Brandied Fruit Tartlets Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Using a 4-in. round cookie cutter, cut 12 circles, rerolling scraps as necessary. Press circles onto bottoms and up sides of ungreased muffin cups., Mix sugar and cornstarch; toss with berries and lemon juice. Spoon 2 tablespoons filling into each cup. Bake on a lower oven rack until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 24-26 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack; cool completely., For topping, beat cream until soft peaks form. In another bowl, mix lemon curd, sugar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon whipped cream; fold in remaining whipped cream. Spoon over filling. If desired, top with fresh berries. Refrigerate until serving.

Steps:

• Line tartlet tins with the pastry (use boat-shaped tins if you have them). Bake blind in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. When cold, brush the inside of the tartlet cases with the melted chocolate and leave to harden.
• Mix together the cream cheese and double cream until very smooth, then add the sugar and vanilla essence. Fill the tartlet cases with the cream mixture and arrange the fruit on top. Brush with the apricot or red currant glaze, depending on the fruit used, and leave to set.
• Sift the flour and salt together and rub in the butter and lard until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the cheese, if using, and bind with a little cold water. Chill for 30 minutes and then roll out and use as above.

Steps:

• Blend together flour, salt, butter, shortening, and 2 tablespoons sugar with your fingertips or a pastry blender in a large bowl (or pulse in a food processor, then transfer to a large bowl) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 1/2 cup ice water and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.
• Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until just incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with scraper and divide into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other, then flatten each into a 5- to 6-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Peel, halve, and core pears. Cut pears into 1/4-inch dice, then stir together with remaining filling ingredients in a 3-quart heavy pot. Bring to a boil, stirring, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 10 minutes. Transfer filling to a shallow dish and cool to room temperature.
• Roll out smaller disk of dough into a 13-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, lifting up dough carefully and flouring surface as necessary to keep dough from sticking.
• Cut out as many rounds as possible (about 12) with 3 1/2-inch fluted cutter, transferring as cut to a wax-paper-lined baking sheet. Chill rounds until firm, about 10 minutes, before decorating. Gather dough scraps and chill 20 to 30 minutes, then reroll, cut, and chill additional 31/2-inch rounds (reroll scraps only once) for a total of 16.
• Cut out shapes from rounds with decorative cutters or a sharp paring knife, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge, and reserve cutout pieces if desired for additional decoration. Brush tops lightly with milk. Lightly press reserved cutouts (if using) onto decorated pastry rounds and brush lightly with milk. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon sugar evenly over tops and chill while making bottoms.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Roll out larger disk of dough into a 15-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) on floured surface with floured rolling pin, lifting up dough carefully and flouring surface as necessary to keep dough from sticking. Cut out as many rounds as possible (about 12) with 4-inch cutter. Gather dough scraps and chill 20 to 30 minutes, then reroll and cut additional 4-inch rounds (reroll scraps only once) for a total of 16. Fit each 4-inch round into a tartlet pan (don't trim). Fill each tartlet with 3 tablespoons cooled filling and brush edge of pastry lightly with milk. Place decorated tops over filling in each tartlet, then press each top lightly around edge to help seal edges and trim pastry if necessary.
• Bake tartlets on a large baking sheet until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer tartlets to a rack and cool 10 minutes. To remove tartlets from pans, cover 1 hand with a folded kitchen towel and invert tartlets 1 at a time onto towel, reinverting them onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin roll out dough 1/8 inch thick (about an 11-inch round). Fit dough into an 8-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim and trim edge. With a fork prick bottom of shell all over. Chill shell 30 minutes, or until firm.
• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Line shell with foil and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake shell in middle of oven 20 minutes. Carefully remove weights or rice and foil and bake shell until golden, 8 to 10 minutes more. Cool shell in pan on a rack.
• Make dried-fruit mixture:
• In a heavy saucepan simmer water with sugar and vanilla bean, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Halve apricots and add to syrup with prunes and cherries. Simmer mixture 10 minutes and pour through a sieve into a 2-cup glass measure (you will have about 1 2/3 cups syrup). Reserve fruit and vanilla bean.
• In a food processor purée 1/2 cup reserved fruit and 2 tablespoons syrup until smooth. Spread purée evenly over bottom of tart shell and arrange remaining fruit on top. In a cup sprinkle gelatin over cold water to soften 1 minute. In a small saucepan boil 1/2 cup remaining syrup until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Remove pan from heat and add gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved completely, and with a pastry brush brush glaze on fruit. Reserve remaining cup syrup for crème anglaise.
• Make crème anglaise:
• Have ready a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and cold water. In a 2-quart heavy saucepan combine cream and reserved cup syrup. Split reserved vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into pan. Discard vanilla bean. Bring mixture just to a boil and remove pan from heat. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together yolks and sugar until thick and pale. Add hot cream mixture to yolk mixture in a slow stream, whisking. Transfer mixture to cleaned pan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until slightly thickened and a thermometer registers 170° F. (Do not let custard boil.) Pour custard through a fine sieve into metal bowl set in bowl of ice water. Cool crème anglaise completely and stir in brandy. (Crème anglaise may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, its surface covered with plastic wrap.)
• Serve tart with crème anglaise.

Steps:

• Mix cherries, brandy, and 1/3 cup white sugar in a bowl; let soak for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Spray a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray.
• Remove cherries from brandy mixture using a slotted spoon and transfer to the prepared pie pan. Pour brandy mixture into a blender; add remaining 1/3 cup sugar, milk, flour, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt, and allspice to the blender. Pulse mixture until batter is smooth; pour over cherries.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking until golden and puffy, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool slightly and dust with confectioners' sugar to serve.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the currants, cranberries, cherries, pears and apricots. Zest the orange and add the zest to the bowl. Add the lemon, ginger, anise seeds, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom.
• Juice the orange and add the liquid to the bowl. Add the brandy and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a jar, cover and refrigerate. (If you don't have a jar that's large enough, keep the mixture in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.) Allow the fruit to sit in the liquid for 2 to 14 days before using. The flavor of the fruit, spices and brandy will improve with time. At least once a day, turn the jar upside-down (or thoroughly stir the mixture if it's in a bowl) to make sure all the dried fruit gets coated in the brandied liquid. The mixture keeps in the refrigerator for months, stored in an airtight container.