Tart Shells | Tartology 101

Hi! Welcome to Tartology 101. I will be taking you through the craft of making tarts, from different crusts to a variety of fillings, classics like the Lemon Meringue tart, Chocolate Caramel, and some of my own recipes like a Mango Passionfruit tart.

Lesson 1 - Tart shells

Ingredients

125g flour (1 cup)
60g almond flour (½ cup)*
85g confectioners sugar (⅔ cup)
50g cornstarch (5 tbsp.)
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
1½ tsp. vanilla extract (or ½ vanilla bean)
130g butter (10 tbsp.)
1 large egg

* If you can't find almond flour at a grocery store, you can also grind raw almonds in a strong blender or food processor till it turns to a powder.

Recipe for Linzer cookies (for the scraps) -
   • Raspberry Linzer Cookies  


Notes:
- This tart shell recipe won't really brown much, that's because there isn't a lot of egg yolk in it! However it tastes just as amazing. If you would like your tart shell to brown more, instead of 1 egg, separate 2 egg yolks from their whites and use the yolks. If they aren't enough to bring the dough together, add a little bit of the white till it does.
- If you decide to do this by hand (which is completely doable), first mix the softened butter with the flour in a large bowl till the butter has been thoroughly incorporated into the flour. Then add the extract and half the egg, and slowly mix it in with your hands till the dough comes together (and if it doesn't, add the rest of the egg).
- If you add too much egg to the dough, it'll become too wet and it'll begin to stick to the bowl. To fix this, first scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl, then add ¼ cup of flour to the dough and continue to mix it in the stand mixer. It should slowly come to the cookie dough texture. If it doesn't, measure out another ¼ cup of flour and add it in increments till it comes to the desired texture.
- When you're rolling out the dough, it is REALLY important for it to stay cold throughout the entire process. Halfway through rolling it out to a 14 inch circle, when its maybe around 9-10 inches, I recommend placing it on a sheet tray, covering it with plastic wrap and placing it either in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, or freezer for about 8 minutes. a cold dough will make this process sooooo much easier.
- At the same time, you don't want it to be TOO cold, otherwise it will crack, especially in the beginning because it's thick cold dough. When you first take your dough out to roll, leave it out for 10 minutes, and don't apply too much pressure at first. As you slowly roll it out, you'll be able to apply more pressure as it thins out.