Strawberry Rhubarb Tart & Pizzaz!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've just been getting home too late to make anything interesting. No worries though, 'cause I'm back with a double dose. For a family gathering, I made strawberry rhubarb tarts accompanied by vanilla cinnamon brown sugar ice cream. Berries and rhubarb is a favorite combo for a lot of people. Not to mention, it's seasonal (right now), and not making something out of rhubarb would be a shame.
Making the tarts was a little stressful because I was also making a lemon tart with mixed berries for a fundraiser for my school. I've been experimenting with different doughs for a couple weeks, and ended up using Tartine's Sweet Tart Dough. I was having some problems with the dough sliding down the sides of my tart rings, but this dough held perfectly. I was going to use a large tart ring for the Pizzaz! tart, but I decided at the last minute to use a fluted one, not sure why. They turned out really nicely, and I took them over to the fundraiser. I was expecting the other desserts to have been made by other people associated with my school, but I was pleasantly surprised. My tart got to stand next to various desserts from Macrina Bakery, Simply Desserts, and Cupcake Royale. Some of the finest bakeries in Seattle donated desserts to the fundraiser, and I got to be a part of that. I was so excited (still am).



Lemon Tart with mixed berries:

Sweet Tart Dough
From Tartine

1 cup+ 2 tablespoons unsalted butter; room temp
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs; room temp
3 1/2 cups AP Flour

Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugar, and salt and mix on medium speed until smooth. Mix in 1 egg. Add the remaining egg and mix until smooth. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour all at once and mix on low speed until incorporates.
On a lightly floured surface, divid the dough into 4 equal balls and shape each ball into a disk 1/2" thick. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Filling:
4 eggs; room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons butter; room temperature/soft
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Beat the eggs until foamy. Gradually add sugar until thick and lemon colored. Add lemon juice, zest, and butter until combined. Add the heavy cream.

Assembly:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Roll out the chilled dough to 1/8" thick. Cut a circle with a 2" overhang to fit your tart ring (pan). Gently press into tart pan and remove excess from the top. Chill in freezer for 15 minutes. Once chilled, remove from freezer and use a fork to make holes in the bottom of your tart. Bake for 8 minutes. Pour filling into crust and return to oven for an addition 8-12 minutes. It's done when you shake it and the center moves just a little. Cool on a rack for at least 2 hours. Place berries on top and serve.



Strawberry Rhubarb Tartlets:

Dough:
See above.

Filling:
1 lb. fresh rhubarb; sliced 1" thick
1 pint strawberries
300 g sugar+ 3 tablespoons
600 g water
5 tablespoons of butter

To poach the rhubarb, make a simple syrup by combining 300g sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Once simmering, add the sliced rhubarb in the syrup and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from syrup and place in a bowl, set aside.
Cut strawberries into quarters and toss in 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let macerate for 15 minutes. Add the rhubarb to the strawberries. Using a sharp knife, run it through the bowl until the rhubarb and strawberries kind of mix together.
Bake in a glass/ceramic pan for 8 minutes at 350 degrees F. Leave at room temperature until serving.

Vanilla Cinnamon Brown Sugar Ice Cream

Cinnamon Ice Cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla bean; scraped
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Whisk egg yolks and brown sugar together. Heat the milk, heavy cream, cinnamon, vanilla bean seeds & pod in a saucepan to a simmer. Pour half the mixture into the egg yolks. Make sure to continue whisking, so the eggs don't cook. Pour the egg yolk/milk mixture back into the saucepan and heat until the mixture has thickened a little and coats the back of your spoon.
Pour into your ice cream maker and use manufacturer's instructions.

Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean; halved, seeds removed

Whisk ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Place in refrigerator to let vanilla seeds infuse into the cream, for 1 hour. Place in ice cream machine and churn for the amount of time given by manufacturer. Remove from machine and place in air-tight container overnight to harden.

Mix the two ice creams together just a little. I put mine into molds, but putting the mixture into an airtight container is just fine, too.