Recipe: Sono Baking Company Jam Tartlets and Pate Sucree (sweet dough)

JAM TARTLETS

"It's easy to underestimate just how delicious these easy little tartlets are. The crust is crisp and buttery, the jam a little sharp, and the streusel nice and sweet. They are perfect little mouthfuls. They were inspired by a visit to a L.A. Burdick Bakery in Walpole, New Hampshire, where I stopped on my way back home from bread-baking classes at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Norwich, Vermont. These tartlets are excellent served as an after-school snack, for tea, or for a picnic, as they travel quite well and don't need to be refrigerated. Try them with any favorite jam. You will need 2-inch mini tart pans or rings, as shown here, to make these individual tartlets."

1/2 recipe Pate Sucree (recipe below), chilled
FOR THE STRUESEL:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam (for filling)
3 to 4 tablespoons of confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick silicone baking mat; set aside. Butter sixteen 2-inch tart molds; set aside.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Cut as many 2 1/2-inch rounds as possible, and fit them into the prepared molds. Chill and reroll the scraps, cut out the remaining rounds, and fit them into the remaining molds; you should be able to line 16 tartlet molds. Arrange the molds on the prepared baking sheet, and chill for 20 minutes.

TO MAKE THE STREUSEL:
In a medium bowl, use a fork to stir together the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the butter, and using your fingertips, quickly work into the dry ingredients until pea-size crumbs form; set aside in the refrigerator.

TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE:
Set the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spoon about 1 teaspoon jam into each tart shell. Mound 1 rounded tablespoon of streusel on top of each tartlet, bunching the crumbs together in order to make large crumbs and give the topping texture.

Bake, rotating the baking sheet about two-thirds of the way through the cooking time, until the edges of the tarts are golden brown and the streusel is cooked, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

PATE SUCREE
Makes enough for one double-crust or two single-crust 9-inch pies

This sweet dough incorporates both egg and egg yolk to form a sweet and rich crust for pies and tarts.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

In a bowl, whisk the flour to aerate it; set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through. Add the egg and yolk, and mix to combine. Add the flour and beat until it has been absorbed.

Scoop about half of the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, shape into a flattened disk, and wrap in the plastic. Do the same for the other half. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.

TECHNIQUE TIP:
Roll sweet dough with as little flour as possible - too much flour makes the dough break and alters the recipe. Instead, when the dough starts to stick, slide an offset spatula or bench scraper underneath, freeing the dough, continuing to turn it as you do so.

Makes about 16 mini tartlets
Source: The SoNo Baking Company Cookbook by John Barricelli