Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

Do you have a dessert good enough for strangers in your repertoire? Um, now you do. Holy crap, dudes. That was my reaction after bite one: when is the next time I'm going to be cooking for people, because I want to make THIS for dessert.

Start with a pretty straightforward crust of butter, flour and sugar. I had to add a little extra butter and flour to stretch the recipe - my tart pan is 10 inches, not the 9 inch called for by the recipe.

Stand up the raspberries shoulder to shoulder.

Twelve ounces of berries filled my tart pan fine, but next time I may go with a mix of raspberries and black berries.

Whisk together a couple of eggs and some sugar, and brown a stick of butter. Browning the butter separates the milk solids from the fat, and then the solids hang out on the bottom of the pan getting all toasty and nutty brown. Whisk the whole thing together, then pour it evenly over the berries until they juuust peek out the top.

This is hard part #1: do your best not to lick the oven door while it bakes, because WHOA does it smell good. Look, the raspberries turned into jam! JAM!

While you're letting it cool to room temperature (TORTURE, or hard part #2), make dinner. It doesn't even matter what it is, because this tart will be distracting everyone from over there on the counter.


Brown Butter Raspberry Tart
Adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2009

I've adapted the crust to fill a 10-inch removable bottom tart pan. Click the link above if you want the 9-inch pan measurements.

CRUST
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 375 with a rack in the center. Using a fork, mix together the melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Add the flour and salt and stir. As the butter cools, the mixture will get more and more crumbly. Using your fingertips, press small pieces of dough into the sides of the pan. Spread crumbles of dough in the center of the tart pan, then use your fingers to fuse the pieces together and press it into an even layer. Bake for 18 minutes, until the crust is slightly puffed and light golden brown. Set the crust aside to cool while you work on the filling. Maintain the oven temperature.

FILLING
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
pinch of salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 6-ounce containers fresh raspberries

Whisk the eggs, sugar, and pinch of salt in a medium bowl until smooth, then add the flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth again. Set aside.

Have a glass measuring cup ready. In a small sauce pan with a light colored bottom, melt the butter, stirring with a wooden spoon. It will foam, and then the foam will subside. You will be able to see the milk solids on the bottom of the pan, keep stirring so they don't stick. The solids will start to turn brown, but watch them carefully! They'll go from deep nutty brown, which you want, to burnt (no thank you) in a matter of moments. When the butter has browned, immediately transfer it to the glass measuring cup. Slowly whisk the browned butter into the egg mixture, do this a little at a time so the eggs don't scramble.

Stand the raspberries up in the cooled crust, pointy side up, in concentric circles. Carefully and evenly pour the egg and butter mixture over the berries. Bake the tart until the filling is puffed and golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 40-45 minutes. Mine was ready at 43 minutes. Cool the tart completely in the pan on the rack. When the tart is cool, remove the sides of the pan, cut the tart into wedges and serve. Buttermilk ice cream makes an excellent accompaniment.

Serves 8-10, depending how generous your slices are.