Why I love sugar cookie dough, and for way more than cookies + fruit tart recipe

Apparently, baking up a nice fruit tart is high-stakes drama (sarcasm).

At least according to Fox's 'Masterchef', a competition of home cooks out to prove themselves before over-the-top chef Gordon Ramsay (word in the industry is he's actually a nice guy).

In one episode the show's producers portrayed a tart as an intense, risky, highly sensitive baking venture. I laughed all the way to the commercial break because tarts are so simple, the crust is as easy as one, two, three!

1-2-3 Cookie Dough

I learned how to create the beautiful tarts lining the display cases of every French patisserie from a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France. Truth be told, a little time and know-how are your main ingredients.

The easiest way to a tart shell is with sugar cookie dough.  But if you don't cream the butter and sugar just right, you could completely upset the space-time continuum (more sarcasm).

Sugar cookies are truly as easy as 1-2-3 (see below). And while available as pre-made dough in every grocery store around, baking at home allows you to experiment with flavorings, or substitute ingredients to accommodate a vegan or gluten-free diet.

The Formula

If you've ever heard of 1-2-3 dough, that is exactly what I'm talking about here. It's a very common professional baker's formula. And it's as easy as, to be redundant, 1... 2... 3!

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Any baking formula you come across will most likely use weight measurements.

And if you have a scale, you can easily get a cookie dough going in less than five minutes. If you don't have a scale, a basic sugar cookie dough recipe will look like this:

• 1 stick butter, softened (4 ounces)
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (8 ounces)
• 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour (12 ounces)
• pinch of salt

When making dough for a tart crust, I don't use an egg. But for a classic rolled and cut-out sugar cookie, you can beat in the following before the dry ingredients:

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1-2 tablespoons of citrus zest, or ground spices like cardamom, nutmeg or cinnamon

For a lighter sugar cookie with a little rise, add one-quarter teaspoon of baking powder for every cup of flour. Whisk the baking powder with the flour before beating them all into the batter.

The Creaming Method

This method is quick and simple, especially if you keep some of your butter at room temperature. If you bake often, you're probably an old pro.

First cream the sugar and the fat, beat in any eggs and extracts, then gently mix in the dry ingredients.

1. Beat (cream) the butter with the sugar until lightened in color and doubled in volume. This takes about five minutes.
2. Add any eggs one at a time, scraping the bottom of the bowl, and the beater, to keep the batter as smooth as possible.
3. Beat in any extracts or citrus zest here, too.
4. Slowly, in several additions, beat in the dry ingredients at low speed.

Rolling + Baking

Be sure to roll the dough out to EXACTLY a quarter-inch thick, then blind bake it at exactly the right temperature (last bit of sarcasm).

You'll absolutely ruin your life and the life of anyone within a 50-mile radius of your kitchen if you don't.

Kidding, of course.

Chilling dough makes it easier to roll. If you mix your dough ahead of time and it's rock-solid, let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before you roll it out.

Freeze dough before baking. This lets the dough rest - literally chill out from all the mixing action - and gives it a more delicate crumb. It also prevents excessive spread or shrinkage in the oven.

I like to freeze shaped cookies or dough in tart pans for at least thirty minutes before baking at 350° for 7-10 minutes depending on size and thickness.

Don't let them brown. The secret to soft, delicate, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies is to barely bake them. As soon as the edges begin to even turn lightly brown, take them out of the oven. Depending on the oven and size of your cookies, this could be only five or seven minutes. If you like a cookie with more bite, bake a minute or two longer.

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Tart tips

I love making mini tarts, much less pressure and the rolling process is more forgiving. On average, a tart recipe for one large tart will make four or five mini tarts.

Roll between parchment. Rolling a sticky dough like this one between two sheets of parchment paper is a great technique with little mess. It eliminates the need for extra flour that can toughen the crust. And allows for quick and easy clean-up!

Dock the dough. Once all your dough is tucked nice into the tart pan(s), prick the bottom in several places with the tines of a fork. This will allow steam to escape, and help prevent the crust from shrinking back in the oven.

Blind-bake. Depending on the chef you asked, blind-baking may or may not be a must. But in my experience, along with freezing the dough before baking, it's a win.

To blind bake, simply line the tart pan(s) with crumpled-up parchment paper or foil. Then fill the pan with anything oven-safe and heavy. My favorite items for blind-baking are:

• retail pie weights (typically small ceramic balls)
• spare change
• dried beans (I save mine and use over and over again)
• uncooked rice or pasta

Dietary Variations

Need dairy-free? Reach for your favorite vegan or dairy-free butter.

Wheat-Free. I tend to experiment with different combinations of gluten-free flours like almond, oat, or tapioca. But for a super-easy switch to gluten-free, a 1:1 gluten-free blend works great here. The measure-for-measure flour blends are so reliable at this point, it also seems a waste of time to make your own.

My favorite cup-for-cup gluten-free flours are Bob's Red Mill 1:1 Gluten-Free Flour and Better Batter. For less starch and a little more nutrients, Bob's All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Blend is legume-based and also makes for a nice crust.

Grain-Free. For a quick and easy paleo-style cookie dough or tart crust, replace the flour with one like Bob's Red Mill Paleo Baking Flour. If you like doctoring up a homemade blend, I find 60% almond flour with 40% tapioca or arrowroot flour gives a nice cookie crumb. It's the formula I use for my paleo chocolate chip cookies. A scale comes in very handy for making a homemade blend, but you can also be done measuring by volume with cups.

Vegan? Ditch the egg and use your favorite butter alternative. I rarely use an egg when mixing cookie dough destined for tarts. I love Miyoko's or Earth's Balance Soy Free sticks both for their lack of mystery ingredients, monounsaturated fat content, and great flavors.

Pastry Cream

Now that you've avoided a mid-life crisis by succeeding at your tart shells (seriously), be sure to stir the pastry cream vigorously as it thickens on the stove. Or your pot and Gordon Ramsey will explode with anger (not serious). 

For me, a smooth, sweet creamy pastry cream is one of life's great treasures. But really what we're talking about here is pudding.

And the secret to a silky smooth pudding is low heat, and constant whisking.

Ingredients

While you do need the right amount of sugar and thickener (cornstarch) for a great pudding, eggs and butter are a professional baker's secret to a luscious, silky, rich pastry cream. Go figure, right?

• 2 cups milk, whole or 2% recommended
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
• Pinch salt
• ⅓ cup cornstarch
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

The Tempering Method

In order to avoid ending up with sweet scrambled eggs in hot milk, first heat the milk mixture, then drizzle it into the eggs very slowly.

This tempers the blow, if you will, of the near-boiling temperature which would otherwise scramble an egg in an instant.

The steps for tempering eggs for pastry cream look like this:

1. Combine half of the sugar, half the milk, and salt in a saucepot. Bring just to a boil over high heat.
2. While the mixture is coming to a boil, combine cornstarch and remaining sugar in a medium heatproof bowl. Whisk in the remaining milk to make a slurry (thick starch-liquid mixture). Gently stir eggs into the slurry.
3. As soon as the milk mixture reaches a boil, slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking vigorously.
4. Pour the tempered egg mixture back into the pot, and turn the heat down to medium-low.
5. Whisk constantly until the pastry cream comes to a slow boil, with just a few large bubbles breaking the surface.
6. Pour into a bowl, and whisk in the butter until it melts. Press plastic wrap over the surface and pole a few holes to vent it while it cools.

Picking Fruit

For any dessert, but fruit tarts especially, the quality of the fruit counts.

Do your best to find the ripest, juiciest in-season fruit. Look for rich, bright colors on berries specifically, and for strawberries, there should not be any white around the stem. This means the strawberry was picked too soon.

For stone fruits like peaches, plums, and apricots, pick fruit free of bruises that give to your touch. Just be careful not to pick overripe stone fruit that is mushy, as these will be tricky to slice and handle.

With Kids

The fruit step is actually a GREAT time to call the kiddos into the kitchen. These particular tarts bought me fifteen minutes of peace and quiet.

SCORE.

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Final Thoughts

Have all your wits about you when you set out to make a fruit tart.  Like Masterchef demonstrates, it's a precarious project. 

You wouldn't want to risk all that sweet and tart, creamy and crunchy goodness falling on your head. Or worse, directly into your mouth.

Toddler smushed berries and all.

Yours in not-so-tricky tarts,
Christina

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