If you can make cookies, you can make Sweet Tart Dough. The pastry comes together easily and provides a firm and buttery base for your favourite tart filling. Using butter rather than shortening makes a delicious but delicate pastry with a crisp cookie-like texture.
Roll the dough between parchment paper and plastic wrap (plastic on top to see the dough) to prevent the dough from sticking to your work surface and rolling pin. If the dough becomes too soft, chill in the refrigerator then start again.
Makes Two 10” Tarts or 4 Dozen 2” Tarts
■ 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
■ 1 cup sugar
■ 1/4 tsp table salt
■ 2 large eggs, room temperature
■ 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Combine the softened butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand-up mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and shape it into a disk about 1” thick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350℉.
Transfer the chilled dough to a sheet of parchment dusted with flour. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on top and roll the dough to about 1/8” thick, from the center toward the pastry’s edge in all directions. If the dough becomes too soft to work with, place it in the fridge until it firms up again.
Remove the plastic wrap and, using your tart mold as a guide, cut the dough about an inch wider the mold for large starts (about half an inch for small tarts). Line the mold with the pastry, pressing the dough against the sides, and trim the edges.
Cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm. Pastry can be stored in the fridge, unbaked, for two days or in the freezer for up to six weeks.
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