Tarts: Part III

If fruit isn’t really your thing, maybe you would prefer a homemade caramel and toasted walnut tart. It's delicious!

Again, the recipes are from a pastry class that I took at Whole Foods…although I did adjust the measurements to standard cup measurements rather than grams and/or ounces (because I don’t have a kitchen scale).

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Caramel Walnut Tart

2 cups toasted walnuts (To toast, place the walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Place in a 350F degree oven for 8-10 minutes; checking and stirring regularly.)
3 oz. heavy cream
4 ½ oz. honey
6 tablespoons butter
½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
vanilla (I think I used about 1/8 teaspoon)

In a heavy bottom sauce pan, cook cream, honey and butter until butter is fully incorporated. Add sugar and salt – cooking over medium heat to 238F degrees or the consistency of a softball sugar. Stir as necessary to prevent burning, but don’t stir continuously. (Softball sugar is when you use the ice water method for checking the caramel, details in the Tips section below. I don’t have a candy thermometer yet and I had never used the ice water method before, so don’t get too stressed about make sure it’s perfect, I just considered it done when I thought it was kind of close to what it should be like and it turned out great.)

Cool slightly, add vanilla.

Leave baked tart crust in the pan for support. Place the toasted walnuts in the tart shell. Pour warm caramel over the walnuts and allow to set at room temperature for a bit. (I actually served mine a little warm with vanilla bean ice cream. If you make it ahead of time, just place the completed Caramel Walnut Tart in the oven at the lowest temperature setting for 5-10 minutes to warm it up a bit and serve with ice cream.)

Tips:
This caramel should remain soft but firm enough not to run when the tart is cut and should be on the transparent side.
If the caramel is opaque and runny it should be cooked longer.
If the caramel is hard and very clear it has been overcooked.
You can absolutely use the ice water method for checking the cooking of the caramel mixture, simply use a spoon to bring some of the caramel in to ice water and look for soft ball consistency (the caramel should form into a soft ball either on contact with the water or between your fingers, but be careful the caramel is VERY hot!)

Serve alone or accompanied with ice cream.

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Tarts: Part I

Finally, details on the tarts. We'll start with the basics.

First… the pan.

A tart pan has a removable bottom (in order to be able to serve the tart out of the pan) and usually has scalloped edges that are very sharp. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes. I have a 9-inch square tart pan.

My Tart Pan

Second… the crust.

The dough for the crust is ‘sucree dough’. The following recipe made enough dough for both of my tarts. I used the first half right after making the dough and then I put the second half of the dough into a disk shape, covered it in plastic wrap, and placed it in a freezer bag and froze it until Valentine’s Day. Or another option would be to use the leftover dough to make cookies or additional mini tarts.

The recipes are from a pastry class that I took at Whole Foods…although I did adjust the measurements to standard cup measurements rather than grams (because I don’t have a kitchen scale). My conversions may not have been precisely accurate, but they worked okay.

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Sucree Dough

2 stick butter, room temperature (but not too soft)
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon lemon zest (I’m not a big lemon person, so next time I’ll probably reduce this)
1 egg
3 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, blend butter and sugar on low to medium speed. (Note: I do not have a stand mixer, so I used a hand mixer. It worked okay)

Add vanilla and lemon zest, mix. Add beaten egg, mix.

Sift together flour and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the other ingredients; add all at once to keep mixing minimal.

As soon as dough comes together, turn out onto a clean lightly floured surface. Blend with the heel of your hand.

Divide dough into two disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill dough for at least two hours before using.

Cover surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll dough and place in desired tart pan or cut into shapes for cookies. (I had some trouble getting my dough to roll into one nice smooth sheet, don’t worry, if you have to patch pieces together, no one will be able to tell, just make sure to really press any seems together to avoid gaps.)

Refrigerate the tart crust or cookies before baking, just until cold again.

(I added a step, not part of the original recipe based on steps I had seen in some other recipes…Use a fork to prick the bottom of the crust in a variety of places to prevent the crust bottom from baking up too much.)

Bake at 350-375F degrees. Bake until golden. Time depends on the size of the item.

Tips:
Sucree dough should be work with cold – never hot.
If the dough is cracking, knead it to a slightly warmer, pliable dough with. (I never really got this to work perfectly, but as I noted above, no one could ever tell.)
Always chill dough after shaping, before baking.
Tarts can be filled with pastry cream or chocolate ganache for quick options.

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