Roasted Apricot and Ricotta Tart
/This simple, summer fruit tart is made with a no-bake ricotta cheesecake filling and topped with honey roasted apricots and spiced pistachios.
‘Tis the season for buying all of the fresh summer produce and piling them into buttery-crusts! Summer is my very favorite baking season because fruit and veggies are in abundance and they really don’t need much coaxing to shine in easy-peasy desserts. This roasted apricot and ricotta tart is a beautiful way to showcase those little golden gems, it’s endlessly adaptable and it will be on repeat in our house this summer.
short crust pastry for tarts
The base of this tart, and really any fruit tart, is a simple short crust pastry. There are three main types of pastry: pâte brissée, pâte sucrée, and pâte sablée. Pâte brissée is your basic pie crust that can be used in sweet or savory applications. The word brisée in French means broken, which makes sense due to the flaky, delicate layers in traditional pie crust. Pâte sucrée is a sweeter crust, traditionally used in tarts. The process is similar to brisée in that butter is worked into dry ingredients, but usually includes the addition of an egg yolk, which shortens the gluten strands in the crust and gives a crumblier, more moist texture. Finally, pâte sablée, or sandy crust, is a more cookie-like crust made with more sugar than the other two and uses the creaming method for mixing. For this tart, and most of our other fruit tarts, we are using a basic pâte sucrée for the base.
I incorporated a bit of spelt flour because I love to play with alternative flours, but you can certainly make this crust using 100% all purpose flour. You could also substitute the spelt flour for an equal amount (by weight) of rye flour or even semolina flour. When experimenting with incorporating alternative flours, I always start at 25% of the total flour weight.
a no-bake ricotta cream filling
The filling for this tart is reminiscent of a cheesecake filling—tangy and lightly sweetened. It’s made by simply creaming together whole-milk ricotta cheese and softened cream cheese until smooth, and then adding a bit of powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and lemon zest. Everything is beaten until very smooth and then poured into the baked crust and allowed to set for at least 4 hours. If you’d like to swap out the ricotta, mascarpone would be a great substitution.
how to make an apricot tart
Apricots are such fun fruits and they are only available for a short window of time so I really wanted them to shine in this tart. Roasting fruit allows helps to gently caramelize them, pulling out and highlighting all of the residual sweetness. Since apricots can be a bit on the tart side, roasting helps the sharpness to mellow out a bit. Pitted apricots are tossed in honey and lemon juice and then allowed to roast in a 350° F oven for 20-30 minutes, until soft and bubbling.
To make the tart, we start with a simple shortcrust pastry. Flour, sugar, and salt are blitzed with cold butter in a food processor, then an egg yolk and a bit of water is added until a dough begins to come together. The dough is pressed together, wrapped, and chilled, before being rolled out and baked in a tart pan.
While the tart shell is cooling, the ricotta filling is whipped together and then poured into the tart shell. Roasted apricots are piled on top and the whole thing heads to the refrigerator for a long chill. Before serving, the tart is sprinkled with spiced pistachios.
Roasted Apricot and Ricotta Tart
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp (175 g) all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp (50 g) powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp ice water
- 10 apricots, pitted and quartered
- 1 tbsp honey
- Pinch of kosher salt
- Juice of 1/2 of a large lemon
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 8 oz whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 cup (140 g) pistachios
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp coriander
- 1/4 tsp cardamom
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Pulse once or twice and then add the cubed butter. Pulse again for about 30 seconds, until butter is broken up into pea-sized pieces. Add the egg yolk and water and continue to pulse just until dough begins to come together.
- Turn dough out onto a work surface and gently knead into a disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, and up to 24 hours.
- When the dough has chilled, place it between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out to a circle about 11” in diameter and 1/4” thickness. Gently transfer the crust to a 9” tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the sides and bottom into the pan and then trim edges. Dock the crust with a fork and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375° F. Bake chilled crust for 15-17 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. Remove the crust from the oven and let cool completely. *Crust can be make a day ahead, wrapped loosely, and stored at room temperature. *
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- In a large bowl, combine pitted and quartered apricots, 1 tbsp honey, a pinch of salt, and the juice of half of a lemon. Stir to coat and transfer to a baking dish.
- Roast for 25-30 minutes until apricots are soft and begin to caramelize. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- Meanwhile, using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add the ricotta and continue to beat until there are no more chunks and mixture is combined. Add the powdered sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Continue to mix until everything is well incorporated and cream is light and fluffy.
- Pour ricotta cream into baked tart shell and use an offset spatula or spoon to smooth into an even layer. Top with cooled, roasted apricots and transfer the entire tart to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or until set.
- Just before serving, make the spiced pistachios. Preheat oven to 350° F. Toss pistachios, olive oil, honey, and spices together in a large bowl until everything is well-coated. Transfer nuts to a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Bake for 10-15 minutes until deeply golden and caramelized. Let cool completely and then roughly chop. Sprinkle spiced pistachios over finished tart and serve immediately.
Notes:
This tart is endlessly adaptable:
- You can substitute any fruit for the apricots, just keep an eye on them as they roast since different fruits may need a shorter or longer baking time.
- Swap ricotta for mascarpone cheese.
- If you really don't want to turn on your oven, you can easily trade the tart crust for a simple cookie crust. Here's a recipe that you could use.
