Experiemental pie

My family does a pre-Thanksgiving pie event and I am always looking for something different and I am trying to clear my pantry shelves. I have some good quality lemon marmalade and am thinking of making a tart, using the marmalade as a glaze, a pastry cream and then topping it with some fruit. I am looking for suggestions for a seasonal fruit. I do have home preserved figs that are good but not beautiful. I also might try the above mentioned candied hibiscus flowers if I can get them right. Any suggestions? Thank you.

C Sangueza
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13 Comments

C S.
C S. December 5, 2016
Here is what I finally did for your pie night event. It is the pear and almond cream tart but I used the hibiscus flower parts as decoration. I had poached them in a spiced sugar syrup to sweeten them up and give them that opacity. I didn't get a piece but heard that it was good and I was pleased with the way it looked. Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
Nancy
Nancy December 5, 2016
Looks very dramatic with the hibiscus flowers! Too bad you didn't get a piece...
 
Nancy
Nancy December 5, 2016
Looks very dramatic with the hibiscus flowers! Too bad you didn't get a piece...
 
C S.
C S. November 14, 2016
Thank you everyone for all the suggestions. The lazy lemon tart sounds fantastic but I can only do one new thing at a time. I found a good recipe for a pear tart in Rose Levy Barenbaum's Pie book. This was supposed to be a two part question using the hibiscus calyxes (not petals) found at the farmers market. So I have played around, poached the hibiscus is a sugar syrup with spices and it is a gorgeous red color (and delicious). I am going to cook that syrup down to use as a glaze and decorate the finished tart with the poached hibiscus bits that look like tiny butterfly wings. The lemon marmalade and the figs will stay in the pantry for now. It's still experimental and I'll report back after it is done. Thanks again.
 
amysarah
amysarah November 13, 2016
I have this tart bookmarked, though haven't tried it yet - but very seasonal and butternut isn't really any stranger for dessert than pumpkin. It could be easily adapted to your specs: pastry cream instead of a cream cheese layer, lemon marmalade glaze instead of apricot jam, a baked pate brisee or sablee shell, if you prefer over puff pastry. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/butternut-squash-glazed-tart
 
Nancy
Nancy November 13, 2016
Another suggestion. Use ONE of the lemon marmalade or preserved figs in the pie (using both plus the pastry cream and a crust that might have sugar sounds like overload of sugar to me).
Either layer it (from the bottom up):
1) baked pie shell, pastry cream, fresh fruit, then lemon marmalade as glaze.
2) baked pie shell, preserved figs (to hide them), pastry cream, fresh fruit as garnish or finish.
For choice of fresh fruit - see what's in your market. Probably (at least) pears and (maybe) plums.
 
pierino
pierino November 12, 2016
Meyer lemons are season. They.make a nice tart.
 
C S.
C S. November 12, 2016
Pierino Thank you for the suggestion. Do you cook lemon slices in a sugar syrup, or how do you prepare them? I admit to not yet having looked for a lemon tart recipe.
 
Smaug
Smaug November 12, 2016
Lemon tart recipes are apt to have some sort of lemon curd as filling, rather than pastry cream. You could probably candy lemon slices (more or less what constitutes a Shaker lemon pie), but the marmalade is already whole lemon cooked in sugar, probably enough of that. I don't know that it's really seasonal, but you can
always get Kiwi fruit, which slices nicely (if a bit 1990s) and looks good with a glaze. Persimmons are mostly what I think of as fall fruit, but don't slice so great.
 
pierino
pierino November 13, 2016
C Sangueza I really like this recipe from back in the day here at Food52 https://food52.com/recipes/10200-lazy-mary-s-improved-lemon-tart It's by one of my earliest friends here and was a first year winner.
 
Susan W.
Susan W. November 12, 2016
Pears would be nice. A friend made a delicious blood orange crostata, but the blood orange may make it look like murder happened. Oooh..what about a persimmon tart. You could sprinkle it with dried cranberries.
 
Susan W.
Susan W. November 12, 2016
Or..sprinkle it with pomegranate seeds. They're so pretty and jewel like.
 
Smaug
Smaug November 12, 2016
I seem to remember making a pie with sliced pears in an overlapping pattern with frangipani surrounding them that would fit the bill nicely. Don't remember where I got the recipe, but there might be a general recipe for a frangipani tart somewhere like Cook's Illustrated.
 
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