French Fruit Tart

Step 1

Combine the milk, cream, and half of the sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the liquid comes to a simmer.

Step 2

As the liquid heats, whisk together the remaining sugar, salt, cornstarch, and egg yolks in a medium bowl until light and creamy.

Step 3

Once the milk mixture is hot, slowly whisk about 1 cup of the liquid into the egg mixture to temper the yolks.  Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the saucepan with the hot milk mixture and reduce the heat to medium, continuing to cook while whisking constantly, until thickened and a few bubbled burst on the surface, about 30 seconds.

Step 4

Remove the pastry cream from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla, then transfer to a bowl and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap placed directly onto the surface of the pastry cream so a skin doesn't form.  Refrigerate until chilled and firm, about 3 hours.

Step 5

Whisk together the egg yolk, cream, and vanilla in a small bowl.

Step 6

Combine the flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a food process and briefly process to combine.  Add the cold butter pieces to the flour mixture and pulse to cut into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 pulses.

Step 7

While the food process is running, add the liquid through the feed tube and continue to process just until the dough comes together around the blade.

Step 8

Turn out the tart dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a 6-inch disk, then wrap it tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Let sit out on the counter for 10 minutes to soften slightly before rolling out.

Step 9

Roll out the pastry crust on a lightly floured surface until it is slightly larger than your tart pan (mine is a 9-inch pan).  Carefully transfer the dough to the pan by rolling it onto the rolling pin, then gently easing the dough into the pan, pressing into the corners and fluted sides of the pan.

Step 10

Run the rolling pin over the top of the pan so that the excess dough gets cut off on the edge of the pin, making a clean edge.  Patch any edges that are too thin with excess dough, trimming away the edge again as necessary.  Freeze the tart shell for 30 minutes.

Step 11

When ready to bake the tart shell, heat oven to 375 degrees F. Press a double layer of foil into the frozen tart shell, covering the edges of the pan and filling the tart shell with pie weights.  Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through, then carefully remove the pie weights and foil and bake another 5 to 10 minutes, until the tart shell is fully baked and golden.  Cool completely before filling.

Step 12

When the tart shell is completely cooled, spread the pastry cream over the bottom of the shell.  Arrange the fruit in a decorative fashion over the cream, overlapping the sliced kiwi or mandarin oranges, and mounding raspberries or blueberries in the center of the tart.

Step 13

Melt the jelly or preserves in a small saucepan or the microwave, stirring until smooth.  Use a pastry brush to gently dab the melted jelly over the fruit.  You may not use all of the jelly.  Slice and serve.