Tarts, Tarts, Tarts

I consider myself a neat and organized person, but once in a while, I am forced to really clean out my freezer to make room for new doughs, creams, tuile batters and ice creams… As I have said many times, when I make a tart dough for example, I make three times what I need and divide it in individual portions so I have dough ready for next time I decide to make a tart. I do the same with some decorative tuile batters, cookie doughs, puff pastry… you name it, it’s in my freezer.

So this past weekend, C. asked me to please, please, please clean out the freezer. He opened the freezer door to put something in it and a sheetpan full of mousse fell on top of him… That was my queue and I immediately started emptying it out. I found doughs that I had forgotten about and decided it was time to make some fruit tarts to celebrate the end of summer.

For the large rectangle tart, I used the chocolate almond short dough that I used for the berry and sheep’s milk tarts. I pre-baked the crust and filled it with vanilla mousseline and topped it with all the berries and figs that I found in the refrigerator.

Then I also found some sable breton dough already pre-cut into circles. This is so convenient because all I have to do is put them in a mold and bake them. I built mini fruit tarts using the vanilla mousseline and the same fruit as the large tart. I also used the sable breton to make mini raspberry and rose tarts. I flavored the mousseline with a bit of rose extract and topped it with a tower of fresh raspberries.

And finally, I made chocolate and plum puff pastry tarts with the chocolate pate feuilletee I made a few weeks ago. I had also pre-cut it into circles before freezing it so it was ready for me to bake. Once thawed, I docked the center of the circle, piped some chocolate frangipane on top, placed half a plum on top of it and baked it at 400F until nice and crispy. The puff pastry rises nicely around the filling showing the beautiful layers of dough.

I have linked all recipes to previous posts, except for the chocolate frangipane, which goes as follows.

Chocolate Frangipane

100 grams 70% chocolate
60 grams milk
30 grams almond flour
190 grams almond paste
2 eggs
1 gram baking powder
pinch salt

Chop the chocolate into a bowl. Bring the milk to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Stir this until completely melted.

In the meantime, mix the almond paste, almond flour, baking powder and salt in a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add one egg and mix until it starts to form a paste and some of the almond paste chunks have disappeared. Add the other egg and mix. Scrape well between mixing so all ingredients are well incorporated. Add the chocolate and milk mixture and mix until combined.

Let the frangipane rest until it cools a bit and it is pipeable.