Summer Fruit Pastries That Won’t Freak You Out

This is a time of unrivaled plenty. The fruits of a beneficent season are everywhere. Plums and peaches and pears, oh my! But for many of us, there is a dark side to this abundance. We see crates of nectarines and we quail. A blow-out on berries sends us scurrying into the kitchen shadows.

We are the pastry-impaired. And we are legion.

For us, the season’s bounty is nothing but a constant rebuke. Every gorgeous piece of fruit reminds us of a pie crust attempted and every pie crust. . . . I’m breaking out in hives already.

It’s not really that bad. After many years and many (well-documented) experiments, I’ve learned to make a fairly decent pie crust. In fact, I’ve gotten to the point where I kind of like doing it.

That doesn’t mean I don’t feel your pain, though. I still approach pastry with a mixture of anticipation and dread. Though it’s fun when it works, in the back of my mind there is always a nagging doubt.

The irrefutable truth about making a great pie crust is that it is a matter of touch. That is both its beauty and its curse. No simple recipe can show you the way; a pie crust is more than the sum of its ingredients. It demands practice and it demands touch.

Still, let’s pull back a moment. Though a perfect pie crust is no doubt an admirable goal, it is not the end-all and be-all of life. A flaky pastry surrounding melting ripe fruit is one of the high points of American cuisine, but is it worth the anguish?

Fortunately for those who share my pie crust affliction, there are a couple of shortcuts. Though neither will give you that iconic apple pie someone else’s Mom surely made, you will get a quite-splendid dessert. Except for the truly obsessed, I’d count that a fair trade.

The first trick is called a crisp, a wonderfully appropriate name. Think about it: What is a crust for? Providing a textural counterpoint to the soft fruit filling is one good answer. OK, what if you could do that with a mixture that comes together in seconds, that doesn’t require rolling out and that you can apply by the spoonful rather than with cutting and fitting?

I thought so.

A crisp is nothing more than a pie filling (cut-up fruit tossed with sugar and a little something to thicken the juices), layered in a baking dish and topped with some kind of mixture that will crunch after it has been baked.

There are all kinds of topping mixtures, but my favorite is 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup butter and 1 cup flour. This makes enough to top a 13x9-inch baking dish pretty generously.

It’s flexible, too. You can add as much as 1/3 cup of toasted nuts to it if you want. Toasted almonds are a nice complement to nectarines. I also like to add a teaspoon or so of ground cinnamon when the fruit seems to me to need it. That was great with a rhubarb crisp recently. Some cooks add raw oatmeal, but I find that usually leads to less crunch rather than more.

Crisps aren’t very fancy, but they are quite delicious, especially when you serve them warm with a nice scoop of good vanilla ice cream on the side. If you want something more presentable, you’re just going to have to break down and get rolling. There’s a shortcut here too, though.

The typical American pie crust is flaky. It requires careful manipulation of fat and liquid to get those puffy, crisp layers. You have to leave the butter in large enough chunks so that when they melt, they leave air pockets. But not so big that you get a greasy pastry. You need to add enough water so that the flour develops enough gluten to hold it together, but not so much that it becomes tough.

A European tart dough, however, is much easier to manipulate. Here’s why: Rather than having to pussyfoot around the water and the butter, you cut the butter into the flour thoroughly before adding any liquid at all. Though this means you don’t get any flakes, it also means that it’s harder to get tough dough. The butter coats the flour, waterproofing it and delaying the development of gluten.

This gives you a crust that is called “short” rather than flaky. Think of it as the texture of a shortbread and you’ll get the picture. Though it is possible to overwork the dough, it is more difficult. You can very easily make this in a food processor, working the dough until it fully comes together--something that you can’t do to make a flaky pastry. You can even knead it a little after it has come together; it should feel silky to the touch, like really fine modeling clay.

Traditionally, fruit tarts are made by filling the crust with a layer of pastry cream, then arranging the fruit on top. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, but I also like them simply spread with warmed jelly, to which you have added a little lemon juice. This gives a nice tart counterpoint to the sweet fruit.

The main point, though, is that it is easier. After all, making dessert shouldn’t require a support group.

*

Lavender Fig Tart

Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

PASTRY SHELL

1 1/4 cups flour plus extra flour for rolling

1 tablespoon sugar

Pinch salt

1/2 cup butter plus extra for greasing

2 to 3 tablespoons water

* Combine flour, sugar, salt and butter in food processor or mixing bowl and cut together until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly, until mixture just begins to come together. Remove from bowl and knead lightly and briefly to make smooth mass. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

* When chilled, remove plastic wrap and place dough on well-floured work surface. Roll out into circle roughly 11 inches in diameter. Fold in quarters and transfer to buttered 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Unfold and gently press into pan. Trim rim 1 inch from pan edge and fold extra dough between pan and dough rim to make taller edge. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

* Bake at 425 degrees until firm and rim begins to brown, about 10 minutes.

FIG FILLING

1 pound fresh figs

1 (8-ounce) jar raspberry jam

1 tablespoon water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon minced lavender leaves

Barely sweetened whipped cream

* Trim stems from figs and cut crosses in tops, coming down nearly to bottom, so fig will open like a flower. Heat jam, water and lemon juice over medium-high heat until smooth and flowing. Cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Pour mixture through strainer into baked tart crust. Spread evenly across bottom.

* Arrange figs in tart, pressing them open first and then arranging to cover as much of bottom as possible. Combine sugar and lavender in small bowl and stir to combine. Strain out chunks of lavender and sprinkle flavored sugar over top of figs. Bake at 425 degrees until figs soften, about 10 minutes. Cool slightly and serve with whipped cream.

6 to 8 servings. Each of 8 servings: 321 calories; 151 mg sodium; 31 mg cholesterol; 12 grams fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.73 gram fiber.