• Peach Tart (using puff pastry)

Peach Tart (puff pastry crust)

·         It’s been a while since my last post, so I figured I was overdue.  This time of year I am always fuddling around with fresh fruit desserts, made from what is available at the local farm markets.  I especially enjoy the white peaches when they are available, but this recipe would be equally as delicious made with my favorite apple, i.e., “Honey Crisps”.  Now here is a like and a dislike of mine that I will share:  I hate pie crust but love peach pie, so I decided to fix that situation by using puff pastry dough for a crust, thus eliminating my distain for baked lard and flour.  The French make a pie crust called a Pâte Sucrée, which is made with the addition of sugar and heavy cream to a standard pie dough recipe, using butter in place of lard.  This type of crust I enjoy, it’s the lard and flour type, that my aunt used to make, even though I have fond memories as a child in her kitchen, that I dislike.  Some people enjoy that hard crusty type of pie, de gustibus non est disputandum .  I however was not in the mood to spend the time making Pâte Sucrée and while I am perfectly capable of making homemade puff pastry dough, it is even more time consuming and tricky.  So, for this recipe, I left it to the experts and bought frozen Pepperidge Farms puff pastry dough, which you can find in your local supermarket freezers.  I keep several packages of this always my freezer and use it for many things, including a dynamite Beef Wellington (I’ll save that recipe for another time).  For you masochists out there feel free to spend a few more hours to make this simple dessert if you really want to.  The recipe as stated below will take about 30 minutes of prep time and 30 minutes of bake time.  Hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients
1 Sheet of puff pastry dough
1/2 cup Currant Jelly
2 tablespoon Flour
2 tablespoon Brown sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
5 Large Peaches
3 tablespoon Butter

Directions

1. Peel the peaches then quarter and uniformly slice with a mandolin about 1/4 in.  thick sprinkle with the lemon juice and set aside in a bowl (Note! a Mandolin is another of what I call my kitchen essentials) You could hand slice but you will not get the uniformity.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl.  Set aside
4. Using a tart pan with a removable center, lightly grease then place on a cookie sheet and set aside. (Note the cookie sheet will stabilize the tart pan center and catch any cooking dripping to save an oven mess)
5. Roll pastry dough a little larger than the tart pan.   Use a little flour to keep from sticking if necessary.   Line the tart pan with the pastry dough.   The overlap is okay for now
6. Spread an even coat of the currant jelly on the dough in bottom of the tart pan
7. Arrange the sliced peaches in a nice design in the tart pan.  Sprinkle a little of the flour and spice mixture on each layer with the remaining on top.  Do not over fill as the pastry will shrink somewhat and you don’t want the peaches oozing over the sides.
8. Trim the edges of the dough to the top of the tart pan
9. Dot the top of the tart with butter.  Then bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown
10. Allow to cool, then remove the outer tart pan rim and transfer to a large plate.   Refrigerate for several hours before serving.