This tart is from the Pie/Pastry Bible.  It took me three tries to get it right, so that it doesn’t overflow with juices when cut.  It’s delicious. 

I have two notes to share for this tart, both confirmed with Rose:

First, although the recipe works with some brands of frozen peaches, others don’t seem to work for the recipe as written- here I used Cascadian Farms organic sliced peaches, and they gave off way too much juice.  They give off more than fresh peaches, so they need to be macerated and have the juices reduced in order to work.

Second, the peach juices and the custard mixture are supposed to mix together, so if they don’t appear to be mixing when the custard is poured on, then push the peach slices around a bit until they do.  This will also help the peaches show in the surface of the tart, which is nice.

Another note, is that I cooked the tart until the internal temp reached 170F. 

Lastly, I made good use of the leftover pastry scraps- shamrock cookies with lemon-cream cheese frosting.   They taste like cheesecake.

Julie, I can’t decide which is more tempting!

That tart looks like a beautiful pool of peach pudding and yummy topping (except it’s on the bottom)—and you know, because you reduced those juices, that it’s probably got an extra-amazing peach punch!  It’s so beautiful it’s actually peaceful to look at—it reminds me of watching fish through deep water.

Pastry scaps have been a favorite since childhood—really, crust of any description—and pairing them with lemon & cream cheese?

Dinner? Who needs dinner! Bring on the dessert!!!!

What a gorgeous tart.  And such a great use of the pastry scraps!  Happy St. Paddy’s day to all!

Julie,
Your tart looks wonderful and so do your shamrocks! Thanks for the notes too!

(Added)Your picture of the sliced piece makes my mouth water.  It really does hold together! Great technique!

Thanks so much, Anne, Dar and Loopy!

The shamrocks were a bit of a mixed metaphor, with the fleur de lis on top of a shamrock, but it worked for us.

fleur de lis on top of a shamrock, but it worked for us

Well, on the whole, I’d say the French have rather decent luck, also, so I agree that it works!!!
Better than a perhaps-more-applicable buttercream snake, at any rate!

Oooooh, gorgeous slice!!!!!!!

Thanks for the comment on the slice, I included it so you can see that the tart is quite full of peaches, which doesn’t show so much from the top view.

Yes, it’s true.  From the top view, which is fabulous, it’s like a peach custard with happy peach surprises.  But from the slice, you can clearly see that the peaches are the main event!!!!

YUM! That tart looks so creamy and delicious.  Thanks for the tips.

Julie, it’s gorgeous! 3 tries, eh? I so admire your preserverence!!!

Appreciated the notes on the tart. It’s beautiful from the top - agreed with Anne’s comparison to the sea - but also the slice really showed how many peaches are in the tart!

Love the shamrock/fleur-de-lis pastry cookies as well. And your piping is beautiful!

I do notice that you are a fan of the french tips - it seems to be one you used quite often .

Thanks, flour girl and Jenn!

Jenn, the tip is actually a small open star rather than a french tip, I think it just looks like a french tip because the cookies are so tiny- bite size.  I don’t know how I ended up with such a small shamrock cookie cutter, but it still worked out well as a small amount of leftover almond pate sucree made just enough cookies for our small family to enjoy.

Hi, Julie!

I posted this question out on the blog, but I’d thought I’d post it here, too, in case you (or anyone) had any thoughts, especially as you mention mascerating the Cascadian Farm peaches (Edit: I just read the update to your notes from above that I put into the PPB updates post, and I’m thinking maybe I can just make the tart as written after all, if the problem was more the thickness than that peach juice varies from peach to peach—thoughts?  Thanks!):

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Hello!

I have a question, please, about the ‘Peaches and Cream Tart’ from the PPB. My very wonderful boss brought me some fabulous peaches, but I can’t tell if their just a touch too ripe for this. They are ripe and have give to your thumb (but no real springback), but they’re not squishy (of course).

I was wondering if it would work to make this tart this way:

- mascerate the peaches with the sugar and reduce the juices (as for peach pie)
- put the mascerated peaches in the jellied lightly prebaked tart crust (as per the recipe)
- bake for about 10 minutes (just to get them hot)
- add the reduced juices to the mixed custard ingredients
- pour onto the peaches and bake as usual.

If this would work, could you please advise how much peach juice I would want to reduce it down to to in order to have the correct amount to mingle with the custard?

Out of curiosity, is there an advantage to baking “as written” rather than this way, especially as this could guarantee both the correct amount of peach juice and that the juice will “mingle” with the custard? I am always very interested in Rose’s choice of method—there is always so much to learn from it!!!

Thank you so much!

—ak

Anne, your suggested method sounds like it would work, but as I haven’t tested it I couldn’t say for sure.  Not sure about the ten minute baking time for the peaches, I think the main thing I learned is to go by the feel of the peaches rather than a specific time.  They should be almost done, not completely soft but feeling like they will be there soon.  My thinking is that the peach slices still give off more juice near the end of baking even though they have been macerated, so the key is not to pour on the custard too soon.

Thank you, Julie!  All this makes sense!

Wow Julie! Everything you’ve baked looks perfect and beautiful. I can’t even imagine how delicious it must be.