Friday, August 28, 2009

Tonight's Dessert


I’m having some friends over tonight for dinner, and look what I just pulled out of the oven for dessert: A peach tart with a super-simple cream cheese dough crust. I’ll serve it with small scoops of pistachio ice cream that I picked up at Bay Burger this morning. Here’s the recipe:

Peach Tart
Serves 6 to 8

For the crust:
½ cup (4 ounces) chilled cream cheese, cut into pieces
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into pieces
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the fruit:
3 medium peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons apricot preserves

1. Make the crust: Combine the cream cheese, butter, flour, ½ cup sugar, and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and process until the dough just comes together in a ball.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll the dough into an 11-inch round on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Use a 10-inch cake pan as a guide to trim it into a neat circle. Fold a ½-inch of the edge of the dough circle toward the center to create a rim to catch the peach juices. Slide the dough, still on the parchment, onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 30 minutes or cover the baking sheet in plastic and freeze for up to 2 days.
3. Combine the peaches, lemon juice, ¼ cup sugar, and ginger in a bowl and let stand, stirring occasionally, to dissolve the sugar, about 10 minutes.
4. Arrange the peaches in 2 concentric circles on top of the dough. Brush the edge of the dough with the egg yolk. Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is deep golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes.
5. Slide the tart, still on the parchment, onto a wire rack. Brush the peaches with the preserves. Let stand 15 minutes and serve warm, or cool completely and serve at room temperature.

5 comments:

  1. That is GORGEOUS. So pleased that you served BB ice cream to your guests.

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  2. And the green looked so pretty with the peaches.

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  3. mmm... it looks yummy - i'm making it for lunch guests today - should i set the oven at 350 or higher? i'm thinking approx. 25 minutes should do it? Can't wait to taste it!

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  4. Thanks for the diplomatic message letting me know that I had forgotten about preheating the oven! 400 degrees, and 25 to 30 minutes should do it!

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  5. thanks - i've already made it twice and it's been a big hit both times- I'm making it again this time with apples for a family dinner party friday night - looking forward to more rave reviews!

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