to be enjoyed anymore? Even though they will no doubt one day be linked to cancer, I don't think I will ever stop appreciating a blue sky, a big bunch of sunflowers and fresh fruit from the farmers' market. And the stupid heat even tried to take one of those away from me; it was one of those days that was so sweltering that I hopped on whatever subway came into the station just to get into the AC, so it took me five trains to get back from Union Square instead of two, and my hardy sunflowers nearly wilted and died from the heat. Luckily, as soon as I got home I was able to put them in water, pull out the fruit and get to work.

I had long planned a "thanks for paying for my study abroad experience" dinner for my parents but it got postponed because of my grandma's illness, until now. I didn't know what I wanted to make, except that I wanted to use the miniature tart pans I got from Zabar's a long time ago and had never had occasion to use. So tartelette pans + fruit = fruit tartelette, duh. And who better to turn to for a tartelette recipe that Tartelette herself?

The recipe I picked, Fresh Berries Tartelettes, was simple and delicious, helped along, no doubt, by the quality of the fruit. The raspberries were good, but the blackberries were a revelation: big, juicy, plump, the perfect amount of sweet and tart. Probably the best blackberries I ever had, so I was almost reluctant to bake them, but I'm glad I did!

The only qualm I had with this recipe was that the dough, which was easy to make and easy to work with, didn't really taste like anything. Next time I make these I will add sugar to the dough and decrease the amount of sugar in the filling. But served with vanilla ice cream, they were yummy and pretty and summery, and really, what else could you ask for on a hot August day?

Fresh Berries Tartelettes

Gluten-free version can be found on mytartelette.com

For the crust:
5 tablespoons (70gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used half butter and half leaf lard I got at the market this time)
3 egg yolks
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup cold milk

For the filling:
1 pint blackberries
1 pint raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 chopped tablespoon lemon thyme (or your favorite herb)

Prepare the crust:
In a mixer, whip the butter on medium speed until light and airy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beating well after each addition. Mix until incorporated. Add the salt, and all the different flours, and the xantham gum and mix briefly. Add enough milk to moisten it. Dump the whole mixture onto a lightly floured (use more rice flour) board and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350F and position a rack in the center.
When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between two sheets of plastic to fit your prefered pie pan. If the dough tears while you roll or/and transfer into the pan, just patch it with your fingertips. Line the dough with a piece of parchment paper, fill with pie weights or dy beans and par bake for 10-15 minutes until almost completely baked. Remove the weights and parchment paper. At this point you can refrigerate the baked crust for up to 3 days before using. Roll some extra dough to form lattice pattern on top if desired. You can also freeze the extra raw dough for up to three months.

For the filling:
Place the berries in a non reactive bowl. Rub the sugar and thyme together and sprinkle over the fruit. Gently mix with a spatula. Let the fruit marinate for about 20 minutes.

Assemble:
Divide the berries among the tart shells, top with lattice if desired and bake 20 minutes. Let the tarts cool completely before eating. Depending on the water content in the fruits, some may release more juice than others so be aware when you eat...it might drip.

Happy (Late) 4th of July or A Great Use of SoCal Produce

As I think I mentioned before on this blog, I moved to LA this week.  We are very excited to be here in Southern California, especially because the fruit and veggies are so amazing.  I just love going to the farmer's market and tasting and buying all the yummy food.  This is a big change from where we were, where farmer's markers were sparse and local produce was almost non-existant (we were living in the desert).

As I caught up on blogs this weekend, I thought to myself, its too bad I could not bake this weekend and do something fun for the 4th of July.  There is so much beautiful fruit around.  However, with all the unpacking and trying to find our kitchen, no baking has taken place.

And then I remembered this tart.  I made it a few weeks back, when we were still in Texas, for an end of the year office party for my husband.  I didn't actually get to taste it (I had to send it whole to the party) but it got really positive reviews.  He said there were lots of desserts at the party and this was the only one that was finished.  It was super easy to make, I probably could have whipped it up quickly when our kitchen was unpacked.  It is light and summery and a great treat for a hot day, when delicious produce is calling your name.  I used blackberries and raspberries here, but I think you could really use any berry and probably other kinds of fruit as well.  It is just sweet tart dough, pastry cream and fruit, with an simple jelly glaze.  Yum!

The recipe is after the jump...

Elegance in Miniature

Hey there readers, long time no blog. I'm currently in London doing research for my thesis, and thanks to the wonders of the pound-dollar exchange rate I can barely afford meals, let alone dessert ingredients. But after some passive-aggressive (okay, mostly just aggressive) prodding from Rebecca, I recalled that there were a lot of things I made way back in the day before I left for England that never saw the light of the blog.

I spent the last weekend in Paris - it's a hard life - visiting my friend Evan, and though we walked far and wide searching for good patisseries, they were all closed because it was Sunday! So sad. We ended up getting delicious ice cream instead, so all was not lost. But I thought in honor of our pastry fail, I'd blog about a very Parisian-type dessert, which I made for my dad's office party back in December.

I've already written a bit about miniature tartes noir before, since Dorie Greenspan made them for the workshop at Dalton, and I've made regular-sized tarte noir many times, because it's as effortless as it is elegant. However, let me warn you that the minis, which are extremely cute, are not exactly effortless. This was mostly because I had a lot of trouble with the crust. I greased the pans very well but a lot of the crusts crumbled when I tried to take them out. Also, they puffed up in the oven, which normally isn't a big issue - you can just tamp it down with the back of a spoon - but because they're so small and delicate a little puffiness goes a long way towards diminishing the amount of space for ganache, and pushing on them too vigorously will break them. I tried to use pie weights for the second batch, a couple in each crust - BIG mistake, each one of them broke. If anyone had any suggestions as to how to get the crusts to cooperate, it would be greatly appreciated!

For the remaining non-maimed shells, the rest of the process was as simple and satisfying as ever, and the end result was delicious! (They were even better than usual; since it was for my dad's office party and not just some random whim, I was able to use Valhrona chocolate, yummmm!) They looked adorable and, according to my dad, they were a big hit at the party. However, I think that next time I'll make them in slightly bigger molds. It was just a little too time-consuming for me, especially considering that the charm of tarte noir is that it looks so professional and yet is so easy to make.

Tarte Noir, from Baking From My Home to Yours

Sweet Tart Dough

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in – you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses – about 10 seconds each – until the dough , which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change – heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

TO PRESS THE DOUGH INTO THE PAN: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don’t be too heavy-handed – press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

TO FULLY BAKE THE CRUST: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown – just make sure to keep a close eye on the crust’s progress – it can go from golden to way too dark in a flash.) Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

TO PATCH, IF NECESSARY: If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. Bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to take the rawness off the patch.

For the Filling:

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• ½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 1 9-inch tart shell made with Sweet Tart Dough (From Baking: From My Home to Yours – recipe above)

Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and have a whisk or a rubber spatula at hand.

Bring the cream to a boil, then pour half of it over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Working with the whisk or spatula, very gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in concentric circles. Pour in the remainder of the cream and blend it into the chocolate, using the same circular motion. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don’t stir the ganache any more than you must to blend the ingredients – the less you work it, the darker, smoother and shinier it will be. (The ganache can be used now, refrigerated or even frozen for later.)

Pour the ganache into the crust and, holding the pan with both hands, gently turn the pan from side to side to even the ganache. Refrigerate the tart for 30 minutes to set the ganache, then remove the tart from the fridge and keep it at room temperature until serving time. (Note – don’t cut right into it because the ganache won’t be set yet).

What Happens When You Listen to Dorie...

So, by now you know of how much we love Dorie.  That's no secret to anyone on this blog.  And one thing that we have learned is that Dorie is generally right on in the little hints and tips that she gives about her recipes.  And, since we know that, this tart should have been the first thing we made.  She says that this is her husband's all time favorite recipe, and that means something.  And we can see why.  This tart was delicious.  Even in the face of stiff competition from smores, the chocolate caramel crunch tart and other assorted goodies, this tart was the hands down favorite of the evening, and surprisingly easy to make.

First, we poached the pears.  Poaching pears sounds fancy, but it is really easy.  Take some water, lemon juice and sugar and put them in a pot with three peeled pears and bring to a boil.  Let them simmer until they are soft (but not mushy) and then, viola -- poached pears!  Dorie also says that you can use canned pears, but the poached pears bring the tart to a whole different level.  Also, the poaching liquid is so good, I actually drank it from a glass.

The rest of the tart is really easy to make.  Our almond cream was kind of grainy, but once it was baked, you could not tell at all.  The combination of the almonds, pear and the sweet dough is perfect.  Normally, I would not pick fruit over chocolate, but even with chocolate on the table, I wanted to go back for more of this tart.

Here is the recipe, which you can find on Dorie's blog:

FRENCH PEAR TART

Adapted from BAKING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS (but taken from my manuscript, so the wording may be a little different from the way it appears in the book)

Makes 6 servings

For the pears:

6 canned pear halves OR 3 medium pears, firm but ripe

1 lemon

4 cups water, optional

1 1/4 cups sugar, optional

For the almond cream:

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup ground blanched almonds

2 teaspoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 large egg

2 teaspoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 partially-baked 9-inch tart shell, made with Sweet Tart Dough (see below), at room temperature

Confectioners' sugar for dusting, or apple jelly for glazing

Getting ready:  If you are using canned pears, you have nothing to do now.  If you are using fresh pears but do not wish to poach them, you have nothing to do now.  If you are using fresh pears and want to poach them, peel them and leave them whole.  Bring the 4 cups water, the 1 1/4 cups sugar and the juice of the lemon to a boil in a saucepan just large enough to hold the pears.  Add the pears to the boiling syrup, lower the heat so the syrup simmers and gently poach the pears until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes.  Cool the pears to room temperature in the syrup. 

To make the almond cream:  Put the butter and sugar in the workbowl of a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny.  Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended.  Add the flour and cornstarch, process, and then add the egg.  Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous.  Add the rum or vanilla and process just to blend.  If you prefer, you can make the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a rubber spatula.  In either case, the ingredients are added in the same order.  Scrape the almond cream into a container and either use it immediately or refrigerate it until firm, about 2 hours.

Getting ready to bake:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Have a lined baking sheet at the ready.  If you are using fresh (unpoached) pears, peel them now.  If you are using poached or unpoached pears, cut them in half from blossom to stem and core them; rub the unpoached pears with lemon juice.  Whatever pears you have, make sure to pat them dry - really dry - so that their liquid won't keep the almond cream from baking. 

Fill the baked crust with the almond cream, spreading it even with an offset metal icing spatula.  Thinly slice each pear half crosswise, lift each half on a spatula, press down on the pear to fan it slightly and place it, wide-end toward the edge of the crust, over the almond cream.  The halves will form spokes.

Put the crust on the lined baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven and bake the tart 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the pears and browns.  Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature before unmolding. 

Right before serving, dust the tart with confectioners' sugar.  If you prefer, prepare a glaze by bringing about 1/4 cup apple jelly and1/2 teaspoon water to the boil.  Brush the glaze over the surface of the tart.  

Serving:  This tart goes very well with aromatic tea.

Storing:  If it's convenient for you, you can make the almond cream up to 2 days ahead and keep it closely covered in the refrigerator, or you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost before using.  You can also poach the pears up to 1 day ahead.  However, once you've baked the tart, you should be prepared to enjoy it that same day.

Playing around:  The almond cream is a great companion for a variety of fruits.  It's as good with summer fruits, like apricots or peaches, as it is with autumn's apples.  

SWEET TART DOUGH (Adapted from BAKING FROM MY HOME TO YOURS, but taken from my manuscript, so the wording may be a little different from the way it appears in the book)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

To make the dough:  Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.  Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely - you'll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that's just fine.  Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition.  When the egg is in, process in long pulses - about 10 seconds each - until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds.  Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change - heads up.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface.

Very lightly and sparingly - make that very, very lightly and sparingly - knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

If you want to press the dough into a tart pan, now is the time to do it. 

If you want to chill the dough and roll it out later (doable, but fussier than pressing), gather the dough into a ball (you might have to use a little more pressure than you used to mix in dry bits, because you do want the ball to be just this side of cohesive), flatten it into a disk, wrap it well and chill it for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day.

To make a press-in crust:  Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Don't be stingy - you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it.  Also, don't be too heavy-handed - you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don't want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbreadish texture.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking. 

To make a rolled-out crust:  This dough is very soft - a combination of a substantial amount of butter and the use of confectioners' sugar - so I find it is easier to roll it between wax paper or plastic wrap or, easiest of all, in a roll-out-your-dough slipcover.  If you use the slipcover, flour it lightly.  Roll the dough out evenly, turning the dough over frequently and lifting the wax paper or plastic wrap often, so that it doesn't roll into the dough and form creases.  If you've got time, slide the rolled out dough into the fridge to rest and firm for about 20 minutes before fitting the dough into the buttered tart pan.  Trim the excess dough even with the edge of the pan.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially bake the crust:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust.  Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil.  If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon.  Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan. 

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Crackerjacks...

So in our family, despite our Jewish ways, we have certain Christmas traditions. One is that we always go to the Big Apple Circus on Christmas Day; another is that we always go right home and build a fire in the fireplace right after. Usually, we eat cheese, toast marshmallows, and beg our parents to please, please, please refrain from singing along with the Alan Sherman album. This year, however, scheduling was a little more complicated since Christmas falls on a Friday, and Shabbat starts very early. Therefore, a little creative wrangling was necessary, and we needed to find something to replace the traditional s'mores dessert.

In order to keep in the festive holiday spirit and celebrate our trip to the circus and our usual chocolate overload, my sisters and I-- reunited once again-- decided to make Dorie Greenspan's Chocolate Caramel Crunch Tart. The tart includes three components: the sweet tart crust, a layer of honey roasted peanuts coated in caramel, and a thick layer of chocolate ganache.

We started by making the tart crust, so it could bake and cool while we prepared the other components. I confess that making the caramel made me a little bit nervous-- both the idea of sputtering sugar and the fear of having to wash the dishes afterward struck fear in my heart. However, as I watched the sugar bubble and thicken, and then watched it turn into that rich caramel color as we added other ingredients, I felt that even the time that would doubtless be spent scrubbing the spoon later would be worth it.

The ganache didn't quite set up the way we expected it to. The color was a little lighter than expected, and it didn't get as thick as we thought it should. There was also much conversation about the possibility of blow drying the ganache, as Dorie had taught Sarah, but ultimately we decided to let it be (mostly because there is no blow dryer in this house, apparently.) However, we left in the fridge for longer than the recommended half hour, and it turned out perfectly.

This dessert is definitely not meant to be a light snack. It is intensely rich, and best eaten in small slices. But I promise that you will enjoy every bite.

P.S. This is our 50th post! Wow!

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Tart:

Sweet Tart Dough

Makes enough for one 9-inch tart crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Pulse the flour, sugar and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. (You’re looking for some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas.) Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses–about 10 seconds each–until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change–heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for about 2 hours before rolling.

To roll the dough: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. (Alternately, you can roll this out between two pieces of plastic, though flour the dough a bit anyway.) Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork.

Alternately, you can press the dough in as soon as it is processed: Press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tart shell. You want to press hard enough that the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that it loses its crumbly texture.

Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To fully or partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. And here is the very best part: Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes.

Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust about 10 minutes longer to fully bake it, or until it is firm and golden brown, brown being the important word: a pale crust doesn’t have a lot of flavor. (To partially bake it, only an additional 5 minutes is needed.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature, and proceed with the rest of your recipe.

Caramel
Scant 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon corn syrup
2 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 4 pieces, room temperature

Ganache
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, room temperature

3/4 cup honey-roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1 9-inch tart shell made with Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough (p.444), fully baked and cooled

Getting Ready: Because you have to work quickly once the sugar caramelizes, you should have all the ingredients for the caramel measured out and at hand before you start. Also have a medium heatproof bowl at hand to hold the hot caramel.

To Make the Caramel: Bring the heavy cream to a boil.

Meanwhile, put a medium skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat and sprinkle in about 3 tablespoons of the sugar. When it melts, stir it with a wooden spatula or fork and sprinkle over another 3 tablespoons. When that sugar is melted, add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar - the sugar in the pan may already have started to color, and that's fine. Stir in the corn syrup and boil the syrup until it reaches a deep caramel color - it will probably begin to smoke, and that's normal.

Stand back and stir in the butter. The caramel will bubble furiously and may spatter, so make sure you're away from the action. When the butter is in, add the warm cream - the caramel will bubble furiously again. Lower the temperature just a tad and let the caramel boil for just 2 minutes (226F on candy thermometer). Pour the seething caramel into the heatproof bowl and set aside while you make the ganache.

To Make the Ganache: Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and have a whisk or a rubber spatula at hand.

Bring the cream to a boil. Then pour half of it over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Working with the whisk/spatula, very gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles. Pour in the remainder of the cream and blend it into the chocolate. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don't stir any more than you must to blend the ingredients - the less you work it, the darker, smoother and shinier it will be.

Cover the ganache with plastic wrap, pressing it against the surface to create an airtight seal. Set aside at room temperature for the moment.

To Assemble the Tart: Stir the peanuts into the caramel. If the caramel has cooled and is too thick to spread easily, gently warm in the microwave in 3-second spurts. Spread the caramel over the bottom of the tart shell; you'll have a thin layer. Refrigerate the tart for 15 minutes to set the caramel.

Check the ganache. If it has thickened, warm it in 3-second spurts. Rap the bowl to break any surface bubbles, pour the ganache over the caramel and jiggle the pan to even it.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes - no longer - then keep it at room temperature until serving time.