Recipe: Stone Fruit & Herbed Goat Cheese Tart with Cheesy Crust & Hot Honey Butter
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For this recipe, I partnered with Danish Creamery to celebrate my favorite time of the year—stone fruit season! I came up with the idea for this tart because I love making hybrid baked goods in the summer that feature raw seasonal produce in all of their peak-flavor glory. I still want the satisfaction of crafting and baking some kind of base or crust—something where I can proudly say “I made this from scratch!”—but when fruits are already ripe and bursting with their natural juices, I think baking them is honestly a waste, so I add them at the end to be enjoyed fresh.
So, this tart features a snappy cheesy buttery shortcrust, which gets baked solo and then gets filled by a creamy blend of whipped goat cheese and fresh herbs and topped with fresh, raw stone fruit before getting finished off with a drizzle of hot honey butter. Because my taste preferences are always leaning towards savory, I love to experiment with combining sweet fruit with savory ingredients and I think that the balance is just wonderful; it allows for savoring the natural sweetness of a beautifully ripe fruit without limiting the result to something that can only be served as a dessert. Instead, I recommend that this sweet-savory beauty be considered for your next al fresco brunch or picnic potluck; it holds up well when made a bit ahead so it would certainly be a low-stress addition to any sun-soaked gathering where smiles and good vibes are the objective.
Though the nectarines, apricots, and pluots are obviously the star here, don’t sleep on this cheesy crust! I am so proud of how much flavor I was able to pack into something that is often overlooked or perceived as just a vessel when it comes to tart making, and it is definitely a recipe that I will be using as a base for more than just the fruit tart idea you see here. Loaded with asiago cheese and high-quality butter, this savory shortcrust is so snappy and yummy that it would even be delicious broken up into chunks and eaten alone as a snack! This sturdy shortcrust is what helps make this tart a good menu item for summer gatherings, and the munchable texture is a result of keeping all the ingredients super cold while putting together the dough and keeping the moisture content to a minimum. Using Danish Creamery European Style Sea Salted Butter, which has a higher butterfat content than most other European butters, is one trick I used getting the right texture and flavor for the crust. A good butter is key for a shortbread or shortcrust, and Danish Creamery’s butter is made with just high-quality cream and a touch of sea salt, slow churned for a rich flavor that really sets this shortcrust dough recipe up for durable and delicious success.
I also used Danish Creamery’s European Style Sea Salted Butter in the hot honey butter drizzle that serves as the finishing touch for this tart. This creation is something akin to drizzling a dessert with salted caramel at the end, but I think the hint of spicy chili mixed with the honey and the salted butter is the perfect way to really bring together this combination of sweet and savory flavors. You will end up making more than you need for the tart when following the recipe below, and I recommend saving the extra to drizzle on toasts, pizza, or anything where a little spicy indulgence is welcomed.
This stone fruit and herbed goat cheese tart is made up for the following components:
Cheesy Shortcrust: A durable tart shell is what holds all the magic together, but it also brings plenty of its own flavor. I start by cutting Danish Creamery European Style Sea Salted Butter into small cubes and then freezing them—keeping the crust ingredients super cold is what gives you a short, crisp, snappy texture instead of a dreaded soggy bottom, so planning a little ahead and giving the cubes of butter time to freeze will make that goal easier. The rich, creamy butter, made with cream from healthy grass-fed California cows, becomes the savory foundation that gets supplemented with asiago cheese and black pepper to give the crust its addictive flavor. While using high-quality butter should be a given for a crust like this, there’s also an unexpected ingredient: vodka. Using vodka instead of water further ensures that this crust does not get bogged down by moisture; it brings together all the dry ingredients but evaporates quickly in the bake, along with any concerns about having alcohol in your pastry. These ingredients get pulsed together in the food processor and then pressed into the tart pan, so you don’t even have to bother with rolling.
Herbed Goat Cheese: Whip together room temp chèvre with Greek yogurt and fresh chopped herbs to form the first layer of filling that goes inside the cheesy tart shell. Not only does the mixture help hold the stone fruit in place if you choose to arrange it in a decorative manner, but the tangy, creamy goat cheese and herbs are such a lovely flavor complement. You can really use any soft herbs of your choosing here but I opted for chives, basil, and thyme.
Stone Fruit: This is the main event! In case you didn’t know, the term “stone fruit” refers to fruits like peaches and apricots that have a singular stone-like pit inside to house the seed. Feel free to use a medley of nectarines, apricots, and pluots like I did, or whatever is your personal fave. When selecting your stone fruit for this tart, seek ones that are fragrant but still have some firmness to them, so that they are easy to slice and will keep well on top of the tart. You can either slice them thinly and arrange them like I did, or opt for chunkier wedges that you can just dump into a somewhat-even layer on top.
Hot Honey Butter: This finishing touch brings a unique spicy kick to the sweet-savory creation and helps to unite all the other flavors. A mix of gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes) and red chili pepper flakes are given a chance to bloom in a bit of velvety Danish Creamery European Style Sea Salted Butter before being combined with honey. This recipe yields more than what is needed for the tart; save the extra in a microwave-safe jar and heat for a few seconds to improve viscosity for drizzling on other creations afterward.
How to Make the Stone Fruit & Herbed Goat Cheese Tart
Ingredients for Crust
1 stick Danish Creamery European Style Sea Salted Butter, cut into 1/4”-inch cubes then frozen
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup asiago, grated then chilled
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
4–6 tbsp vodka, chilled
Ingredients for Filling
5 oz goat cheese/chèvre, at room temperature
4 tbsp Greek yogurt, drained
1/2 tsp chives, finely chopped
1 1/2 tsp thyme leaves
2 tbsp basil leaves, finely chopped
2–3 stone fruits, sliced
fresh herbs and edible flowers, for garnish (optional)
Ingredients for Honey Butter
1 tbsp Danish Creamery European Style Sea Salted Butter
1 tsp gochugaru/Korean chili flakes
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 tbsp honey
Special Equipment
food processor
tart pan with removable bottom
dry beans or pie weights
Procedure
To make the crust, add flour, asiago, salt, and pepper to a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Scatter in frozen butter cubes and pulse until the texture resembles wet sand. Add 1 tablespoon of vodka and pulse a couple of times; repeat, adding 1 tablespoon of vodka at a time and pulsing briefly after each, until the mixture looks like it is just barely starting to form clumps. Dump mixture into tart pan and use a spoon to quickly press mixture evenly against the bottom and sides, keeping everything as cold as possible. (A sheet of wax paper could also aid in smoothing out the mixture). Chill unbaked tart shell in the freezer for 20 minutes or in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Dock chilled shell with a fork to prevent it from warping and puffing while baking. Line with parchment paper or foil and fill with dry beans or pie weights. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Gently remove the lining and weights, then bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool to room temperature before filling.
In the meantime, combine goat cheese, yogurt, and chopped herbs in a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, whip together until incorporated and fluffy. Set aside.
When the tart shell is cooled, spread the goat cheese mixture in an even layer. Arrange sliced stone fruits on top.
To make the hot honey butter, add butter to a small stainless steel pot and heat on medium-low. When the butter is completely melted, reduce heat to low and add gochugaru and pepper flakes; stir continuously with a silicone spatula for 1–2 minutes, allowing the spices to bloom and the mixture to get completely foamy. Add honey and keep stirring until the mixture becomes completely foamy again. Remove from heat and once the bubbling resides, drizzle hot honey butter immediately over the tart, to taste.
If desired, garnish with pretty edible flowers and herbs.
Thank you so much to Danish Creamery for sponsoring this recipe! Visit their website to learn more about their legacy of carefully-crafted Old World-quality butter made with milk from family farms since 1895.