Tart Art

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, and salt) in a medium-large bowl. Make a well in the center.
2. Pour the butter into the well, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to include all of the butter. Add the water and stir until the dough comes together and/or forms large crumbles. If the dough seems dry, you can add a tiny bit of extra water.
3. While the dough is still warm, crumble two thirds of it around the edges of the prepared tart pan. Press it evenly into the sides and out onto the outer edges of the bottom of the pan. The sides should be a little thicker than the bottom for structural support.
4. Crumble the remaining dough into the open space in the pan. Press it in firmly with your fingers and the palm of your hand until the tart pan is completely lined with dough. If the dough seems sticky, you can dust your fingers with a small amount of flour.
5. Use a measuring cup or a flat bottom glass to smooth out the edges and further compact the dough in the bottom of the pan. 
6. Prick the dough all over the bottom with a fork to prevent puffing, or use pie weights with parchment.
7. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Remove and, using the same measuring cup or flat bottom glass, gently press the edges again to smooth.
8. For a crust that will have a baked filling, return it to the oven and bake until the crust is pale golden brown, another 5-7 minutes. (Allow the crust to cool for at least 10 minutes before filling and returning to the oven.)
9. If using a no-bake filling for your tart, return to the oven and bake until it’s a medium golden brown, about 12-17 minutes longer. Set aside to cool completely before filling.

1. Grease a Pie dish.
2. Mix together the flour, sugar and salt.
3. Add the butter in two batches. If using a food processor, pulse it a couple of times to mix. If mixing by hand, use your fingers to crumble the butter into the dry ingredients.
4. Slowly add in the iced water and mix in – you may not need all of it! The dough should be slightly crumbly, even in color and easier to handle.
5. Knead the crumbles together until you can form two balls. Do NOT over knead, the dough should just stick together.
6. Chill in the fridge up to an hour.
7. Take them out of the fridge and let rest at room temp for 5- 10 minutes.
8. Roll them out flat and place over your pie dish.

This dough bakes well at 350°F. No need to parbake – bake with filling!

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Line the bottom of a pie dish with one sheet of pie dough. Add cherry pie filling to the dish.
3. Cut small squares from the remaining sheet of pie dough to create a lattice. Place squares on a lined baking sheet and place the lattice on top of the cherry pie, pinching the edges to remove excess dough.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Allow pie to cool for 1 hour. As pie cools, write Scrabble letters on the squares of dough with an edible marker.
6. Decorate pie with letters (or play a round of Scrabble) and enjoy!

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Line the bottom of a pie dish with one sheet of pie dough. Fill the dish with zucchini ribbons to mimic the waves and swirls of a Van Gogh painting. Begin by rolling a few strips of zucchini into a coil. Place coils around the pie dish and weave additional slices into the empty space until the entire crust is filled. Pour in egg filling and bake until quiche mixture is set.
3. Cut remaining pie dough into the shape of Van Gogh’s head. Sculpt the details of the head with a paring knife or tooth pick. Place on a lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown. Allow to cool.
4. Once cool, paint crust with gel food coloring. Food coloring can be thinned with vodka, if needed.
5. Place Van Gogh’s head on top of the zucchini tart and serve.

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Line a tart pan with tart crust. Use a glass or measuring cup to smooth the dough. Cut a circle from the center with a cookie cutter and line the inside and outside of the cookie cutter with a strip of tart crust dough.
3. Roll out remaining tart crust dough to ¼” thickness and cut into 9 circles of various sizes. Place circles on a lined baking sheet.
4. Bake tart for 25 minutes, removing half way through to smooth out dough with a glass if it has begun to puff up. Bake circles of dough for 7-9 minutes until cooked through but not yet golden brown.
5. Allow cookie and tart to cool.
6. Remove circle cutter from tart pan and nest inner tart within the outer tart. Fill outer tart with blueberry pie filling and inner tart with lemon curd.
7. Add royal icing to a bowl. Pipe royal icing of various planet colors onto the surface of the icing. Swirl with a toothpick and dip each circle of dough, allowing the excess to drip off before inverting. Pipe continents on the Earth crust, if desired.
8. Place planet cookies around the lemon curd center of the start in the order of the solar system. Add star sprinkles to blueberry filling and a royal icing ring to Saturn. Serve and enjoy.