This is a regular scheduled interruption from the British postings. All right I will admit I'm pretty good at math but when it comes to conversions, I need extra practice. Oh, these British recipes are giving me some practice. When I have mastered some recipes by remaking them, I will have some delicious recipes to share.
At least, I had no problem making this delicious cream cheese tart. This recipe was picked by Emily of A Gilt Nutmeg for the Pastry Queen Project. I know it came out pretty good when my husband told me that he doesn't normally like peaches but this tart is oh so good. He ate two. (This is how I get my husband to eat fruit occasionally.) Now, you can easily substitute another type of fruit for the topping like apples or pears. I actually used peacharines instead of peaches. I think only half of each peacharine made it into the dessert. Oh, how I love peaches and nectarines but peacharines are the best of two loves.
Peacharine Cream Cheese TartLemon Zest Tart Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
11 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream, chilled
Cheese Filling:
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
Fruit Topping:
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
5 large peaches, sliced thin
Glaze:
1/2 cup apricot jam
1/4 cup water
To make the tart crust:
- In a food processor, add the flour, salt, sugar, and lemon zest.
- Pulse the flour mixture for about 30 seconds.
- Add the chilled butter and pulse about 20 times. The mixture should look crumbly with bits of dough the size of dried peas.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg and heavy cream together.
- Slowly, add 1/2 of the beaten egg mixture to the food processor while it is running. Continue to slowly add more egg mixture if needed until the dough forms a ball. (I only had to use 1/2 of the egg mixture.)
- Pat the dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- In a mixer, cream the cream cheese and sugar until fluffy.
- Add the vanilla and eggs. Beat for 1 minute on medium high speed.
- Add the lemon zest, flour, and salt. Mix until incorporated. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator.
- Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thickness.
- Using a large glass or biscuit cutter, cut out 4 inch circles.
- Add the circles to a muffin tin and form the dough into the cups.
- Add about 3 Tbsp cream cheese mixture into the center of each dough cups. Place in the refrigerator until needed.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ground cinnamon, sugar, and sliced fruit.
- Top each cream cheese mixture with the sliced fruit.
- Bake the tarts for about 30 to 40 minutes. The tart crust should be golden brown.
- About 10 minutes before the tarts are done baking, combine the apricot jam with the water. Set aside until needed.
- Remove the tarts from the oven and brush each tart immediately with the glaze.
- Allow the tarts to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
- When cooled, cover tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
- Serve at room temperature.
Did you already know...
-Peacharines are an hybriad of a peach and a nectarine.
-The peacharine has minimal fuzz with a milder taste than a peach.
-Peacharines are high in Carotene and Vitamin C.