Recipe: Fruit and Nut Tart

the appetizer:

Celebrate the Jewish holidays with Amazing Passover Desserts by Penny Eisenberg, including recipes for Fruit and Nut Tart and Chocolate Noisette Layer Cake.

I Love Desserts

Fruit and Nut Tart

Pareve or Dairy
Serves 6-8

Originally called Red and Blue Nut Tart, I made it one year with the poached pears in the center. It looked so good, that I just had to change the name!

Sweet Pastry Crust
2 cups matzo cake meal
2/3 cup sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter or pareve Passover margarine, cold,
and cut into tablespoon-size pieces
2 large egg yolks
2-4 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoons Passover vanilla extract, optional

Egg glaze
1 egg white whisked with 1/2 teaspoon water

Filling
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter or pareve Passover margarine, room temperature

1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon water
1 tablespoon matzo cake meal

Topping
1 tablespoon blackberry Passover wine
1 pint fresh raspberries
1 pint fresh blueberries

Glaze
1/4 cup red currant jelly
2 teaspoons blackberry Passover wine

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, with a shelf in the middle of the oven. Grease the bottom and the fluted sides of a 9-inch metal tart pan with removable bottom

2. Place the matzo cake meal and the sugar in a processor bowl and process until mixture is well blended.

3. Place the margarine atop the flour/sugar mix and pulse-processor until the butter is cut into pea size pieces (can also be done with a pastry blender).

4. Combine the egg yolks, 2 tablespoons water and extract, if using. With the machine running, pour the eggs through the feed tube and process 10 seconds (can be done with a form). The dough will not form a ball, but should start to clump together. Feel the dough. It should be neither sticky nor crumbly. If necessary, add 1 teaspoon of water at a time, pulsing 10 seconds and feeling the dough until it is right. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap and refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes.

5. Cut open a jumbo zip-top bag so that it is hinged on one long side. Sprinkle matzo cake meal in the inside of the plastic and add the dough. Roll the dough into a 12-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick, flipping the plastic over and "flouring" the dough as necessary. This dough is too tender to be folded for transfer to the tart pan. Place your palm under the plastic and then upturn the plastic onto the tart pan. Cracks and breaks can be fixed by simply pinching the dough back together. Press the dough into all of the nooks and crannies of the pie tart. Roll a rolling pin over the top of the tart to remove excess dough. Chill the tart shell until ready to continue with the filling (or freeze the shell in a plastic bag for up to 3 months.

6. Place the cold tart shell on a baking sheet and bake For 15 minutes. Brush the inside of the tart shell with egg white glaze and bake for another 5-10 minutes, until the glaze is set and the tart has started to brown.

7. While the tart shell is baking, prepare the filling. Place all of the ingredients in a processor bowl and pulse until the nuts are ground, and all ingredients are well blended. Scrape the bowl and pulse a few times to combine.

8. Spread the filling into the baked tart shell, return it to the oven and Bake for 5-7 minutes until the filling is just barely set.

9. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack to cool. Can be done 8 hours ahead.

Assembly

1. Brush the top of the filling with the wine.

2. Make the glaze by combining the jelly and wine in a small saucepan, and heating until melted and smooth.

3. The berries can be mixed with the glaze or brushed with the glaze, as a matter of personal taste (if mixed, the topping will be sweeter). They can be scattered atop the tart or arranged in circles or a design of your choice.

from:
Amazing Passover Desserts
by Penny Eisenberg
Surris Books 2009
CD-ROM: 191 pages $16.95
ISBN: 0977961788
ISBN-13: 978-0977961788
Recipe reprinted by permission.

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