The Sweetest Thing: Raspberry Crumble Tart

It was not one but two co-workers’ birthdays this week, so I had some serious baking to do.  I kept it easy this week.  Just two fruit tarts, one with great success, the other… not as much.  One thing you’ll learn about baking in a toaster oven is that it’s just not even heat.  This is fine for most of what I cook.  You can turn a roast around during cooking so that it doesn’t get too done on one side, but with baking, it’s a little trickier and a whole lot more devastating when it doesn’t go your way!  This is what happened with my otherwise delicious and beautiful raspberry tart – it burned.  Now, I still brought it into work and it was still happily eaten, but I was mortified!  C’est la vie.  Here’s this week’s Sweetest Thing lesson: next time, always watch the tart! 

Raspberry Crumble Tart (adapted from Ina Garten)

Ingredients

2 c. all purpose flour (I didn’t try it, but next time I would only use 1 ½ c. flour – I thought 2 was much too much)

¾ c. chopped walnuts

1 ½ sticks butter, cold and chopped

1 egg yolk

¾ c. brown sugar

2 pints raspberries (or other berry, the original recipe calls for plums)

2 tbsp. raspberry jam

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, walnuts, sugar.  Add butter and combine.  Add the egg yolk and mix until just combined (it should be the consistency of a crumble.) Press 1 ½ c. of dough into a 9 inch tart pan and reserve rest for the top.  Spoon the jam into the center of the pan and spread out to a thin layer (I did not cover the whole bottom of the tart, but you’re welcome to!) arrange the raspberries in circles around the pan and spread the crumble over the top of the raspberries. Bake for 30 minutes – but watch it!