Father’s Day is day after tomorrow and we’ll be celebrating with this gorgeous summer tart. My husband, Jim, is a vanilla man. Any way, shape or form; cream, vanilla and butter rule in his kingdom. So the chocolate fudge cake I was going to bake? Out the window. It’s his day, not mine, therefore I’ll give him what he craves. Creamy, vanilla pastry cream generously spread over a pillow of buttery puff pastry and topped with perfectly ripe, juicy Georgia peaches. This is an easy one, people. The pastry cream is a snap to make but if you really want to take the easy way out, and sometimes we all do!, a quick batch of boxed pudding mix will work fine. It won’t have the depth and richness of homemade pastry cream but sometimes that just has to do. The puff pastry comes frozen from the grocery store and requires defrosting in the refrigerator. The peaches must be unblemished and perfectly ripe. The skin is taken off them for the topping therefore it’s best to blanche them for 10 seconds rather than peel them so that you’ll finish with a handful of beautiful, slippery peaches as opposed to raggedy, torn up orbs. Any pieces of fruit left over can be thrown in the blender with your other margarita ingredients, also perfect for Father’s Day. Hope everyone has a great one!
Peaches and Cream Tart
- 1 puff pastry sheet, they come two to a box in the frozen pie section of your grocery store, defrosted and maintained in refrigerator
- 3-4 medium peaches, skins off and sliced
- 1 1/2 cup pastry cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons jelly, I use Bonne Maman jellies
- Pre-heat oven to 400°.
- Place pastry sheet on parchment lined baking sheet and open when dough has softened and won’t break. Takes about 5 seconds.
- With a sharp knife score a large square in the puff pastry sheet 1″ in from all four sides taking care not to cut all the way through to the paper. This will create a border or collar around the perimeter of the sheet making a “well” for the cream later on.
- Bake pastry for 10-15 minutes or until just golden.
- Remove from oven and using a flexible spatula gently press down the dough in the inside of the pastry sheet taking care not to smash the outside border. Set aside to cool.
- When pastry is completely cool, cover inside “well” with pastry cream or cold pudding, try not to go over rim of puff pastry.
- Arrange peach slices over cream.
- Heat jelly until melted, microwave is fine, and brush over peaches.
- Chill in refrigerator until serving.
- Cut slices with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
The Irreverent Kitchen 