Fresh Fruit Tart on Puff Pastry with Berry Glaze

This is one of my absolute, all time, favorite desserts. The homemade pastry cream is probably the most delicious thing I have ever put in my mouth, and the puff pastry is light and airy, and the fruit on top is just perfect with the cream. My mother used to make this for VERY special occasions when we were little (read: things we were not invited to) and if we were lucky enough, we got a small piece after it had been served. I am not surprised, because it takes a good bit of effort, but I literally dream about this dessert.  It can be made with any type of fruit that you like and can find fresh in the store. The assembly takes a little bit of time, but it is all fairly simple. The pastry cream is the most difficult part of the tart, needing constant whisking and babysitting (about 40 min total...not too bad). It is simple enough, but not cooking or cooling it for long enough is a fatal mistake as it will be too thin. Once you have your spoon in the mixture, however, you can sort of tell the kind of consistency you are working with and need to get to so it makes sense. The pastry cream needs to cool and set overnight, or all day long, so you want to make this in advance. It can be made up to a few days in advance and stored. I accidentally made my tart very patriotic looking which was perfect for election season, but I have also used kiwis and other colors of fruit. IMO berries are the best and the easiest to work with because you can sort of just sprinkle them on. In a pinch, if you don't want to make homemade pastry cream (I don't blame you but it IS worth it), you can make homemade whipped cream (see recipe on here) and use that instead. The pastry cream is better though. Trust me it is GOOD. This tart will serve up to 20 people depending on how big you cut the slices, or you can put the leftovers in the fridge and eat it for breakfast all day long.

Homemade Pastry Cream

Ingredients:

-2 cups of milk (first choice whole, second choice 2%)

-1/2 cup of sugar

-4 tbs flour

-2 egg yolks

-1 tbs butter

-1 tbs vanilla

Directions:

-Scald the milk in a saucepan. This means heat it to the point where it just boils for a second and forms a skin on top.

-While the milk is heating up, whisk the sugar and flour together in a metal or glass bowl, or the top of a double boiler. Put a pot of water that the bowl can sit on top of on the stove to simmer.

-When the milk is scalded, remove and throw away the skin and pour the milk into the four/sugar, whisking constantly. Place the bowl over the simmering pot of water and cook (constantly stirring) for about 15 mins until the mixture lightly coats the back of a spoon.

-Add the egg yolks while whisking- if you stop whisking then the yolks will scramble and you will have lumps in your cream. These can be strained out at the end but it is less annoying if you just whisk like crazy. 

-Cook that mixture for about another 15 minutes, or until the mixture heavily coats the back of a spoon (pic below is a few minutes before it is done). Remove from the heat.

-Add butter and vanilla and mix well. 

-To chill the pastry cream- place a piece of saran wrap over it, touching the pastry cream so it doesn't form a skin on top. Put in fridge for at least 8 hours. 

Puff Pastry: 

You could make this but I don't know why you would spend countless hours when there is a perfectly fine version at your grocery store. It is a monumental pain in the ass to work with the homemade so don't make your life any more difficult than it needs to be. Pepperidge Farm has a good one, and the one I used recently was some fancy version from Whole Foods that tasted exactly like all of the others. Long story short, find it at the grocery store.

Instructions:

-Defrost one sheet of puff pastry ( NOT phyllo dough) according to the instructions on the package. I usually let it sit on the counter until it is pliable without breaking. Or you can defrost it in the fridge the day before.

-Depending on what size tart you want to make, sprinkle flour on your counter and roll out the puff pastry to the size of a cookie sheet. You can also just leave it the size it comes in.

-With a fork, poke holes all throughout the pastry. This will prevent it from rising to the extent that it should, but we want a fairly flat puff pastry so you need to give it some airholes or you will have what looks like a liferaft.

-Bake according to the instructions on the package and set aside.

Fruit Tart Assembly:

-Spread the cooled pastry cream on top of the cooled puff pastry.

-Arrange your fruit selection on top.

-Use a brush to gently coat with or drizzle the glaze on top of the fruit tart (pic below is pre-glaze, main pic is post-glaze).

Glaze:

-Put 3 tbs of raspberry or strawberry jam in a small pan. Add 2 tbs of water and bring to a boil. Cool.