Sweetheart Tart Recipes

SWEETHEART TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Sprinkle a work surface and rolling pin with confectioner's sugar and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thick. Move dough frequently to prevent it from sticking and add more confectioners' sugar to the work surface and rolling pin as needed.
• Using a round cookie cutter the same diameter as the top of the muffin tin cups (about 2 inches), cut 36 rounds of dough. Gently press a dough round into each muffin cup and press evenly into the sides and bottom of the cup. Continue with remaining dough rounds. Bake until set and edges are light golden, about 10-12 minutes. Let cool in the pan completely before removing with a small offset spatula.
• Heat the jam in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add the cherries and stir gently to coat completely. With a small teaspoon, transfer a cherry into each tart shell and drizzle with a little more warm jam. Allow to cool and set.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.
• Recipe courtesy of Alton Brown

SWEET TART DOUGH

Steps:

• In a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and salt on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl and paddle and add confectioners' sugar. Combine with butter at low speed. Scrape down bowl and paddle again, then add almond flour and vanilla and combine at low speed.
• Gradually add egg and a scant 1/2 cup cake flour (55 grams). Beat at low speed until just incorporated. Scrape down bowl and paddle. Gradually add remaining cake flour and mix just until dough comes together. Do not overbeat. Dough should be soft to the touch.
• Scrape dough out of bowl and gently press into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Double-wrap airtight in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
• Very lightly brush two tart pans with butter. (You should not be able to see the butter.) Weigh dough and cut into two equal pieces. Wrap one piece and refrigerate while you roll out the other.
• Lightly dust parchment paper or a silicone baking mat with flour. Tap on dough lightly with a rolling pin to make it pliable. Begin rolling gently, three times in one direction, from the edge nearest to you to the far edge. Rotate dough a quarter turn clockwise. (If it's sticking, run an offset spatula underneath to loosen it, then gently lift it and lightly dust underneath with flour.) Repeat process until dough is about 1/4-inch thick and 11 inches in diameter. Check often to make sure dough is not sticking, and dust with flour as necessary.
• Cut dough into a 10 1/2-inch circle. (If it's on a silicone mat, flip it over onto a piece of lightly dusted parchment and peel off the mat first.) Very lightly dust dough with flour; brush away excess flour with a dry pastry brush.
• Loosely roll dough onto rolling pin, then unroll it onto a tart pan, making sure to cover pan evenly. Gently ease it into the pan so there is no gap between the bottom edge of the ring and the bottom of the pan (don't press hard or dough will be thinner in spots). Cut away excess dough by holding a paring knife perpendicular to the edge of the pan and spinning the pan around against the edge of the knife. Use a fork to poke little holes in dough across entire bottom of shell.
• Refrigerate dough, uncovered, for at least 1 hour and preferably overnight. If freezing dough, refrigerate for 1 hour, then double-wrap in plastic wrap, then in foil. Label, date and freeze. Repeat process of rolling out dough with the other dough half.
• Heat oven to 325 degrees with rack positioned in middle. Place tart pan on a baking sheet. Line shell with parchment and fill to the top with pie weights. (If dough is coming directly from the freezer, you don't need to defrost it first or use weights.) Bake for 15 minutes. Remove parchment and weights and return to oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a rack (with pan still on top of baking sheet) before filling.