Old-Fashioned Currant Tart
Submitted by Spoiledkitty218
Classic French currant tart with a vanilla butter pastry shell, silky pastry cream, fresh red currants, and a kirsch-currant jelly glaze edged with toasted almonds.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
45 minCOOK
30 minREADY
75 minThis is a proper French patisserie tart, the kind you’d see gleaming in a bakery window in Paris. A vanilla-scented butter pastry shell gets blind-baked until barely golden, spread with homemade pastry cream, piled with three pints of fresh red currants, and finished with a kirsch-spiked currant jelly glaze. Toasted sliced almonds dusted with powdered sugar line the edge.
The pastry dough uses cake flour instead of all-purpose, which gives the shell an exceptionally tender, sandy texture that crumbles rather than snaps. Beat the butter and sugar until very light and creamy, then add the yolk and vanilla for three full minutes of mixing. The long beat creates a smooth, pliable dough that rolls out easily after chilling.
The pastry cream is classic technique: milk heated with sugar, tempered into egg yolks and flour, then brought to a full boil to thicken and cook out the raw flour taste. It must cool completely before spreading on the cooled shell. Warm cream on a warm crust leads to a soggy, weeping mess.
Pro Tips
- Blind bake with parchment and dried beans for 20 minutes, then remove them and bake 5 more minutes to color the base. Don’t over-bake; the crust should be pale gold, not brown.
- Strain the currant jelly glaze after boiling with kirsch. This removes any lumps and gives a crystal-clear, glossy finish.
- Arrange the currants in tight, even rows or mounded clusters for the best visual impact.
- Assemble no more than 2-3 hours before serving. The pastry cream softens the shell over time.
Variations
- Use fresh raspberries or a mix of red and black currants if fresh red currants aren’t available.
- Replace kirsch with framboise (raspberry brandy) for a different fruit-spirit pairing.
- Add a thin layer of bittersweet chocolate ganache between the crust and pastry cream for a chocolate-currant version.
Ingredients
Directions
Dough: Beat the butter and sugar with the paddle on medium speed until very soft and light.
Beat in the vanilla and the yolk and continue beating until smooth and shiny, about 3 more minutes.
Stop the mixer, sift the cake flour and add to the butter mixture.
Pulse the mixer on and off to incorporate the flour.
Scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic, wrap and chill it until firm.
Pastry Cream: Combine the milk and half the sugar in a saucepan over low heat.
Whisk the yolks with the remaining sugar and sift the flour over and whisk it in.
Beat ⅓ of the boiling milk into the yolk mixture and return the remaining milk to a boil.
Beat the yolk mixture into the boiling milk and continue beating until the cream thickens and comes to a boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
Scrape the cream onto a clean plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill.
Roll the dough and fit it into a 10-to-11-inch tart pan.
Cut a disk of parchment paper to fit the inside of the dough and fill with dried beans.
Preheat oven to 325℉ (160℃).
Bake the tart shell about 20 minutes, until set.
Remove the paper and beans and continue baking 5 minutes more to color the pastry.
Do not over-bake.
Cool the shell in the pan.
Spread the cooled pastry cream on the cooled tart shell.
Arrange the currants on the pastry cream.
Bring the jelly and kirsch to a boil and strain.
Reduce to thicken if necessary.
Brush the glaze on the berries.
Edge the tart with the almonds and sprinkle the almonds with the confectioners’ sugar.
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