KosherEye.com
by Paula Shoyer, The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy (Brandeis 2010)
Everyone has a holiday where they max out their dining room capacity and go all out in terms of the quantity and quality of the food served. For me, it is Rosh Hashanah. I make homemade gefilte fish, serve brisket AND chicken AND a vegetarian main dish and too many side dishes to list here. If I plan well, I start baking a month before and freeze desserts. Some years I am so busy teaching women around the country to bake for Rosh Hashanah that I do not leave enough time to bake for my own family. No worries. There is always this delicious, easy, rustic tart that my family loves. I always have the crust ingredients on hand and the dough is mixed in one bowl in minutes. I often double the recipe and press the dough into a jelly roll pan and then make rows of fruit, (see photo) and serve in squares. One year I taught a group of special needs campers to make this tart and demonstrated the rows of fruit. The kids so enjoyed squooshing the fruit into the dough, but quickly abandoned the idea of rows of fruit as too stifling to their creativity.
Ingredients:
4 to 5 fresh apricots or plums, halved and pitted, 1 cups raspberries or blackberries
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
6 tablespoons parve margarine, cut into 12 small pieces
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8 to 10-inch-round baking or tart pan with spray oil. Cut each apricot or plum half into 4 slices. Rinse and dry any berries you are using.
Place the flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the ginger, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. You can also mix the ingredients by hand in a large bowl with a whisk. Add margarine pieces and process or whisk for 10 seconds until the mixture looks like sand. Add egg and vanilla and process just until the dough comes together. If making by hand, use your hands to knead the dough together. Take a handful of the dough, flatten it in your hand and then press it into the pan. Continue with the rest of the dough, covering the bottom evenly.
Starting at the outside of the pan, press the side of your finger into the dough to make indentations for the fruit. Starting at the outside edge of the pan, place the fruit wedges into the indentations tightly next to each other and press gently. Repeat with another ring inside the first ring of fruit and repeat until you reach the center. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the fruit.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned on the edges. Let cool to room temperature in the pan. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, place a plate on top of the pan and then flip the tart over onto the plate, and then turn over right-side up onto a serving plate. If you used a tart pan with a removable bottom, place your hand under the pan and lift the tart out of the outer ring. Slice into 10 or 12 wedges. Store covered with plastic at room temperature for up to three days.
Notes:
Yield: Serves 8
Recipes: Desserts, Tart, Fruit, Parve, Kosher