French Orange Cream Tart

I haven’t turned on my computer since Saturday night. I think that might be a recent record, which I’m going to celebrate, despite it making me a day late with this post! Jay gave his notice to his (now previous) employer a couple of weeks ago, and his last day was Friday. He decided to take a week off, before he starts a new job at a very early stage start-up on the 8th. I decided to take a couple of days and join him, and we figured we’d go on a short road trip to visit my aunt & uncle and do a little exploring in their neck of the woods. I’m going to be out of town next week for PTC Live, so we thought this would be a good opportunity to spend a little quality time together. I made this French Orange Cream Tart on Saturday, along with a Ricotta loaf (post to come tomorrow), planning to take them to my family’s for Sunday dinner. Unfortunately, Sunday morning, Jay woke up with a fever and he still hasn’t fully recovered. So, instead, we spent some quality movie-watching time, I made meals (super rare, in our house), and the big event of today was me mowing the lawn. Woo!

I think I’ve said this before, but I love making pies & tarts. They can look “rustic” or sophisticated and nobody cares either way, as long as there’s good flavour and texture. With cakes, there’s often an expectation that they look polished, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for these guys. Besides, it’s always a good time when you have to go to the workshop for baking equipment.

This crust is pretty simple: process turbinado sugar & butter, add flour (and salt), then egg yolk and cream. Let it rest in the fridge for a bit, then roll it out and shape it into the pan. Let it rest in the pan for a bit (fridge or freezer), then bake.

Next the filling. Also easy peasy.

Process orange and lemon zest with sugar until fine.

Add egg yolks (112 grams precisely)…

…and more cream, along with lemon & orange juices (reduced to concentrate the flavours). Pour it into the tart shell.

Before you’re ready to serve it, dust it with icing sugar…

..and get out the blow torch.

Listen to your husband when he requests that you not burn the house down. It’s a reasonable request!

And that’s it! Really, aside from the time spent resting the crust and the time in the oven, this probably didn’t take more than 20 minutes to put together. I love recipes like that. Big payoff for very little actual effort.

Verdict? I’m the only one who’s had any, since Jay’s appetite hasn’t been the greatest. I love it. I think I probably would add a bit more sugar to the top next time, but the combination of orange and caramelized sugar is fantastic. The little bit of lemon juice adds to the citrus punch without making it lemony. It’s like an orange creamsicle without the frozen, and in a crust. The crust means you can grab a slice without dirtying a fork. 😉 And what could possibly be better than having an excuse to play with fire when you’re baking?