Grape and Raspberry Cheese Tart

Don't you just hate those fancy cookbooks with the delicious looking high-end recipes that have expensive and hard to find ingredients? I find myself staring at the pretty pictures in those books knowing I will never be able to find or afford the equipment and ingredients needed to make them. This recipe started out as one of those recipes.

I found this recipe in my "Best-Ever Pastry Cookbook" I have been eye-balling it for several years now, waiting for the perfect time to make it. The recipe looked intimidating at first (that is why it took me so long to actually make it) with ingredients like "plain four" "vanilla essence" "apricot conserve" "farmer's cheese" and "caster sugar". But after deciphering the language it was rather easy: all-purpose flour, vanilla extract, apricot jam, cream cheese, and fine sugar.

I loved this tart. Usually I don't like tarts that much...they look beautiful, but they lack in the flavor department. This one has tons of flavor. The cheese filling paired with the raspberries and grapes is divine. It is a creamy and fresh filling contained in a flaky and buttery shell.

The original recipe is a bit different from what I actually made (as often happens when I cook). In the original it calls for individual tarts, only red grapes, and farmers/curd cheese (I still have no idea what that is). However, mine was delicious and I wouldn't change a thing...even if I could find and afford those fancy ingredients...

Grape and Raspberry Cheese Tart

* This is my simplified recipe based off Red Grape and Cheese Tartlets in the "Best-Ever Pastry Cookbook by Catherine Atkinson"


For the Tart shell
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cups butter (1 stick and 2 Tablespoons)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon chilled water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling
8 oz Cream Cheese
1/3 cup Milk
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1cup grapes**
1 cup fresh raspberries**
4 Tablespoons apricot jam***
1 Tablespoon water***

**You could use any fresh berry for this dessert but grapes and cheese go amazingly together.
***I didn't do the jam topping. Partly because I forget and partly because when I remembered I was too lazy to do it.

To make Pastry, put flour, cinnamon, and sugar into a food processor and mix. Add chunks of butter one at a time while the food processor is running until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the egg, water, and vanilla and keep processing until the mixture comes together into a smooth dough. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out pastry and line your tart pan. Prick the base with a fork. Bake for 6 minutes or just until dough is lightly browned. DO NOT OVER BAKE. Nothing is worse than a hard and brittle pie shell. Remove from shell and cool.

For the filling, beat cream cheese, milk, vanilla, and sugar together in a small bowl. Pour into cooled tart shell. Top with berries and grapes.

Put apricot jam and water into a sauce pan and heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly until smooth and glossy. Spoon glaze over berries. Leave to cool, then refrigerate until ready to serve.