Mini Peach Cream Tarts

Mini Peach Cream Tarts
with Brown Sugar and Chocolate

Finally! After all the nitpicking I'm telling myself to just post already and it's all about peaches this month! This is definitely a summer recipe but I couldn't fight the craving for that juicy goodness. 

Late spring to early autumn are when you can truly find the sweetest peaches. When choosing peaches I searched for ones somewhat firm and with a fragrance that had me reminiscing about those gorgeous summer days perfect for picnics. Seeing that I was about two months too early for the best pickings I had a little difficulty but thankfully someone was generous enough to leave me four.

This dessert was originally meant to be one simple pie but I went ahead and minified the recipe into tarts. Wouldn't you say sweets are much more fun to create and eat in their mini forms?

This summer dessert is a thin flaky crust lined with dark chocolate and brown sugared peaches. The filling is a sweet cinnamon-almond pastry cream. Topped with a blackberry to add some color and a hint of citrus flavor.

I had mentioned in my About Me this blog was about my triumphs and fails. So at the end of this post you'll find the Sweet Flukes section where I own up to my little mishaps and how I managed to rescue the recipe.

Now for the best part, the recipe:

Yield: 24 Mini Tarts

Prep: 1hour 30 minutes

Chill: 1 hour

Simple Pie Pastry

2 12-count cupcake pans

1 circle cookie cutter

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup shortening

7 to 8 tablespoons water

3 ounces dark chocolate

1. In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. With a pastry blender cut in shortening until you have a crumbly mixture. Add water a tablespoon at time tossing with a fork after each addition until it forms a ball of dough. Cover and refrigerate for about 25-30 minutes so it is easier to handle. While you refrigerate the dough you can definitely jump to the Brown Sugared or Pastry Cream step.

2. Divide the dough in half and roll out one half onto a lightly floured surface. I rolled out the crust the thinnest I could to avoid the crust's flavor overpowering the fillings. Cut out 12 circles and follow the same steps for the second half of dough. 

3. Fit each circle into the cupcake pans and bake at °375 for 12-15 minutes, or until crusts are a golden brown.

4. Melt chocolate in saucepan or microwave. Spoon and spread melted chocolate over bottom of tart shell. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to allow chocolate to set.

Brown Sugared Peaches

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3/4 tablespoon water (this is also good when substituted for brandy or rum)

4 peaches, peeled and chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Place butter on medium skillet over medium heat. Once butter has melted stir in brown sugar. Add in water and salt. Once sugar begins to dissolve add peaches and continue to stir frequently until sauce thickens, about 6 - 8 minutes.

2. Place filling in medium bowl covered and chill for about 20 minutes. Note: Don't drain sauce, it can be drizzled in tart shells

Cinnamon-Almond Pastry Cream

2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

3 to 4 cinnamon sticks

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup 1 tablespoon sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

24 blackberries

1. Pour milk into heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add in almond extract and cinnamon sticks. Stir constantly to avoid milk sticking to bottom of pan. Meanwhile, set aside a sieve and medium bowl for cooling pastry cream

2.  In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and sugar. Note: The more cornstarch you use the firmer the pastry cream will be. Add in eggs and whisk until smooth.

3. Once you see a slight boil in milk, slowly pour about one-third of the hot milk into the egg mixture as you whisk constantly. Pour the egg & milk mixture back into the saucepan with remaining milk. Continue whisking over medium heat until the custard thickens. When you see a few bubbles, remove from heat and immediately pour through sieve into another bowl. Going over 1 minute with custard can cause it to curdle so you want to be sure to avoid over boiling and to not let it sit in hot pan once thickened.

4. Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Whisk butter a tablespoon at time into pastry cream. Cover with plastic wrap directly on top as it cools.

Putting It All Together:

1. Drizzle the Brown Sugar Peach sauce over chocolate bottom. Place a few chopped peaches in tart shells. I used about 2 peach pieces for each shell. Pour 1 tablespoon of pastry cream for each tart. Refrigerate for 1 hour and for the finale top each with a blackberry and enjoy!

Sweet Flukes

I love to bake in Mom's kitchen and why wouldn't I. It's where it all started for me and she has every possible tool I could ever need, except a pastry blender. Luckily, I remembered reading about 2 butter knives being used in place of the pastry blender. Thankfully it worked, although while stabbing away at that shortening all I could think about was how much I wish I had brought my pastry blender.

The second mishap involved lack of honey. Honey was what I had originally planned to cook the peaches in. Lazy me made the assumption I had plenty but come to find out it had been used. Note to self: never assume what you have in stock when you share a kitchen.

As for my final mishap, it involved the fact that I am so easily distracted by conversation. My normal baking routine involves 3 simple steps: plug in iPod, choose a playlist and get to baking. The routine works out great except that in my family our kitchen happens to be the meeting place to catch up on our days. So when my dad gets home we of course begin sharing how our days went and all off sudden the scent of burnt chocolate is in the air. Well there was no saving it but since that wasn't my first encounter with burnt chocolate I had an extra chocolate bar on standby. 

With these little mistakes I had to improvise and make some changes but still ended the day with a recipe I enjoyed and a pleasant father-daughter chat.

Hope you all enjoyed the recipe and please share any thoughts or even mishaps you may have come across.