Rustic Peach Tart

A couple of weeks ago I bought a basket of Georgia peaches at the store. I am not really familiar enough with the distinctions between peaches to know if Georgia peaches are typically sweeter or more tart than the average peach, and I also don't know the prime season for peaches coming from Georgia, but there they were, and they looked good, and so I bought them. Upon returning home and trying one, I was a bit disappointed. They were quite tart!!! Well, there was only one thing to do...

I found this recipe online, here. It calls for making one large tart that can serve 6 people, but instead I made 6 individual tarts using the same quantity of ingredients.

Crust:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4-5 tablespoons ice water

1. Make a mound of flour on a work surface, then make a well in the center of the mound and put the butter, egg yolk, sugar and 3 tablespoons of the cold water into it.

2. Mix the ingredients in the well with your fingertips, then begin incorporating the flour in until the mixture has the consistency of course meal. Add 1 tablespoon water and continue to blend, adding water 1/2 tablespoon at a time as needed to form a workable dough, gathering it into a ball.

3. Add a little flour to the work surface and knead the dough two or three times with the heels of your hands. Take care not to over knead. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Filling:

4 ripe peaches, pitted, halved, and cut into thick slices

3 tablespoons apricot preserves

2 tablespoons brown sugar

To top the crust:

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons coarse sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out the chilled dough to make a circle about 12 inches in diameter (or, if you are making individual tarts as I did, I rolled my dough out and then divided it into 6 equal pieces, cutting them roughly into circular/ovular shapes... I figured that was easier than dividing and then rolling 6 separate crusts!)

Place the dough on a baking sheet and coat evenly with preserves to about 1 inch from the edge. Mound peach slices on dough (I formed mine into a concentric circle), leaving that 1-inch border of dough around the peaches, then sprinkle peaches with brown sugar.

2. Fold up the dough and crimp the edges together to cup the peaches in a nest. There will still be a lot of peach showing in the center.

3. Brush the exposed crust with cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, then allow to cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.