On a Lighter Note... Sassy Tarts

We have been offering a "Sassy Tart" class at the bakery since we started holding classes over 3 years ago. The recipes keep rotating and evolving, based on the season and the outcome. So, last night we had Sassy Spring Tarts and I must say that every recipe came out wonderfully. The tarts under our scrutiny last night were Mango Tart Tatin (deconstructed), Apricot Frangipan Tart, Banana Chocolate Tart Bruleed, Tropical Fruit Tart with Coconut, Blackberry Clafouti Tart and Lemon Souffle Tart.

The mango tart was incredible. I found the recipe in a tart book by Eric Kayser - a famous French baker & pastry chef who has a place called BreadBar in LA. His instructions called for us to caramelize the sugar in a saute pan then add butter and then add the sliced mango. The mango cooked in the caramel along with some ground and candied ginger. This part all went fine. But the recipe wanted us to place our dough on top of the mango in the saute pan and put this all in the oven. In the past, I've had my butt kicked by tatin recipes. Either the fruit is done and the dough is not or vice versa. So instead, we blind baked the tart shells and finished off the mango in the saute pan on the heat. Then the mango was artfully arranged in the tart shells and topped with more of the ginger-mango caramel. Jealous?

My other favorite was the Tropical Fruit Tart from Pierre Herme's book. The batter consists of ground almonds, butter, rum, coconut, eggs and that gets baked in the tart shells lined with our classic pate sucre. The filling bakes up nice and flavorful - buttery yet delicate. Then the tarts are topped off with sliced kiwi, mango and papaya. If only we could make these for the farmer's markets!