Fresh Peach Tartlets
Fresh summer peach tartlets are easy to prepare and make an impressive and delicious addition to dessert, brunch or Fika time!
One of my favorite things about late summer is juicy, tree-ripened peaches. In Colorado, we are spoiled with the exquisite fruit that comes from Palisade on the Western Slope. Long sunny days and cool summer nights in this area produce flavorful, sweet peaches with the perfect texture for eating and baking. Peach festivals all over CO celebrate the season with a plethora of pies, jams, salsas and margaritas! My fresh peach tartlets are in honor of my Swedish grandmother, Verle. She baked tarts all summer long with plump summer berries, keeping the preparation simple to highlight the lovely just-picked flavors.
My favorite tart dough is Pâte Sucrée, or sweet pastry crust. Pâte Sucrée has a cookie-like texture, but still maintains a bit of flakiness. I find this dough quite easy to work with and have been using it since my culinary school days! Give the dough time to rest and chill. This allows the gluten structure to relax and the flour to absorb the moisture from the butter and egg.
A round cookie cutter, or even a glass or jar slightly bigger than your tart pans will give you the right amount of dough to cut out and press in.
Use the rolling pin or your hands to press off extra dough at the rim of the pan.
I like to put a bit of jam at the bottom of the tart shell for an extra burst of flavor. Here, I am using cloudberry jam, but apricot or certainly peach would be appropriate.
Layer the sliced peaches on top and sprinkled with a bit of cinnamon and raw sugar.
I place the tarts on a baking pan for stability and to catch any juices that might bubble over.
Brushing the tops of the baked tarts with their own juices gives them a beautiful sheen!
Fresh Peach Tartlets
Equipment
- Stand mixer or pastry blender
- Rolling Pin
- 3-inch fluted tart pans (can also use other sizes)
- cookie cutter
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Zest of 1 lemon, finely chopped
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1/3 cup jam, peach, apricot or cloudberry
- 4 small ripe peaches, thinly sliced
- cinnamon, for sprinkling
- raw sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
Pâte Sucrée
- Have butter chilled in the refrigerator until ready to mix.
- In a stand mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest with the paddle attachment. With the mixer running on low, gradually add butter and mix until it resembles coarse meal. Alternatively, you may whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a medium bowl and then use a pastry blender to cut in the butter.
- Add the egg and mix until the dough comes together and can be gathered into a ball. Flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Tart Shells
- Preheat oven to 400°. Remove dough from refrigerator and place on a well-floured surface. Allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften. Gently massage dough to prepare it for rolling and then roll out to a 1/8-inch thickness, making sure to keep the surface floured to prevent sticking. Using a cookie cutter, cut dough into circles slightly larger than the diameter of your tart pans. Carefully press each dough circle into the pans, including up the sides. Use your rolling pin, a knife or just your fingers to remove the extra dough at the top, making the dough flush with the pan edges.
- Fill the bottom of each tart shell with a little of the jam. Cover the jam with overlapping peach slices and sprinkle with a little of the cinnamon and raw sugar. Place the tarts on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until crust is golden and filling is bubbling. Remove from oven and use the pastry brush to baste each tartlet with some of the peach juices.
- Cool tartlets completely in pans on a wire rack. Carefully remove each tarlet, using the tip of a knife to loosen up any filling that might stick to the edges. Serve immediately or store refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
- Be sure to chill dough before rolling out. This is a crucial step to allow the gluten structure to relax and for the flour to absorb the moisture in the dough.
- Make sure your rolling surface and rolling pin are well-floured to prevent any sticking.
- Pans of different sizes can be used. The pâte sucrée recipe is enough for a 9 1/2 or 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, or six 4 3/4-inch tart pans. Jam and fruit amounts will need to be increased.
- Experiment with other stone fruits, such as plums or nectarines!
