Tart

A signature holiday pie—pumpkin—is reinterpreted as a dinner-party dessert for any time of year. If you don’t have the exact pans called for, just be sure that the pastry shells are slightly larger than the flans.

Lemon tarts are perennially popular, and this brûléed one has garnered most-favored-dessert status among Martha Stewart Living readers since it was first published in the magazine back in 1992. With its caramelized top, vibrant filling, and buttery crust, the eye- and palate-pleasing tart is sure to garner more rave reviews for many years to come. You can also make it in an 8-inch round tart pan.

Think of one of these glistening tarts as an elegant interpretation of a beloved candy bar: One bite into the chocolate crust reveals a center of soft caramel and toasted nuts. Each batch fills six small tartlet pans (or a seven-inch round tart pan). Vary them by topping some with chocolate ganache and others with chocolate shavings. To make shavings, spread leftover chocolate from step 4 on a baking sheet; refrigerate until firm, then scrape with a knife or a dough scraper.

Clafoutis, a rich, creamy custard dessert from the French countryside, is made from a quickly blended batter that is usually poured over fruit and baked. Cherries are the traditional choice, but other stone fruits, such as sliced apricots and plums, as well as berries and figs, are good options. Here, clafoutis makes an unexpected—and utterly delectable—filling for individual tarts.

More than other types of chocolate, milk chocolate melts in the mouth like butter, with a luscious taste and texture. It partners well with all varieties of nuts. Here, pistachios are mixed into the cookie crust, ground into a paste and spread over the partially baked crust, and sprinkled on top as a garnish. Slicing the tart reveals a “racing stripe” formed by the paste between the dark crust and filling.

Old-fashioned yet quietly innovative, this custard tart is satisfyingly rich and creamy. It’s also unsparing with the dominant spice, nutmeg—and all the better as a result.

A crisp pâte sucrée shell and fresh strawberry sauce set off an inverted serving of panna cotta (Italian for “cooked cream”). Just a bit of balsamic vinegar in the sauce brings out the flavor of the fruit. If the strawberries are very sweet, you won’t need as much sugar—use an amount at the lower end of the range in step five.

Ethereal mousse, made by folding chocolate ganache into sweetened whipped cream, is firmly rooted in a humble cookie-crumb-and-nut crust. Candied hazelnuts are sprinkled on top.

Crème brûlée—a French restaurant favorite whose name means “burned cream”—is delicious all on its own, but even more so when baked in a crisp tart shell. A kitchen torch is used to caramelize the sugar on the surface of the custard, producing spectacular color and crackle. If you don’t have a kitchen torch, use the broiler: chill the tarts for half an hour, then broil them for about a minute. For the best results, prepare the tarts no more than one day in advance, and wait to brûlée them until just before serving. This way, the shells will remain firm and crumbly, and the topping will retain its trademark sheen.

Few desserts are as vibrantly seasonal and—contrary to its eye-catching appearance—as downright simple as this. Sliced apricots arranged in alternating rows lie on a bed of rich pistachio paste atop puff pastry. Chopped pistachios are scattered on top.

What’s more appealing than a batch of fresh-baked, half-moon-shaped pies filled with rich homemade apple butter? Nothing, except maybe a batch of hand pies filled with an assortment of colorful, tasty fruit butters (try peach, plum, apricot, or pear). If you are making your own apple butter, choose eating apples, such as Mutsu, Gala, or Golden Delicious.

A homemade dessert does not have to be complicated. This tart involves little more than assembling a few staples from the freezer and the pantry. Think of it as a deconstructed chocolate-almond croissant—one meant for the end of a meal, rather than the start of the day.

Small puff-pastry squares make great vessels for summer fruits steeped in honey and fresh lime juice. The technique for making the shells is similar to that used to create the French pastries known as vol-au-vents (or “flying in the wind,” so called for their ethereal texture). Vol-au-vents are traditionally filled with savory fillings and served as a first course. Here, plums and strawberries fill the pastries for the last course; feel free to substitute other fresh berries or stone fruits, and to garnish each with a tiny dollop of whipped cream, if you wish.

Consider this a sweet blending of culinary tastes and traditions. As in many Italian desserts, the fruit is minimally sweetened, and seasoned simply with fresh citrus zests. Apples are sautéed until golden, then tumbled onto a round of rich pastry dough to create a crostata. The whole thing is finished with a crumb topping with subtle hints of two classic Thanksgiving pie spices, cinnamon and allspice, and served with another all-American favorite, vanilla ice cream.

Prunes, or dried plums (as they are sometimes called), become downright irresistible when drenched in a flavorful concoction of red wine, sugar, cinnamon, and freshly squeezed orange juice. Here, the poached fruit gets baked atop puff pastry for an easy, elegant dessert.

Crisp, flaky sheets of phyllo topped with sugar-coated Pluots celebrate simplicity and summer at once. Pluots, a cross between plums and apricots, are available at farmers’ markets and many supermarkets; feel free to substitute any other stone fruit. Have a clean, damp kitchen towel ready to cover the unused sheets of phyllo dough and keep them from drying out while you work.

This late-summer last course offers the opportunity to experience the pleasure of perfect peaches, enhanced only slightly by flaky pastry shells and an easy wine glaze. The peach flavor remains largely unadulterated—just dressed up a bit for dinner. Guests will thank you for your generosity in sharing such a singular taste of the season.

Here’s a great weeknight dessert option—no rolling pin required. The cream cheese dough comes together quite easily, and is simply patted into a thin round. A single pear is thinly sliced, then tossed in a bowl with pear brandy, sugar, and lemon juice. The mixture is then fanned out over the dough before baking. Whipped cream makes a nice accompaniment, as does a snifter of pear brandy, naturally.

Invented by the Tatin sisters, who owned an inn in the Loire Valley, this dessert is popular all over France, especially in Paris. The tart is baked upside down in a pan in which the apples have been sautéed. When inverted, the finished tart boasts a layer of golden, caramelized fruit atop a base of flaky puff pastry. A copper Tatin pan is made specifically for this purpose; its two handles are designed for easy unmolding. However, any oven-safe skillet, such as a cast iron pan, will work. You can also easily substitute pears for the apples. For the ultimate in flavor and texture, make your own puff pastry from scratch; see the recipe on page 334. Otherwise, choose a good-quality, all-butter brand such as Dufour.

All you need is one formula to produce a nearly infinite variety of French-style fruit tarts. Start with a pâte sucrée crust, add pastry cream, and top with fresh fruit. You can scatter the fruit freehand, or arrange it in a pattern to make a tarte composée (literally, a “composed tart”). Here, summer berries are mixed and matched, but you can also use stone fruits such as cherries or apricots, or fresh figs or grapes. Pâte sucrée is sturdier than pâte brisée, making it a good choice for tarts that are unmolded before serving. Because the filling is not baked in the crust, it is necessary to blind-bake the shells completely. Traditionally, French fruit tarts are glazed with jam for a polished sheen, but this step is optional; a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar or a few tiny flowering herbs look equally lovely. To make a nine-inch tart, use half a recipe of Pâte Sucrée, and add about five minutes to the baking time.