Gooseberry Brown Butter Tart with Almonds

Hi Guys, Sorry for my absence here on the blog.  Still cooking. 

But just add constant recipe testing and photo taking for the book, kitchen cleaning, cat serving, and culling and packing for a move to the mix.  Never a dull moment around here.

Just thought I’d pop in with a wonderfully easy and tasty way to use up all the fresh berries you guys are finding at the market these days. I don’t know about you, but when I see all the fresh blueberries, currants, gooseberries, raspberries etc, I can’t walk past them without adding them to my basket. I had extra gooseberries in the fridge that were looking rather lonely.  Instead of just turning them all into jam, I decided that some should grace a lovely dessert. This is what I made.  I love any recipe with buckwheat in the mix, and the brown butter adds a lovely touch.  Brown butter really does make everything better!

Tip for prepping gooseberries: Use a pair of scissors to trim the top and tail of your berries. It goes pretty fast.

I found a lovely recipe by Izy Hossack for a Gooseberrry Tart. Her’s is a riff on a Raspberry Tart from Bon Appetit. It isn’t easy to find a lot of options for just gooseberry desserts.  Most often they are combined with other berries, due to their tart nature.  But I love their tartness, and with just the right amount of sugar, that tartness can be the star. Not so much sugar that the tartness gets overpowered by pure sweetness.  Along with turning them into a fool, a dessert like this one is just a perfect way to showcase them.

The crust is super easy, you don’t even have to roll out the dough.  Just press it into the tart pan.  Here’s my tip for press-in dough: start with the sides first.  Once they are finished, you can use all the remainder to cover the bottom of the tart pan.  If you need more, just push some gently off the sides down into the middle.  I love that Issy uses buckwheat.  In fact, if she hadn’t already done so, I would have!!  A quick pre-bake, and it’s ready to get filled.

Then the filling is made.  Think of the filling as a cross between a chess-type filling and a clafoutis or even a frangipane filling.  Eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour and most importantly, brown butter come together to create a wonderful filling. The brown butter gives it a wonderful earthy depth.

The fruit is gently laid into the filling. I decided that for a bit of texture, slivered almonds would be the perfect finish. There is almond extract in the filling, so this is a natural choice, right?  Adds that perfect crunch against all the creaminess of the finished filling. It all gets baked, and the filling puffs up around the berries.  The berries burst and release their juices into the filling to create a jammy goodness once it is all set.  A perfect balance of sweet and tart.  Serve it with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream, or not.  I don’t need it. Jim doesn’t think it’s dessert without that scoop!

Use this recipe for all your leftover berries.  The sugar amount is not so overwhelming. But you could omit a bit, if your berries are extra sweet.

Can’t believe we are into August.  Despite the low-key summer due to Covid, it is still flying by!  Next thing I know, it will be tomato canning time!!  Hope you all are making the most of every sunny, summery moment.

Love Jen

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Gooseberry Brown Butter Tart with Almonds

A simple rustic tart that showcases summer berries. Pleasantly tart gooseberries are the star here, but feel free to substitute your favourite berries, or even plums or apricots.

Course Dessert

Keyword brown butter, buckwheat, gooseberries

Prep Time 35 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Servings 8

Ingredients

Crust

• 100 grams (7 tablespoons/ 3.5 ounces) unsalted butter
• 50 grams (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 60 grams (1/2 cup) buckwheat flour
• 70 grams (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) AP flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 110 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract optional
• 30 grams (1/4 cup) AP flour
• 350-400 grams (12.5-14.2 ounces) gooseberries, slicing the extra large ones in half
• 1 Tbsp slivered almonds or more, to your liking

Instructions

Crust

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). This filling is enough for a 9-inch tart or cake tin with a removable base.
2. Place the butter (for the crust) in a medium pot and melt over a medium heat. Once melted down, set it aside to cool down a bit.
3. Combine the remaining crust ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour in the cooled down butter and mix until combined.
4. Crumble the crust dough into the tart/cake tin all over the base. Starting with the sides of the pan, press the crust in an even layer around. Once finished with the sides, use the rest for the the base. You should have enough for 1 inch sides, plus an even bottom. Use excess from the sides if needed to achieve an even layer across the bottom.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes on the middle rack until the crust is starting to go golden and just slightly puffy. Remove from the oven and set on a cooling rack.

Filling

1. Use the pot you used earlier to for melting the butter and add the 110g (1/2 cup) of butter for the filling to the pot. Place the pot over a medium-low heat and allow the butter to melt. It will foam up and smells nutty when ready (about 10 minutes or so. Remove from the heat and stir to prevent the butter solids from sticking to the pot. The butter should be golden with brown flecks at the bottom of the pot. Set it aside to cool down.
2. In a medium bowl (you can use the bowl you used earlier for the crust) combine the sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla extract and almond extract. Whisk together to combine until smooth.
3. While stirring, pour a thin stream of the browned butter into the egg mixture. Stop after adding a tbsp or so. Let the mixture temper so that any residual heat tempers the eggs. Then add the rest until all poured in (including the browned bits at the bottom of the pot). Add the flour and stir to combine.

4. Pour the filling into the baked crust. Top with the gooseberries. Sprinkle the slivered almonds over the berries. Place the tart pan onto a baking sheet.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes on the middle rack until the filling is golden, puffed and set. A skewer should come out relatively clean. Set aside on a wire rack to cool completely before cutting and serving. The tart can also be chilled to completely set the filling if needed.

Recipe Notes

You can replace the gooseberries with just about any berry you desire. Raspberries, blueberries, even slices of apricot or plums would be great.

Here is the link to Izy's recipe.  The link to the original Bon Appetit recipe is in her blog post.