- Serving: Makes 1 tart; serves 6
Patagonia Red Fruit Tart
“Patagonia” is a region of Argentina, between the mountains and the southern ocean. It gives its name to many things; here, to a large chocolate-walnut tart filled with whipped cream and fresh fruit. Striped twisted tuiles garnish the tart. Any combination of seasonal fruit can be used. The tart dough may be treated like pastry -- it is made in much the same way -- and pieced and patched until it is perfectly shaped in its tart pan. A removable bottom on the tart pan makes it easy to get the finished tart out without breaking it. Make extra tuiles to insure against breakage!
Ingredients
- White Tuile Batter
- Flour - 3/4 cup
- Confectioner’s Sugar - 3/4 cup
- Unsalted Butter - 1-1/2 tablespoons, melted
- Egg Whites - 2
- Chocolate Tuile Batter
- Flour - 3/4 cup
- Confectioner’s Sugar - 3/4 cup
- Cocoa Powder - 1/3 cup
- Unsalted Butter - 1-1/2 tablespoons, melted
- Egg Whites - 2
- Tart Dough
- Flour - 2 cups, sifted
- Confectioner’s Sugar - 2 cups
- Cocoa Powder - 1/3 cup
- Cinnamon - 1 teaspoon
- Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
- Unsalted Butter - 10 ounces (2-1/2 sticks), cold, cut into small pieces
- Pinch of salt
- Egg - 1
- Walnuts - 1/2 cup, chopped small
- Filling
- Heavy (whipping) cream - 1 cup, beaten to firm peaks
- Strawberries - 1 quart, hulled and quartered
- Raspberries - 1 pint
- Blueberries - 1 pint
- Blackberries - 1 pint
- Mint leaves - 8
Instructions
To make the tuiles: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner or lightly buttered parchment paper. For the white tuile batter, place all the ingredients except the egg white in a bowl and mix together with your fingers until it resembles fine meal. Stir in the egg white. Put in a piping bag with a very small round tip.
Repeat the procedure for the chocolate tuile batter, adding the cocoa powder with the confectioner’s sugar. Put in a piping bag with a very small round tip.
Pipe a set of alternating stripes of batter the full length of the baking sheet, beginning and ending each set with a chocolate stripe and letting the stripes touch one another. Make at least two more sets of stripes, separating the groups by one inch. Bake 5 to 6 minutes, until crisp. Each set of stripes will fuse into an individual striped tuile cookie strip.
Have at least two long-handled wooden spoons ready. Take the tuiles from the oven. Remove one striped tuile from the pan and immediately wrap in a long spiral around the handle of a wooden spoon. Set aside to cool; using another spoon, wrap the second tuile and set aside. Check the first tuile; if it has cooled enough to set, slip out the spoon and set the tuile aside to cool completely. Repeat to twist all the striped tuiles into spirals. If the tuiles become too cool to twist, return the pan briefly to the oven to make them pliable again.
To make the tart: Put the flour, confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, and butter in a large bowl and mix together with your fingers until it resembles fine meal. Add the pinch of salt and the egg and mix until it forms a dough. Work in the walnuts. Form the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap; flatten with the heel of your hand. Set aside in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Lightly butter a fluted rectangular tart pan with a removable bottom, approximately 6 inches by 14 inches; the size of the pan may vary slightly. On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough 3/8-inch thick. Roll the dough up around the rolling pin, transfer it to the pan, and unroll over the pan; press gently into place. Piece and patch the dough as necessary to completely cover the pan and its sides. Roll across the top to cut off any excess. Bake 7 to 8 minutes, until crisp. Let cool until easy to handle. Remove the sides from the pan and slip the chocolate tart off the pan bottom onto a platter. Let cool completely.
To serve: Put the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large fluted tip. Pipe the whipped cream into the tart, covering the bottom. Stand the strawberries in the cream, then fill in between the strawberries with the raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Lay two striped tuiles diagonally across the fruit. Garnish with mint leaves.