[ Equipment: oven or slow cooker with temperature control. For more information about the terminology in this recipe, see Low Temperature Baking: A Journey of 3 Paths ].
The term crustless refers to the lack of a pastry crust. These tarts are all "filling", the fruits embedded in a leavened pastry cream batter. The pictures above show 2 versions of the crustless tart. The top one has the lighter batter, cherries and delicate top crust. The bottom tart is denser, firmer and packed with blueberries. They are variations on Rachel Allen's No-Pastry Pear and Almond Tart, which she demonstrated in an episode of her TV show (see a picture of Allen's tart here).
Clafoutis may be the most famous no-pastry tart, but her tart was not a clafoutis, which has a wetter batter at nearly 4 times the level of hydration (compared with Julia Child's clafoutis recipe). Rather, the batter's ingredient roster suggested a frangipane, an almond pastry cream, but formulated with a higher ratio of flour to almond meal and leavened with aerated egg whites to create a texture and body closer to that of a cake.
In my version of this recipe, I kept the Allen's flour-to-almond-meal ratio (about 1:1 by volume), but changed out the butter for a combination of olive oil and milk. My experience has been that butter tends to dry out LTB cakes. As to the choice of oil, I thought the fruitiness of an extra virgin olive oil made it a fine substitute for butter in this recipe, adding both fat and flavor to the batter and blending nicely with the cherries and blueberries. Unlike conventional baking, LTB will preserve the taste of the olive oil. The oil's only a partial substitution for the full amount of butter to keep the calorie count down, although at 410 calories per tart, it's not diet food. Milk covers the remainder for hydration.
I also experimented with the amount and preparation of the egg whites and the addition of egg yolks. In Allen's recipe, the egg whites were beaten for 30 seconds until frothy and then mixed into the frangipane batter. The air in the whites, invigorated by a 400°F/200°C oven, blew up the tart. However, an LTB oven at 250°F/121°C doesn't develop that kind of puffing heat, so the volume of the raw whites pretty much sets the height. With that limitation in mind, I tried whites beaten to the foam stage (stabilized with lemon juice) and beaten to the stiff peak stage. With the stiff-peak whites, the tart baked up like a cottony chiffon cake, but tasted and felt like a light almond cream as it dissolved in the mouth. The tart with the foamed whites came out moist and dense, like a traditional frangipane.
Both types are described in this recipe. Type 1 has the stiff-peak egg white and cherry fruit. Type 2 incorporates the foamed egg whites and blueberries. Although the overall hydration is about the same in both recipes, the type 2 has less milk (and twice as much egg white). I recommend a superfine or baker's sugar for the type 2, because it will dissolve faster or more thoroughly in the reduced hydration of batter prior to folding in the egg whites.
What did I do with the leftover egg yolks? Well, I saved them for other things like custard-base ice milks and enriched scrambled eggs. I did try a type 1 tart with a yolk (shown above on the left). It tasted too eggy, too much like a cake, really overpowering the fruit. On the other hand, the yolk tart held its shape better, no cracks in the top crust, and with a denser texture, like a type 2 tart. In the type 1 recipe, I list an optional amount of ground flax seed to get some of the cohesion of an egg yolk without its standout flavor.
Makes 2 mini tarts
- 410 calories per tart
- Oven Temperature: 250°F/121°C
Type 1 (stiff-peak egg white batter):
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/8 teaspoon ground flax seed (optional, see text)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1/8 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
- 8 cherries, pitted and sliced lengthwise in half
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 egg whites
- 1/8 teaspoon lemon or lime juice
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup fresh blueberries
1. Grease 2 4-inch mini tart pans and set aside. The non-stick pans above were greased and floured, but did not release much better than pans that were greased only.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour and almond meal. Mix in the sugar and combine thoroughly. Instead of sifting, I will put the flour, almond meal and sugar in the bowl and rub it between my hands to combine them and eliminate any lumps.
3. Type 1 tart: in another bowl, whip the egg white with the tablespoon of sugar, lemon juice and salt until it reaches the stiff peak stage.
Type 2 tart: in another bowl, whip the egg whites with the lemon juice and salt until it becomes a light foam. A fork is perfectly adequate for this job.
4. Add milk and olive oil to the flour mixture and whisk until well combined. Note: the type 2 batter will be much thicker in this step because it has less milk.
5. Type 1 tart: Fold the stiffened egg white into the batter.
Type 2 tart: Gently mix the foamed egg whites into the batter.
6. Fill each tart pan about 3/4 full of batter.
7. Place cherries cut-side up in batter or sprinkle blueberries into batter. The cherry tart on the left is a type 1. The one with blueberries on the right is a type 2.
8. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Remove to a rack and cool. Note that type 1 tarts will sink and crack as they cool.
9. Unmold and serve. As seen in the first picture above, the top crust on the type 1 (cherry) tart breaks apart easily. I saved the pieces and reassembled them on the tart once it was unmolded. I garnished the cherry tart with chopped walnuts.
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