Summer Fruit Tart Cookies
My mother’s summer fruit tart is one of my favorite desserts, as long as you leave out the garlic. Many years ago my wife Marci and I made a pair of fruit tarts, one as a thank you to our landlord’s family for some deed long forgotten, and one for us. Everyone, without fail, loves this fruit tart, so we were surprised when our landlord, thanking us for the gift, simply described it as “interesting.” We tasted ours that evening and lo and behold the sweetness of the tart – buttery crust, lemony cream cheese icing, chocolate, and fresh fruit – was contaminated by the distinct flavor of garlic. “Interesting” to say the least. We must have cut the fruit on a cutting board or with a knife we had previously used for garlic.
Everyone has a few go-to dishes; the specialties they cook over and over, especially for guests. For my mother, one of those dishes is a summer fruit tart. It is delicious and beautiful on the plate, with brightly colored fresh fruit in a different mix and pattern every time it’s prepared. The fruit she uses varies, depending on the season. Strawberries may dominate in late spring and blueberries may be the central player when they are abundant in July. In mid and late summer, the tart may be covered with peaches, plums, and raspberries. And mango and kiwi make a great addition when they are ripe and available.
The original recipe, from The Vegetarian Epicure cookbook by Anna Thomas, is for a buttery crust covered with a sweetened, lemony cream cheese topped with cut up fruit. My mother’s ingenious twist, borrowed from a bake shop she visited, was to add a layer of dark chocolate. It is the perfect end to a meal, whether in spring, summer, or fall. The only problem is that to spread the cream cheese, you have to let the chocolate harden. This brittle layer of chocolate makes it virtually impossible to cut the tart. Rather it breaks unevenly into different sized pieces, the cream cheese smears everywhere, and the fruit falls off, ruining the beautiful pattern in which it was so carefully assembled. My mother’s fix was to score the crust before it was even baked and cut the tart before the chocolate hardened. My fix was to stop making it entirely.
I have made summer fruit tarts numerous times over the years. But I am decidedly not a baker and the crust was too much work for me; I am an impatient cook. For years after that I bought a prepared shortbread or graham cracker pie shell. It was delicious, but not quite the same, so at some point I switched to other desserts, like macerated berries with vanilla cream, or I left it to my wife to figure out.
The other day, however, I was cooking a “fridge foraged” meal for Marci and my mind went to the summer fruit tart. I certainly wasn’t going to make one, but I had all of the ingredients for a shortcut that turned out almost as tasty, could be assembled in a matter of minutes, and I could make as much or as little as I wanted. Instead of making a whole tart, I used tea biscuits or digestives, somewhat plain but crisp cookies, as the base. Packages of these cookies can be found in any supermarket for less than a dollar. I warmed them in the toaster oven with some chocolate chips set on top. When the chocolate melted I spread it to cover the top of the biscuits and then set them aside to cool and the chocolate to harden. I then covered the hardened chocolate layer with a small amount of quickly-made cream cheese icing and a few berries and pieces of cut fruit sitting in the refrigerator waiting for an occasion such as this.
The summer fruit tart cookies were delicious. The chocolate was sweet, the cream cheese slightly tart, the fruit juicy, and the cookie perfectly crisp. I didn’t have to worry about cutting the tart as each cookie was its own individual serving. And as I now have segregated my ingredients and have a cutting board from which pungent and spicy ingredients are banned, they didn’t even taste like garlic.
Summer Fruit Tart Cookies
This recipe is so quick, easy, and tasty that they can be made in a moment’s notice, as long as there is enough time for the chocolate to cool and harden; thus, it requires only 10 minutes of action, but at least a half hour of planning. Many types of fruit can be used, but some – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, plums, peaches, mango, and kiwi – will work better than others. Apple, banana, pineapple, pear, melon, or citrus fruits do not work well at all.
Cookies may vary in size, thus you may need more or less chocolate chips, and this recipe may make extra cream cheese icing. But because it will keep in the refrigerator for at least a few days, you can make the icing once and then prepare fresh summer fruit tart cookies for dessert for several days to follow.
10 cookies, 10 minutes, plus additional time for the chocolate to cool and harden
10 tea biscuits, digestives, or other crisp cookies
about ¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, depending on the size of the cookies
4 oz. (half a bar) cream cheese
2 Tbsp. sugar
1½ tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
fresh fruit to cover cookies, such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, halved strawberries and grapes, or thinly sliced plums, peaches, mango, or kiwi
- Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature on the counter or in a bowl while you prepare the cookies. This will make it easier to work with.
- Place the cookies right side up on a tray that fits inside a toaster oven. (Or alternatively on a sheet pan for the oven.)
- Put six to ten chocolate chips on each cookie.
- Place the tray in the toaster oven and turn it on. Cook for about a minute until the chips are soft and spreadable. Using a knife, spread the chocolate almost to the edge of each cookie. Set aside on a plate and allow to cool and harden. If you are in a rush, they can be placed in the refrigerator or freezer.
- While the chocolate is cooling, prepare the cream cheese icing. Using a fork, mix the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a bowl. Taste and adjust the flavor by adding more sugar, lemon zest, or lemon juice if necessary. Set aside.
- Once the chocolate has hardened on the cookies, spread a tablespoon or so of cream cheese evenly over the top of each.
- Arrange pieces of fruit on top in an attractive pattern.
I remember your Mom’s fruit tart. I always loved it.
It is great, Edie. These cookies taste almost the same and are way easier. We had them again last night for dessert, along with pineapple with basil. They were delicious. Thanks!!