Easy Jam Tart

Long-distance relationships are tough. Long-distance relationships that span the Atlantic ocean, a language and 6 hour time difference, maybe doubly so. Missing my Daph is the hardest part of all. I attribute the joy I share with him with sparking new...and rekindling some old passions, like cooking. After an 8 year spell of pre-packaged, processed, preserved, frozen, companies-should-be-ashamed-to-call-this-???-food, food, when Daph visited Boston this past November, that nightmare ended. I really wanted to impress with him with real, good, home cooked meals. It worked! He loved them. And so did I. I've been reaquainting myself with my old friend, the oven, ever since.

Fruit tarts are quintessentially French, in terms of desserts. It is my deep hope that I'll get to taste all the French pastry I desire this summer in Paris. In the mean time, however, I'll make something of my own that's sweet, like love, and French, like Daph. Cheers to amour and France.



Easy Jam Tart

Recipe courtesy The amazing David Lebovitz
Adapted slightly from:
Ready for dessert: My Best Recipes
(c)Ten Speed Press


9 tablespoons (110g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups (190g) flour
1/2 cup (70g) stone-ground cornmeal or polenta
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder (preferably aluminum-free)
1 3/4 cups (450g) apricot, raspberry or other jam

Coarse sugar for sprinkling over tart.


1. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until well-combined, using either a stand or hand mixer. After the butter and sugar are combined, add in the whole egg, separated egg yolk and almond extract. Mix until combined.

2. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder. Carefully add the dry ingredients to butter mixture just until combined. The look you're going for is crumbly. *See picture below.

3. Separate one-third of the dough and form this into a log shape, approx. 2 inches around. Wrap the log into plastic and put in refrigerator to chill, about an hour. Form the remaining two-thirds of dough into a flattened round shape. *See picture below. Wrap it in plastic, and put in the refrigerator to chill, about an hour.

4. After an hour, remove the flattened round from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature slightly, about ten minutes. Press the dough into the bottom and around sides of a buttered tart or spring form pan, patting it evenly. It's okay if you don't have either of these pans. I, myself used a traditional cake pan.

5. Cover pan with plastic and put back into the refrigerator to chill again, about an hour.

6. When dough in pan has been chilled, remove from refrigerator and spread jam evenly over the bottom. *See picture below.

7. Remove the log of dough from the refrigerator, cut into thin slices (about 1/8 inch thick) and lay them over the jam in a circular motion until the jam is covered with slices (It's okay if you miss a few spots, just try to get them as close as you can.). *See picture below.
Sprinkle top with coarse sugar, about two tablespoons. I omitted the coarse sugar.

8. Bake until the tart is golden brown, between 20-25 minutes. Let come to a cool before serving. Serve at room temperature.


After the butter and sugar have been combined and the dry ingredients added and mixed until coarsely crumbled.

After the butter and sugar have been combined and the dry ingredients added and mixed until coarsely crumbled.













The log and flattened round.













When the dough is ready, with the palm of your hand, press it into the bottom and around the sides of the pan, you may need to use your fingertips to form around sides.

























I ran out of peach preserves so I rummaged the refrigerator and found two nearly empty jars of the strawberry sort.













Covering the jam with thin slices.













Did you get it?



















































Here's Mon Amour, Daph and I this past November, downtown Boston.