SWeeT TaRT DoUGH in LITTLE BLUEBERRY ALMOND TARTS @FFwD

Tart dough is one of the most important {ok quite important} doughs to have stashed in the freezer and though i do loveee to bring it all together fresh every time , i wouldn mind at all to have some tart dough stashed away.

And since this week with FFwD , has the orange almond tart , actually one of the first 2 tarts i baked from AMFT , or for that matter , my v first recipes , and have been looking forward to post this.
Yeah , its been awhile since i baked this , but it feels like yesterday , oh i must bake this soon again.
I went the blueberry way , and i think lods of red and peachy fruits would make this pretty, as would hearty shapes.
Sure u can bake this without the crust too.....

I love the making of a tender ,very buttery dough which can be jus pressed into the pan.

The best parts if u freeze it ,pressed in the pan , u can directly bake it partially ,without any weights whatsoever.

U need to begin with 1.5 cups flour and 1/2 cup icing sugar.(or castor sugar)

I love adding icing sugar coz its know to add the crunhy egde!

And salt....

 I went gaga on the salt, yeah i was happy to go with my pink and pretty himalayan sea salt .....And Sea  salt Shaver too.

And loved the Microplane sea salt shaver too.Shave till u have about 1/4 tsp salt or more if u want...

See the pretty pink salt added to the flour and sugar...

Oh i coudn stop there could i, i added some pretty purple too....

Lods of pretty purple flowers, lavender flowers to be precise , buds from the provence....

And did i stop there, no ooo, i didn , i can rarely stop myself from adding beans and i added 2-3 whole beans , i sure did.

 U can whiz it all is a processor n pulse a couple of times to combine but i use my pastry blender ,nice pastry cutter.

It makes cutting in 9 tbhs cold butter , cut into pieces so muc easier , though u can add the butter and pulse a few times too.

It perfect to have different sized pieces from oatmeal flakes to the size of peas, tell ur self , ur dng fine...

Stir an egg yolk , jus so u break it up.

Stir it in ,a little at a time and pulse at each add in, in long pulses {10seconds each}, until the dought which looks granular soon after adding the egg, clamps and curds .

Now i did this with the pastry blender and it worked fine.

 Once it all comes together, work with ur hands to knead lightly .

And jus about to incorporate any dry ingredients that stayed aloof while mixing.

If u want to press the dough into the tart pans , now is the time to do it.

Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the tart pans , i love to have a thickish crust so i use it all up.

Press the crust  in so that all the pieces cling together to one another and knit well when baked , but dont use to muc pressure to preserve the shortbread texture u have here.

Prick the crust all over and freeze atleast for 30mins , better if longer , before u bake it.

And yeah ur rite , its time to do the dishes :-))With warm water and liquid dishwashing liquid ,its fun and easy and quick!

Here are the tart pans , nice and frozen...

 ready to be partially baked directly from the freezer.

And while u partially bake and cool the tart , and no u dont need the weights , when u bake it directly frozen , u can get going with the almond cream.

Grinding the almonds ,as fine as i can , to make the almond flour , well , i had more like an almond meal ...

The soft butter and icing sugar , ready to go....

Beat the butter and icing sugar , till smooth and satiny...

Add in almond flour (ok coarse meal in my case) and beat till well blended.

 Nows the time to add the flour , cornstarch , beat , and add in the egg .
Sure in the food processor it would make things fast , but i have not one.

And finally the rum ....

And Vanilla , yeah i added both ....u can add either or both too....or maybe Almond extract...oh how does rose water sound...so good paired with the oranges...

Blend it all in...

I used the almond cream immediately and scraped it into the prepared molds.
See the Vanilla caviar , peeping thru the tart ....and a bit of lavender too

And another little tart......

And some more in a pie plate coz i had some leftover...

And ready to go in an already pre-heated oven @ 350 degrees.

And ready ....well as u see my blue berries , dug themselves right in ....wait i have a solution for jus that....

Dust with icing sugar , or vanilla icing sugar or cinnamon icing sugar , whatever u love...

And place some BlueBerries atop , these are the ones in syrup...

And ur ready to go.....treat ur self to these ...they are fantastic ,i think Nutella dipped Strawberries would make a fantastic topping too , as would poached Vanilla CInnamon Peaches....
Oh Cherries would make this sooo pretty too....


SWEET TART DOUGH
I followed the recipe from Around my French table but have it here from Dorie's site here.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk


To make the dough:  Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.  Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely - you'll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that's just fine.  Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition.  When the egg is in, process in long pulses - about 10 seconds each - until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds.  Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change - heads up.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Very lightly and sparingly - make that very, very lightly and sparingly - knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.
If you want to press the dough into a tart pan, now is the time to do it. 
If you want to chill the dough and roll it out later (doable, but fussier than pressing), gather the dough into a ball (you might have to use a little more pressure than you used to mix in dry bits, because you do want the ball to be just this side of cohesive), flatten it into a disk, wrap it well and chill it for at least 2 hours or for up to 1 day.
To make a press-in crust:  Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Don't be stingy - you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it.  Also, don't be too heavy-handed - you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don't want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbreadish texture.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking. 
To make a rolled-out crust:  This dough is very soft - a combination of a substantial amount of butter and the use of confectioners' sugar - so I find it is easier to roll it between wax paper or plastic wrap or, easiest of all, in a roll-out-your-dough slipcover.  If you use the slipcover, flour it lightly.  Roll the dough out evenly, turning the dough over frequently and lifting the wax paper or plastic wrap often, so that it doesn't roll into the dough and form creases.  If you've got time, slide the rolled out dough into the fridge to rest and firm for about 20 minutes before fitting the dough into the buttered tart pan.  Trim the excess dough even with the edge of the pan.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially bake the crust:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust.  Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil.  If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon.  Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan. 

ALMOND CREAM

Blueberries /Oranges /Cherries/Peaches/ Strawberries any fruit u might want to top.
6 tbh salted butter
2/3rd cup icing sugar
3/4 cup ground almonds (or almond flour)
2 tsp AP flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 large egg
2 tsp dark rum or 1 tsp Vanilla extract/vanilla bean, ALmond extract(few drops) or rose water or orange water.
Cinnamon or Vanilla or Plain icing sugar for dusting.

Place ingredients, as in te order above in a processor (v fast) or with a hand beater (not bad), and bake as above, in pre baked crusts ,ie mini ones , tartlets or a large 9 to 9.5 inch crust !

Love for ur love......