Rainbow Fruit Tart

October 23, 2014

This week is all about rainbows in our house. In the weekly cycle of the Torah readings we read the story of Noah this week. I like to help bring the stories to life with my kids as much as I can so I fill the week with as many animal and rainbow themed foods as I can. (One of their favorite snacks is a “Noah’s Ark”, which is a banana “boat” topped with animal crackers).

While it is tempting (and quite eye catching) to make rainbow foods using food coloring (like my rainbow challah) I wanted to do something a bit more natural as well this year to celebrate this special Shabbat.

Last year I made fruit rainbows for the kids’ afternoon snack but this time I turned those fruit rainbows into an elegant dessert. I have always loved the French style fruit tarts with pastry cream and this parve version is just as good as the original. A crisp crust topped with luscious pastry cream and glazed fresh fruit, it tastes as wonderful as it looks. I picked an assortment of fruit for the top based on what looked good in the store, but any fruits will work as long as they have the right colors. The colors pop and really make this a show stopping dessert worthy of any special occasion.

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Ingredients & Quantities

  • 1 9-inch pie crust (see below)
  • 1 egg, beaten with a tablespoon of water
  • 1 recipe pastry cream (see below, but increase the amount of cornstarch in that recipe to 7 tablespoons)
  • 3-4 cups assorted fruit in rainbow colors, (you will need more of the red, orange, and yellow than the other colors)
  • 1/4 cup apricot jam

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Roll out the pastry dough between two lightly floured pieces of parchment paper into a 12 inch circle about 1/4 inch thick. Peel off the top piece of parchment and carefully invert the crust into a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. If it breaks during this process simply press the pieces back together in the pan. Trim the top edges flush with the top of the pan. Cover the crust with foil and fill it with pie weights (I usually just use raw rice or beans).

Bake the crust for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the crust is a light golden brown, approximately 5 minutes more. Remove the crust from the oven and brush it lightly all over with the egg wash. Return the crust to the oven and back for 2 more minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and allow it to cool completely.

Spoon the chilled pastry cream into the prepared crust.*

Thinly slice any of the fruit that needs slicing (like mangos or kiwi) into uniform slices.

Starting with red, line the fruit neatly around the outside of the tart. Continue working in rainbow order making concentric circles of fruit until you finish with purple in the middle.

Place the apricot jam in a small sauce pan and melt over low heat. Carefully brush the melted jam over the fruit to create a shiny glaze.

Refrigerate until serving.

Make ahead directions: The pastry cream can be made up to three days in advance. The crust can be made one day ahead and stored well covered at room temperature. The tart can be assembled up to eight hours before serving but no more than that or it will be soggy.

Pastry Cream

Ingredients

  • 2 (13.5 oz) cans Thai styl coconut milk
  • 10 tablespoons (5 oz) water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (increase to 1/2 teaspoon if using unsalted margarine)
  • 6 tablespoons corn starch
  • 1 cup (7.5 oz) sugar
  • 8 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup (4 oz) margarine
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Preparation

  1. Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and set aside.
  2. Place the coconut milk, water and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, cornstarch and eggs until smooth. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly.
  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens.
  5. Remove from heat and pour through the strainer into the bowl. Let cool for 10 minutes and then incorporate the margarine, one tablespoon at a time, whisking gently just until smooth.
  6. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, directly touching the cream, let it cool completely in the refrigerator.

Sweet Tart Crust

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cups flour (5.6 oz)
  • ¼ teaspoon salt (1.5 g)*
  • 2 tablespoons (1 oz) sugar
  • 10 tablespoons (5 oz) Earth Balance buttery sticks, cut into one inch pieces and well chilled
  • 1 egg yolk (.7 oz)
  • up to 2 tablespoons (1 oz) ice water
*if making this recipe with unsalted margarine instead of the buttery sticks, increase the salt to 1/2 teaspoon

Preparation

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fit with a metal blade and pulse to combine.

Add the buttery sticks and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. (There should be pieces of margarine the size of peas and some slightly large pieces as well). Add the egg yolk and process until the egg yolk is combined and the dough just starts to come together.

Transfer the dough to a bowl. If you can press it into a smooth ball do not add any water. If the dough is still crumbly add the water 1/2 tablespoon at a time until it you can press it into a smooth ball.

Place the dough on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten the dough into a disk one inch thick. Wrap well and refrigerate for one hour. (If you are in a real hurry you can freeze it for 15 minutes.) The dough can be kept refrigerated for up to five days or frozen, well wrapped, for up to a month.

When you are ready to use the dough remove it from the refrigerator and transfer it to a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Top with an additional sheet of parchment and roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Peel off the top piece of parchment place the pie pan upside down over the circle of dough and invert the pan and parchment with dough. Peel off parchment and settle the dough into the pan. (If it cracks a bit just use your fingers to press the dough back together. You can also use extra dough to patch holes if necessary.) Trim the edges and bake and fill according to the recipe instructions for the pie you are making.

Recipe Times

Prep

40 Minutes

Cook

40 Minutes

Total

1 Hour 20 Minutes

Recipe Yield

8-10 servings

Recipe Categories

9 Comments

  1. Hi there! I can’t seem to find the recipe for the coconut milk pastry cream on the site. Do you have a link?

    Thanks!

    Shauna

    • Hi,
      So sorry for the inconvenience. I am in the process of revamping the whole site and in the process some of the recipes seem to have gotten misplaced. It will be fixed in the next couple weeks, but in the meantime the pastry cream recipe is the same one you can find on this recipe, just increase the cornstarch to 1/2 cup.

  2. Thanks so much! I’ve made this several times as a large tart but also as mini individual tarts for different events. It is delicious!

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