Mini Lemon Tarts

Pie.

Who doesn't love pie? Whether it's a pie made from beautifully ripe apples or juicy berries, or a pie featuring a luxurious custard or silky mousse filling, what's not to love about succulent sweetness encased in a flaky, buttery pastry?

Last Saturday, I got some beautiful lemons at the farmers market, so I could make some more mayo. A small batch of mayo doesn't require very much lemon juice though, so I still need some more lemon-centric dishes. Lemon curd is probably on its way, but first, a refreshing lemony tart.

I should have blind-baked this pastry a bit longer so that it'd be more golden-brown, but it was delicious nonetheless.

A lot of people claim that they can't make pies at home because pie crust is too hard. Sure, pastry can be delicate. It takes some practice so that you can develop a feel for it, but there is nothing quite like being able to turn out a beautiful, flaky pastry.  For some fantastic tips on making a better pie crust, go to King Arthur Flour.

Mini Lemon Tarts

Makes two 4-inch tarts

Ingredients:

For the pastry*:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ice water

For the filling:

• 1/4 of a lemon, rind and all, seeds removed
• 3/8 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• lemon juice
• sugar

Directions:

1. Make the pastry: Sift the flour, salt and sugar together, and cut the butter into small cubes and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Alternately, you can use a food processor or a pastry knife.

2. Dribble the ice water in until the dough clumps together into a ball. I think I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons. It's better to add a bit of a time - it's easier to add more water to a too-dry dough than it is to remove moisture form a too-wet dough.

3. Once you can press the dough into a ball and it holds itself together without being sticky, sandwich the ball of dough between two sheets of waxed paper, placing it in a ziplock bag and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

5. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness and using a  bowl that is about 2 inches larger in diameter than your tart pans, cut out 2 circles and lay them in the tart pans. Place a layer of aluminum foil into each tart shell and line it with pie weights or dried beans to help keep the pastry from buckling and bubbling up. Place the tart pans on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 - 10 minutes, then take out and let cool on the cookie sheet.

6. Make the filling by blending together the lemon, rind and all, egg, sugar and butter in a blender until thoroughly processed. This could take up to 3 minutes. Strain if needed to get any stubborn pieces that refuse to give up the ghost.

7. Pour the filling into the tart shells.  Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until the filling has set.

8. Cool the pans on racks.

9. To serve: Mix the blueberries with a teaspoon of lemon juice and roll in sugar. Top the tarts with the sugared blueberries and enjoy.


Notes:

• This pastry recipe made enough for three 4-inch tarts, but the filling only made two tarts. I made a mini quiche for my lunch with the third tart. :)
• I need a Vita-Mix blender or something, because it took forever for the lemon rind to get blended, even then, I had to strain the mix to get out some fairly large chunks.

Pastry scraps. What to do with that leftover pie pastry that you can't stretch into another tart shell?

Well, don't throw them out! Roll those pieces out thin and dust liberally with cinnamon and sugar, set them on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes or so or until the bottoms are golden-brown. Careful, these burn quickly. Eat while hot, straight off the cookie sheet.

My dad, who was a child during the Great Depression, said his mom called these sugar pies. I bet that they were a welcome treat for kids during lean times.

Fresh sugar pies

A closer look at the cinnamon sugar. Tweet

Almond Pastries

I had a hankering for a cheese danish the other night. Well no, first it was a craving for almond-filled croissants, croissants aux amandes, but then later on, I'd moved on to drooling after a good old cheese danish when the thought hit me: Why not combine them?!

So, practically the first thing I did this morning was take out my box of puff pastry from the freezer and let that last sheet of pastry thaw out. Then I took a look at what I had in the fridge that could simulate a cheese danish filling. A little cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, some ricotta, almond paste and an egg yolk formed the base of it. I added orange zest and almond extract to round it out, and finished it off with a lovely egg wash to give it a sheen.

Going into the oven, they were kind of a mess, I'll be honest. The crimped-together edges were not the least bit pretty and I wondered if I'd have anything photograph-worthy. I thought if the filling turned out ok, I could  troubleshoot the presentation the next time I made them, but to my surprise, when they came out of the oven, they were gorgeous, attractively puffed-up and golden brown.

The final test, then, would be how they tasted.

Sublime. The texture was just right, smooth and creamy, and the orange and almond flavors worked nicely with one another. It is strongly reminiscent of almond without being too strong.

Almond pastry

Ingredients

• 3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
• 1 T ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 T almond paste
• 1/2 t pure almond extract
• 2 t grated orange zest 
• 1 sheet  frozen puff pastry, defrosted
• 1 egg beaten, for egg wash

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
   
2. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin until it's a 12 by 8-inch rectangle. 
   
3. Place the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth.
   
4. With the mixer still on low, add the ricotta and crumble in the almond paste and let the mixer combine them well.
   
5. Then add the almond extract, orange zest and egg yolk and mix on low speed until just combined.
6. Cut the sheet of puff pastry into eight rectangles with a sharp knife.
   
7. Place one heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of 4 of the rectangles.
   
8. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and then cover it with a free pastry rectangle, pinching the edges together so that they stick together.
   
9. Brush the top of the pastries with the egg wash.
   
10. Place the pastries on the sheet pan.
11. Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.
    

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Mushroom Onion Quiche with Bacon

Quiche is one of my favorite lighter meals, though it seems absurd to call something made with heavy cream, eggs, and cheese then folded into a rich, buttery pastry crust "light." A little of this dish goes a long way, however, especially when accompanied by a large green salad.

This quiche can be served warm or cold.

Mushroom Onion Quiche with Bacon

Ingredients:

• 1 pastry crust for 9-in pie*
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, minced
  
• 1 pound assorted mushrooms, sliced
• 1 (½ oz.) packet of dried porcini mushrooms - reconstitutes to 2 oz.
• sherry
  
• 4 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 3 large eggs
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 6 ounces cheese, grated (1 ½ cups) - traditionally, this dish would call for Gruyère, but a nice sharp cheddar also works nicely in this dish
  

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms to reconstitute them. Let them sit for 30 minutes, then strain and chop them coarsely. Set aside.
   


2. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle, or, press the pastry dough into a tart pan or 9-inch pie plate, pressing the dough into corners.
   


3. Transfer to the fridge to chill for 30 minutes if the crust seems to be oily or greasy. We want the fat in the crust to be cold when it goes into the oven.
   
   If you do put the pastry in the fridge to chill, be sure to take it out and let it sit on the counter so the dish can come to room temperature. Putting a cold dish into a hot oven spells disaster.
   


4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line the pastry with a circle of parchment paper or aluminum foil, pressing into the corners and edges.
   


5. Fill at least two-thirds with baking weights - dried beans, rice, or ceramic pie weights. Bake first for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let cool a few minutes.
   


6. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights. Poke the bottom of the pie pan with the tines of a fork and return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly golden. (Fork holes are for any air to escape.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool while making filling.


7. Heat butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onions and shallot and cook, stirring, until translucent but not brown, about 1 minute.
   


8. Add the chopped, fresh mushrooms. Cook, stirring frequently, until mushrooms first release their liquid.
   


9. Add the rehydrated porcini mushrooms and continue to cook over medium high heat until all the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are dark golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes.
   


10. Add a dash of sherry and cook until that evaporates as well.
    


11. Place tart pan on a baking sheet to catch any run-off there might be. Sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread the mushroom and onion mixture over the cheese, crumble some bacon on top of that, top with remaining cheese and bacon.
    


12. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, and eggs. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese.
    


13. Transfer to oven, and bake until just set in the center, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

* Pastry Crust for 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (½ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
• 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt and butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
   


2. While the blade is running, add only enough of the ice water until the dough begins to form a ball. You can test this by grabbing a small handful (when the food processor is turned OFF and unplugged) and squeezing it: If it doesn't hold together, then add more ice water, ½ tablespoon at a time, pulsing until it is just incorporated, then test again.
   
   Be sure not to overwork the dough, or pastry will be tough. We don't want to build up the gluten in this dough, we just want the fat evenly distributed and the dough to hold together when we roll it out.
   


3. Once the dough holds together well, take it out of the bowl of the food processor and shape it into a compact ball. Then, flatten it into a round disc. Wrap the disc of pastry in plastic wrap and put that into a plastic bag and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
   


4. When you are ready to roll out the dough, take it out of the refrigerator and, on a well-floured surface, roll it with a floured rolling pin until it is approximately 1/8 inch and 12 inches in diameter.
   


5. Transfer it to your pie plate or tart pan.
   

Notes:

• This pastry crust recipe is a basic, all-purpose crust which can be used interchangeably between dessert pies like apple or pumpkin and quiches.
  


• Here is an easy way to transfer a pastry crust to the plate without it ripping:
  
  
  
  • Starting with one outside edge, roll the crust onto the rolling pin until it is all curled around it.
    
  
  
  • Unroll it into your tart pan or pie plate.
    
  
  
  • Trim off the edges and you're ready to blind-bake the pastry
  
  
  
  

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