the great unshrinkable sweet tart shell
Which is why today it is taking all of my restraint not to run up that last flight of stairs and shout from my rooftop: I have conquered my tart shells at last, and they shrink no more! … Although I suspect in my neck of this island, that would barely cause an eyebrow to arch.
But it is true, so deliciously true. And before I go any further–you know, into the most awesome stuff I filled this tart crust with–I need to mark this momentous occasion its own post. Go bookmark this one, my friends, because if you’ve ever sobbed at the doorway of your oven, wondering where oh where your tart walls went, you’ve waited too long for this.
One year ago: Nutmeg Maple Cream Pie
Two years ago: Orangettes
The Great Unshrinkable Sweet Tart Shell
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
My favorite part about this shell recipe and technique is that it doesn’t require pie weights. How cool is that?!
Makes enough for one 9-inch tart crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons; 4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg*
1. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. (You’re looking for some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas.) Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses–about 10 seconds each–until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change–heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for about 2 hours before rolling.
2. To roll the dough: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. (Alternately, you can roll this out between two pieces of plastic, though flour the dough a bit anyway.) Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork.
Alternately, you can press the dough in as soon as it is processed: Press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tart shell. You want to press hard enough that the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that it loses its crumbly texture.
3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.
4. To fully or partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. And here is the very best part: Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust about 10 minutes longer to fully bake it, or until it is firm and golden brown, brown being the important word: a pale crust doesn’t have a lot of flavor. (To partially bake it, only an additional 5 minutes is needed.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature, and proceed with the rest of your recipe.
Do ahead: The dough can be wrapped and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, the flavor will be fresher bake it directly from the freezer, already rolled out.
* Updated 2/4/09: In response to concerns (including mine!) about this crust crumbling easily when rolled out, I found that using the whole egg instead of just the egg yolk holds it together better, making it easy to roll out in one piece.
I’ve gotta get a food processor. And I’m so glad it doesn’t call for pie weights – I don’t have any and don’t want to buy any (as cute as they’d look in a mason jar on the kitchen cabinet.)
Does it taste as good as other crusts you’ve made – or do you love it most because it doesn’t shrink? Sometimes my quest for visual perfection leads me to choose a recipe that doesn’t taste quite as good. It’d be GREAT to have a recipe that satisfies ALL of my perfectionist tendencies!
I find so many amazing tart recipes that I bookmark, but avoid because I’ve never had luck with the crust. You may just give me hope, Deb.
What if it’s a tart recipe that doesn’t need the pastry fully baked before filling? How does it work?
How wonderful!
A good recipe for tart shell is like the little black dress. Evreyone needs to have one in the closet/recipe collection. And you can use it often and in many different ways!
THANKS.
What if one doesn’t have a food processor? Can this be done with a pastry cutter?
I can’t wait to see what you filled this with.
Yay! I’m so happy for you and can’t wait to try this because I have the same issue ALL.THE.TIME! I’m feeling your joy!!
Thanks!! I’ve been having that same trouble w/ pie crust, so I guess a similar technique would work for that? Just in time for my Thanksgiving pies, yay!
Great tip! I’m writing a post right now about my past struggles with double crust pies. When you have a nagging and presistent problem in the kitchen, solving it can become obsessive!
Congratulations! I’ve evolved away from crusts/tarts – too fussy – (am planning pumpkin parfaits for Thanksgiving) but maybe I’ll give this one a go.
Isn’t the point of using pie weights (or beans or rice or whatever) instead of docking to keep the filling from running into the holes and making the crust soggy?
I can see how this would be fantastic for a tart filled with something like pastry cream and fresh fruit. But what if you have a recipe for, say, lemon tart, that needs a half-baked crust because it goes back into the oven? What then, oh great master of tart crusts?
That’s a very nice crust, but I’m very bad at suspense. Now I just want to know what went in it…
Yes! I just made a batch of dough with this recipe yesterday and it was absolutely dreamy, a pleasure to work with. I’m glad you found it, too!
Bookmark, indeed. I have had so many tart shells shrink on me. I heard you have to have a NON non-stick tart pan. Which do you use?
Beautiful documentation of a life-changing recipe! I’ve made this crust without a food processor (using a pastry knife instead to cut in the butter, and keeping an eye out for that clumping action after mixing in the egg), and it turned out just fine…no shrinkage at all.
Well played Deb, stretching a single recipe over two days, well played indeed…
The crust looks wonderful, my family and I thank you a hundred times over!!
(Well I certainly do- my mom has recently been going on about how I make to many deserts- crazy talk!)
Exciting indeed, but the big question: why do you think this one doesn’t shrink? The proportions, the chilling, the multiple fork holes?
I don’t usually have trouble over shrinkage but I always freeze the unbaked tart then bake. I will certainly give this a try. Beautiful photos as usual.
This is like shortbread dough, which has no water and it doesn’t change shape or shrink. The docking should keep it from puffing. It’s the perfect tart crust recipe! Thanks, Deb. Filling next?
Wonderful! Wounderbar! Everyone praises your wonderful pictures, wonderful recipes. I also love, love, love your wonderful, wonderful writing, the clear and easy navigation and organization of your site. Marvelous.
Thanks for nailing the crust recipe. I learned (from Wayne Harley Brachman) to use “eggy ice water” then smear the dough after it comes together. It’s a French technique and I forget the proper name? I’m guessing that using an egg yolk for the liquid makes for a cookie type dough. And cookies don’t shrink, they spread (most of the time). Don’t they?
Another suggestion — put the cookie sheet you plan to use under the pie in the oven to pre-heat. Helps with browning the bottom.
Happy Thanksgiving All!
I had success with this Dorie Greenspan recipe as well! I pressed the dough into the pan and used a measuring cup (mine are steel and flat bottomed) to flatten it and press it evenly into the sides. Used the tart shell for her French Pear Tart recipe. Oh bliss! I think I shall make it this week again!
you’ve given hope to the rest of us who can learn from your past experience :)
Wow that looks great! I don’t have a tart pan but I have been priicng the smaller ones for individual tarts! I may pick it up this weekend and try out a couple recipes!
I have never made a tart crust before. So I intend to make this now and be perfectly successful because you explained it perfectly Deb. Then I can wonder around with my perfect tart crust and be all, “What’s the big deal? Tart crusts are easy. And I didn’t use a dumbbell!”
Thanks for the recipe. Can’t wait to see the filled final product.
Cheers,
Nick
http://www.macheesmo.com
I heart Dorie.
Debra,
I truly love you today.
I am ready to bake my apple pecan tarts to freeze and I dread the pie weights (I use rocks from the garden!!!!!), and that DAMN SHRINKAGE!!! (sounds like George Castanza when he goes in the cold pool!).
Thank you for posting Dorie’s pie shell recipe. I am so glad I woke up to this recipe this a.m.
I will keep you posted!
Stacey Snacks
Oh, thank you! Thank you!
I’d just like to comment…I’m one of those annoying types who’s never suffered with shrinkage (no weights ever used). I think it’s something to do with freezing before baking – I’ve always used this method for both sweet and savory cases. You do need to prick well though!
This is my go to tart recipe too, and I press the dough into the pan instead of rolling it out. So easy!! And so good…
Hi every one,
I know this will sound as a stupid question, but what is what you call “skrinkage”? I learned english in school and in Bon Appetit magazine, and they don’t talk about shrinking pie (of course, in Bon Appetit, the pies are always perfect…….). Anyway, I was just wondering what this apparently common problem is.
Is it when the crust gets bumpy on the edge of the pie, so that there is less filling than in the middle??
Thanks a lot!!!
Conveniently, one answer to the question of what to put in it appears in the “One Year Ago” link just above the recipe: Nutmeg Maple Cream Pie (http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/11/nutmeg-maple-cream-pie/). (Deb, you are so clever to have arranged it that way!) New Thanksgiving tradition, here we come ….
Yay! When I saw the post title I gave you a little mental applause for finally solving that which has been tormenting you for so long. Now I need to get myself a tart pan and start making tarts!
Congrats. Am clearly bookmarking this one for my first tart. We had glorious tarts in the south of France that I would LOVE to (attempt to) duplicate. Once I get a food processor. By the way, how big a food processor do you need for this sort of thing?
You ground-breaker, you!
Thanks for this.
Angie (from over at http://www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)
AWESOME! And I can’t wait to hear fillings!
I used this recipe too, but I didn’t trust it all the way, and used the weights anyway. It was so good, next time I’ll skip the weights. I used the Lemon cream from Dorie’s book, and omg delishiousness!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I know just how you feel. I wanted to kiss the world when I finally got biscuits right. I see you’re using a regular tart pan and not a nonstick one, which is suppose to help get rid of shrinkage too. May your kitchen be blessed with many more sweet tarts!
I’ve used Dorie’s sweet tart dough recipe in the past and have had great success with it as well as far as the shrinkage goes. I didn’t think it was sweet enough so I add an extra 1/4 cup of confectioner’s sugar to the dough and it makes all the difference in the world. It’s absolutely fabulous with Dorie’s pastry cream (http://smellslikehome.wordpress.com/2008/06/10/twd-la-palettes-strawberry-tart/)! Can’t wait to see how you filled this one!!
could you use this crust for the cranberry-caramel-almond tart?
You should send this to Alton Brown. Last night on his show he made a horrible looking Lemon Meringue Pie and his crust shrunk down a LOT! Tee hee! So funny that I see your post here this morning about perfect non-shrinky crust……..
Yes! You can certainly use this with the Cranberry Caramel Almond Tart (and I will, because I was soo frustrated when that crust shrunk horribly last year) or the Nutmeg Cream Pie or the Pear Almond Tart. Or anything else you can think of.
As for why I think this dough might work better than others, I think it is a variety of factors: One, it has no water in it, which is of course pure shrinkage. Two, the freezing really helps. Three, the foil seems to really hold up the sides well–as if you had another pan pressed inside, keeping the shape intact. In theory, I’d be curious to try the freeze/foil technique with other tart doughs to see if that alone is it, but the idea of sacrificing any more doughs to the tart gods seems so wrong right now!
Thanks so much. I don’t know if you read the questions I posted on the Cranberry Almond Tart but this totally answers them. I can’t wait to try it!
I’ve been afraid of making the Cranberry Caramel Almond tart because of the dough. But fear no more! I’m so making this for Thanksgiving!
another thing to keep in mind is to always, always be careful to not stretch the dough when you place it in your tart (or pie) pan. it’s easy to do without even thinking about it, but as long as your circle is wide enough, you should be able to ease it into the pan and up the sides without pulling on it- that’s part of what shrinks back when it bakes.
i’ve been much, much happier with my crusts since i realized this.
I was given my first tart pan for my birthday a couple of weeks ago and have been obsessing over tarts ever since. I’m happy to say I just used this recipe as the crust for a simple apple tart and it turned out beautifully! Tastes delicious, too.
I’m always afraid/avoid baking pies or tarts. What is the difference between a pie crust and a tart crust or are they the same thing? By the way, your tart crust looks perfect!
For the cranberry caramel almond tart it calls for a partially baked pie crust. Would you just bake this recipe with the foil and not add the last 10 min until you added the filling?
Alemar — They are similar. Some people use them interchangeably but I prefer not to. Pie crusts are designed for flakiness. They have water in them, and can be a bit softer–they shrink more. Sweet tart shells like this one are more like cookies; they get harder and although you try to keep some butter visible (which helps create flaky layers), the flakiness, if any, is barely noticeable.
Laura — Yes, you could just skip the last 10 minutes. However, I actually did not for the recipe I’ll have up next. One thing that struck me when I was in Paris was how much longer they seem to cook everything. Most tart doughs had a really nice mid-brown color, not just lightly bronzed. So, I don’t think that there is any harm in getting a bit more color on it. The more color, the more flavor.
Thanks deb!
whoa man, i was just about to make a test-run-for-thanksgiving apple almond tart when i happened to do my usual food blog check-up (starting with you of course!) and bada-bing, a tart shell recipe!
get out of my head deb, i’m warning you, it’s not somewhere you want to be! bring mace (and not the kind for pound cake either!)
Recommendations for those sans food processor? (Yes, a foodie without a food processor–but generally I like working by hand.)
Clotilde also has an unshrinkable tart shell in “Chocolate and Zucchini”–and you don’t have to roll it out! (just squish into place). I literally had a “Hallelujah!!” moment the first time I tried it. :)
Use a pastry blender if you don’t have an food processor. Works just fine.
Thank you Deb, now that it’s a lot clearer to me maybe I can try something using a tart crust or a pie crust.
I just found your blog today, and oh my. I’m surprised that my keyboard hasn’t shorted out from the copious amounts of drool I have yet to wipe from my chin. I can’t wait to try so much of what you’ve posted!
I would like to second Bun’s recommendation of Clotilde’s pate brisee – worked perfectly for me the first time with a nonstick 10″ tart pan.
As someone who has shaken my fist in frustration over pie and tart doughs (and eventually come out the other side as Deb has – bravo to DEB!) in my experience the chilling of the dough makes a bigger difference that any of the other factors.
It relaxes the dough and allows the flour to absorb more of the moisture in the dough. I am excited to try this recipe!
i’m on pins and needles waiting to see what awesome filling you created!
Can’t wait to see what you’re filling the tart with! I stumbled across your cranberry caramel almond tart recipe a week or so ago and made a mental note to search for a tart crust recipe before I made it since you didn’t like the one you used in that recipe. Now I don’t have to search. Love your website! ( :
unshrinkable tart shell … you wrote the magic words !!!!!!!
Soooooooo great !!!!!
The freezing of dough is not related to not using pie weights. Careful of saying this because blindbaking pie shells should always employ pie weights.
But I’m glad you discovered some no shrink techniques! My experience is Rest, rest rest!
We had a problem at the shop the other day with Scotch Puff (= extremely high in butter) when someone sheeted it too quickly. In the end it’s all about how rushed the dough feels to “Do What I Want, Dammit.”
This didn’t work for me. The dough didn’t stick together. I weighed the ingredients and double check the math. I even added an extra half of a yolk just to see if that would help, but I still just had crumbs. I had to add a little water in the end to make it come together, and alas, they did shrink a little.
I had the same problem as Lauren–i was extra–careful with my measurements and followed the recipe to the letter, but the dough just wouldn’t stick together. Any ideas on what i’m doing wrong?
So sorry to hear! Though the recipe has worked for me as you see above a few times now, I will be making a few more batches in the coming days and will see if adding a tablespoon of cream (something I have used in other recipes) brings it together without shrinking it. I’ll report back!
In addition: The press-in method should still work great, even if yours is on the crumbly side, and save a lot of trouble anyhow.
I’m looking forward to trying this with the cranberry-almond-caramel tart! But one question: I can’t seem to find a nine inch tart pan for the life of me, just an 11 inch. Will this go horribly awry if I try to use the same recipe?
You’ll definitely need to scale the recipe, at least to 150% of the original recipe to fill out a 11-inch tart (base areas of about 64″ versus 95″)
Thanks! By the way, I’m a long-time fan of your blog (but first time poster) and appreciate the inspiration, great recipes, and always-useful tips.
I baked a mango tart over the weekend using your tart dough recipe. All I can say is it’s the best tart shell I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for posting this!
altho i don’t make a habit of it, i must comment on this post!
i had a dinner party on saturday night and decided to use this recipe for the shell of my blueberry and lime cloud tartlets (email me for a yummy delicious recipe if you please!!) and it was spectacularly good. so much so that one of the male guests, not usually prone to such flamboyant compliments, said “you wouldn’t find (a dessert) like this in any restaurant” – wow!
on quantity issues, your exact ingredients filled 6 4.5″ tartlet tins for me. i sliced it thinly with a sharp knife, set the slices into the tins and smosched them together! :O) it is indeed a completely unshrinkable tart shell!!
thank you deb, so much. x
I love it when you share basic staples like this one. You can use this shell recipe in so many different ways.
I just put this dough in the freezer, but it was still very flour-y. Should I add a little cream and just not worry about the shrinking?
Wow, this is amazingly forgiving, and amazingly good (if the scraps I’ve tasted so far are any indicator)! I don’t have a food processor, so I tried the blender to no avail. Then I tried a combination of mixer and pastry cutter, and then a combination of pastry cutter and hands. It was still hopelessly crumbly (though maybe I could have pressed it rather than rolled it), so I added about a quarter of another egg yolk. I ended up with a smooth, hard ball without any visible butter. I nervously put it in the ‘fridge, thinking it didn’t seem right at all. When I took it out to roll it, it was as hard as a rock and I had to let it warm up and then practically smash it with my rolling pin. I got it into the pan and stuck it into the freezer, regretting that I didn’t have more than about 45 minutes with which to freeze it. Needless to say, I figured I’d probably whipped up a disaster, so when I took it out of the oven I couldn’t believe my good luck! No shrinking whatsoever, and the bits that flaked off onto the foil smelled so good that I popped the foil back in the oven for a minute so that I could scrape them off and eat them with a spoon. They were stunningly tender, and better than shortbread! My only fear is that it is so tender that I won’t be able to lift it out of the pan. I’ll post an update if I fail, but if I don’t, please assume success!
Didn’t work for me at all! Broke into pieces when I tried to roll it out. I’ve never had this problem before with any tart or piecrust. Seemed like there was not enuf liquid. Question: I recently heard Dorie Greenspan talk about measuring cups on “the splendid table”. She was talking about 2 different methods of measuring flour. The first is to scoop directly from a bowl, the other is to spoon into the measuring cup. I do the second – how do you do it? I think this could affect the recipe.
I always thought it was my lack of pie skills that produced shrunken crusts (even on double-crusted pies), but maybe it isn’t just me! As you said, I had the worst of luck with tart shells. I’ll be bookmarking this recipe.
Hi Deb,
I have baked this one several times now and get shrinkage every time. I have been using the “press” method as it seems like my dough isn’t sticky enough to hold together when rolled out. How cohesive is your dough?
Either way, I made it with the cranberry, caramel, almond filling a few times now and I have people BEGGING me to make it again. Sheesh. You are a genius, woman, for having such a lovely site. Thanks (:
Mine ended up working just fine and tasting great! I pressed it in since it was still so flour-y, froze it, said a prayer, and baked it, and it worked! I didn’t have any shrinking at all!
Not only doesn’t this shrink, it also can be dropped after baking (use the cookie sheet, fool), scraped up, pieced and pressed back into the tart pan, and baked for a few more “please hold together” minutes. Filled with the Cranberry Caramel Almond delight, it will be gobbled up with nothing but swoons and smiles.
The edges of the tart looked like some hip deconstructed dessert, but I do not recommend this method if there’s a three year old within swearing distance.
Deb RULES!
I don’t have a food processor either. To cut fats into my flour i have been using the whisk attachment on my Kitchen Aid. It cuts down how many bowls i need to use when mixing up a recipe and my machine does the work for me a winning situation!
I made this after you updated the recipe with a whole egg, and it worked beautifully. The dough wasn’t crumbly at all – very easy to work with. It didn’t shrink, and it cooked to a perfect texture: not too crumbly, not too hard. It’s now my go-to crust recipe.
BTW, I sprinkled the dough trimmings with turbinado sugar and baked them like cookies. Yum.
I don’t have a food processor or a pastry blender – I just have a hand mixer… would that work?
I haven’t tried this with a hand mixer before. You might have more luck pinching the butter into the flour with your fingers.
ahh will try. I was actually gonna try by mixing by hand with a fork to incorporate the butter to the flour… anyone tried that?
I made this gluten-free, and it’s perfect! Yum. Thanks!
http://www.heythattastesgood.com/2009/02/gluten-free-almond-tart-crust.html
I live in Colorado at 6200 feet – do you know of any needed adjustments for baking tart shell at altitude? As elevation rises, normal piecrusts need more moisture here. Dry mountain air makes flour drier and evaporation rates are faster, often leaving crust without sufficient moisture to hold the starch togehter. Typically, a bit of extra liquid is need for piecrusts. Since this recipe has no obvious liquids, I am a bit stumped.
I have some beautiful Meyer Lemon that I just brought back here from San Francisco and would love to make the Lemon Tart.
Thanks for any insights!
Deb
FYI- The crust turned out great! I did the partially baked one. The only adjustment was that I used a [small] jumbo egg as it was all I had on hand.
I did keep it in fridge more than 2 hours and in the freezer about an hour after rolling out. I wasn’t sure if the crust should cool before filling and doing the final bake with filling. I did let it cool a bit and then filled and baked. No shrinkage, great taste.
So, altitude is not a problem in case you need to know.
This is a cautionary note for other people. I made this yesterday using the “press” method, and I think next time I’ll roll it out. It was delicious, but…
I stopped processing when the sound of the machine changed, and dumped everything into my tart pan, only to find that I really did need to mix in the dryer parts of the dough before pressing it into the pan. After that, the dough was so sticky that it was hard to press into the pan, and once I baked it (without the foil, because I’m an idiot), it puffed up so much that I couldn’t fit all of the lemon curd from the Whole Lemon Tart recipe in.
Next time, I’ll leave myself enough time to be able to put the dough disc together, refrigerate it for a couple of hours, and then roll it out. Then I’m sure it will be perfect.
This shrunk. A lot. I did everything the recipe said to do. There is hardly any room for my filling. So sad.
would it work if i used a springform pan? i have no tart pans, and it’s the only one i could find with a removable bottom.
I don’t see why not, but be sure to take extra care unmolding the sides.
Haha, I discovered a super-awesome trick! Well, I don’t know if you could call it a trick, but if you line a normal 9-inch cake pan with foil, making sure to leave some hanging out, you can just bake the tart on that, and lift the whole thing out once it’s baked. It comes out super easy, with no dishes needed to be washed, and no “fancy” tart pans need to be bought. Whoo-hoo! by the way, this crust was super easy, yummy, and totally unshrinkable.
I made this yesterday, and only have a cuisinart mini prep food processor. It was VERY full, but with a little extra wiggling of ingredients with a knife I made it work. I also only had an 11.5 inch tart pan, and when the dough was well chilled it was a dream to roll and fit the larger pan with folded edges and literally no left over dough. It baked up perfectly. I was a little concerned about how tender it would be because I think it actually got over processed in my food processor, but its quite tender. Thanks for another great go to recipe.
Finally got around to testing this tart dough and…oh. my. goodness.
SO easy and SO delicious! I made a strawberry tart (with homemade pastry cream) for a BBQ yesterday, and all anyone could comment on was the crust! When was the last time you heard that!?
In all honesty, it shrunk a TEENY bit–but really just pulled away from the sides of the pan. The sides of the tart itself did not shrink down one iota.
Two enthusiastic thumbs up for another Smitten Kitchen winner! You can tell how much I love (and always have loved) this site by the fact that my friends say, “Is this another Smitten Kitchen recipe?” :) I’ve even gotten a handful of them hooked on Deb’s awesomeness, too.
I’m wanting to try this tart shell, but I have a ceramic tart dish. Will it work the same and as well as your metal one?
While i didn’t follow your directions on how to make the dough, i did follow them about how to bake it, and it turned out just perfectly! After shrinking tart shells before, this is a gem to find. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Just made my 2nd tart shell today. The first from a different recipe was a complete bomb. I think the BIG thing is your neat trick – freezing the shell in the tart pan prior to baking. Worked beautifully! Will suggest this in my review of the dessert I’m making, credits to Smitten Kitchen, of course. Thanks for this recipe, it saved my sanity after working for a long time on a tart shell.
Maybe I’m missing something, but wouldn’t piercing the shel with a forkl cause the crust to leak if you’re using a liquid filling (say, for the maple cream tart or the raspberry brown butter tart)? Or does it all work out in the end?
It all works out in the end. The holes always close up, or remain so pin-like, nothing leaks.
Woo hoo! Then it’s Tart City this weekend, and I’m the Mayor.
It works! I am making mini-tarts, mini-pies and mini-cheesecakes for Thanksgiving dinner and doing as much of it in advance as possible. My first batch of mini-tart shells came out perfect and are sturdy enough that I can store them, fully baked, in the freezer for the next 2 weeks. I’m not sure I’ll ever WANT to eat a pie crust again when this tastes so much better! Thanks for the recipe and tips. Now I need to figure out which of your fillings to use. Love it!
I’ve made this twice now and it ends up pretty hard every time. It tastes great though! Should I bake for less time?
Oh my, I am so psyched to find your blog on this subject. There just have been too many heartaches in the past. So what is really the reason that this tart recipe doesn’t shrink? I am hoping to adapt this for my linzertorte recipe that calls for ground hazelnut. Any suggestions?
Hi Maya — My *guess* is that it is a combination of not having have water in the dough (like a lot of pie and pastry doughs do, which would simply evaporate when cooked) and that there’s something in that freezing/foil process. I’ve used the freezing/foil process since when a par-baked pie dough (I use a butter, flour and water recipe) and it does shrink a lot less than it used to with weights, but still more than this dough, which doesn’t have water.
I know I’m late to the party here, but I’ve recently found an extremely easy and delicious tart dough from David Lebovitz. Instead of cutting in fat he learned from a friend in Paris to melt the butter in the oven and then add in the flour. It’s incredibly easy and incredibly yummy!