Fruit Tart with Almond Pie Crust and Crème Patisserie

Usually after I make French Macarons I reserve the egg yolks that are separated from the egg whites to make crème patisserie. I hate food waste, because even with a few egg yolks I can make another dessert we can enjoy on another day. And what's better than a fresh fruit tart. This recipe is incredibly good. The nutty toasty almond tart crust combined with a delicious crème and fruit sounds like deal to me.

I developed this recipe from two different sources. The crust is from an original America's Test Kitchen magazine I found for their Rich Chocolate Tart, and the crème patisserie (pastry cream) is a French original from littlefrenchbakery.com. The original recipe calls for vanilla beans, but I find the beans quite expensive to use in a home made tart that will be consumed in less than 24 hrs. so I switched to vanilla bean paste. I still get the little black vanilla beans and vanilla flavor. I also add a little lemon zest with it (cause Lebanese), that hint of citrus taste with fruit is magical.

Tart Crust:

2 large egg yolks

4 tablespoon heavy cream

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

1/2 cup sugar

2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. First you need to roast the sliced almonds. Lay sliced almonds on a baking sheet in the oven at 300 Fahrenheit for 10 min. Place the oven rack in the middle to get an even roast. Allow to cool completely when roasted.

2. In a small bowl, mix 2 large egg yolks with 4 tablespoons of heavy cream. Set aside.

3. When the almonds are cooled. Add the roasted almonds to a food processor with sugar. Process the almonds until they are tiny pieces.

4. Add all purpose flour and salt into the food processor and pulse 5 times.

5. Cut 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter into cubes and add to the food processor and mix until the mixture turns into sand like. Add the egg yolk and heavy cream mixture now and process it well in the food processor.

6. Place the tart crust mixture in a bowl and cover it tightly. Place it in the fridge for 30 min.

Note: you can divide the recipe in half and make it in two batches if your food processor is small.

7. Heat oven to 375F and place the rack in the middle. Using a tart pan ( I used a 12" tart pan) line the bottom with parchment paper cut into a circle. And butter the sides of the pan.

8. There's no need to roll the crust but if you want to you can. I just get the mixture in the bowl and blend it together into a ball. Then I remove pieces and press it into the tart pan and on the sides making sure it's all the same thickness. With the bottom of a measuring cup smooth the crust and press it together even more. Place in the fridge again for 20 min.

9. Cover it with aluminum foil and add pie weights (helps the middle from rising. If you don't have pie weights add a lot of dried beans. Ex: dried chickpeas 10. Bake for 25 min. Remove foil and again for 10 min. Let it cool completely

Crème patisserie:

The original recipe calls for ingredients to be weighted but I also include here an estimated conversion to make it easier for home bakers.

2 1/4 cups whole Milk

4 egg yolks

10 tablespoons granulated sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

3 1/2 tablespoons All-purpose flour

1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/8 tsp lemon zest

Original recipe: 500 ml milk 4 egg yolks 125 g sugar 30 g cornstarch 30 g flour 1 vanilla bean pod Directions:

1. Line a heat proof pan with plastic wrap. And set to the side.

2. In a saucepan, add milk, half the amount of sugar, and vanilla. Mix well with a whisk, and place the saucepan over the stove then let the milk come to a simmer.

3. While milk is heating, add 4 egg yolks to a heat proof bowl, and whisk with the remaining half of sugar. Mix well. You can add lemon zest here if you want.

4. Add the flour and cornstarch to the egg mixture and whisk. (It'll look a little doughy)

5. When the milk is a at simmer. Turn off the heat. You have to add less than half the amount of milk to the eggs. (A bit tricky because you want to make sure the cream doesn't turn to an omelet.)

**The way I did it: I used a 1/2 measuring cup and scooped the hot milk from the sauce pan. Then slowly added the milk in the measuring cup to the eggs while mixing with the other hand. Then another 1/2 cup and kept mixing until i used about 2/3 of the milk in the sauce pan.

6. Now add the egg & 2/3 milk mixture back to the saucepan with the rest of the milk.

7. Turn on to medium heat and keep mixing the cream until it becomes a little thick and starts to give a bubble. ** this will take a few seconds, keep mixing fast with your hand. The cornstarch will give it a thickness.

8. Pour the cream on to the plastic wrap pan and cover with another plastic wrap. Let it cool a bit and refrigerate.

** you cover the crème with a plastic wrap to preserve covering a crust.

9. Scoop the cream with a spoon and spread on top of crust. Let it sit in the fridge overnight or for at least 5 hrs.

10. Design with fruit you like.

11. In a bowl add 1 tbsp. apricot jam and 1 tsp hot water. Mix and brush on top of fruit and side of crust.

Enjoy ❤