Gateau Basque

 Never heard of it? Yeah, me either. Oh, you have? Well, I’m from the Midwest. Anyway, this is a delicious tart-like thing. It has a shortbread crust-like surround with a pastry cream and black cherry preserves- or mine does. More on that later.

I used this recipe: https://amp.foodandwine.com/recipes/gateau-basque

Now, I swear to God that I read this recipe before I went to make it. I swear!!! That being said, when I went to make it, I was like what the fuck is this? I didn’t buy some of these things. Here are the ingredients that it calls for- and what I actually used….

For the dough:

3 ¼ c all-purpose flour

1 c almond flour

1 ½ tbsp baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 sticks PLUS 2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

2 c granulated sugar

3 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

½ tsp lemon oil *What the hell? I used the zest of a lemon

½ tsp almond oil *I assume this is almond extract, but vomit. I hate almond extract, so I just used vanilla extract instead. No regrets.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the four with the baking soda and salt.

2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).

3. Add the egg yolks and eggs, lemon (zest) and almond (vanilla) extract. Beat until incorporated.

4. At a low speed, add your almond flour and all-purpose flour mixture. *the recipe didn’t say to mix the two flours together, but I don’t know why you wouldn’t? I ended up just throwing it all in at the same time anyway.

5. Scrape the dough out onto a clean surface and form into 3 disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and put in the fridge to chill- at least 4 hours or overnight.

*Note: you only need TWO of these disks….. why the recipe makes three, I don’t know. Anyway, make some shortbread cookies and a cup of coffee to calm your anger.

For the pastry cream:

2 ¼ c milk1 vanilla bean *I didn’t have this, so I just used vanilla extract again **If using vanilla extract, wait til you take it off the heat to add so you don’t burn it.

½ c cornstarch

½ c plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

6 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

*not to be added to this mixture, but used on top, one cup of brandied cherries, drained. **again, I swear I read the recipe. Did I buy brandied cherries? No. I bought black cherry preserves. Still awesome.

1. In a medium saucepan, warm up the milk to a simmer. Add the vanilla beans now (or, like I said above, wait if you’re using vanilla extract).

2. In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and flour.

3. Whisk the hot milk into the cornstarch mixture and then return to the pan. *why you couldn’t just put the cornstarch mixture into the pan, I don’t know. Maybe you should try it. Let me know what happens.

4. Start whisking constantly until it thickens. The recipe said it would take about 5 minutes to thicken a lot. It took mine like 2.5. Add the eggs to the saucepan *The recipe didn’t say to temper your eggs- I did anyway because I’m afraid. I just stuck my whisk that had a bunch of the hot goop into my eggs and stirred for a minute to let the eggs get cozy before I shoved them into the fire.

6. Stir for about 3 minutes until they’re all incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth. *Again, this took like 1 minute for me.

7. Put in a heatproof bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the plastic wrap touch the top of the cream so that you don’t get a film. Let it come to room temperature. *I stuck mine in the fridge because, as you have seen in previous recipes, I am impatient.

Assembly:

Here’s where it gets a little crazy. 

What the recipe calls for: a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

What I had: a 9-inch spring form pan- totally worked

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.

2. Roll out one disk of dough to about a ¼ in thickness and cut out a 12 in round. *Or just eyeball it- you’re going to squish it into your pan in a minute anyway.

3. Slide it into the pan and push into the bottom and up the sides. If you’re in a tart pan, cut of the excess. If you’re in a spring form, make the sides even- mine came up about halfway to the top. Put back into the fridge to cool (about 10 minutes). *I am not a person to do secondary cooling if it’s not necessary. It IS necessary.

4. Get the second disk of dough and roll out to a ¼ in thickness. Cut into 9 in round to fit the top of your pan. Slide onto a parchment lined sheet tray and put back into the fridge.   *I just took the bottom of my pan and pressed an indentation into the dough so I knew where to cut.

5. After cooling everything, take out the pan with the bottom crust. Spread all the pastry cream into an even layer in the crust. *It will be a thick layer.

6. Then add the brandied cherries (or cherry preserves). *It called for a cup- I used ¾ of a jar of preserves- I WISH I had used the whole jar. Don’t be a cheap ass. Do it.

7. Cover the tart with the 9 in round of dough. Press to seal the edges together. *I thought maybe you’d need a vent hole like a pot pie. I didn’t do it though, and I am glad. You don’t need to vent.

8. Make indentations with a fork or a skewer to make a diamond pattern in the top crust. *the fork broke my crust, so I used a butter knife

9. Bake on the bottom rack for 20 minutes. Rotate the tart, and put back in on the top 1/3 of the oven for 40 more minutes.

10. Once done, transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let cool at least an hour before unmolding.

Rating (Scale 1 - 5)

Difficulty: 2
Amount of Time: 2
Awesomeness: 5 *This is better than it looks. I'd like to say it's better than I expected, but I had no idea what to expect. That said, it's better than I expected.