This easy, breezy Peach Custard Tart is light, creamy, and perfectly sweet; infused with a hint of cardamom, it's a fresh summer treat that always leaves them wanting more.
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What's the Story on this Peach Tart?
Many moons ago, I lived just around the bend from a peach farm that was owned by my friend Candy. During the harvest season, Candy and I used to can peaches together, and I will always be grateful to her for sharing her secret for amazing peaches with me.
(Shhhh. This is strictly between you and me now...It's cardamom.) Just a little sprinkle of this uniquely aromatic spice makes fresh peaches pop with so much flavor that it makes Cinnamon and Ginger both jealous.
It is this simple addition of cardamom that elevates this Peach Custard Tart recipe, and makes it one of our favorite late summer desserts.
What Goes into this Tart Recipe
- Peaches: We recommend using fresh, yellow, freestone peaches for this recipe. Peaches should be ripe, but not too soft.
- Freestone peaches are peaches in which the flesh is not attached to the pit, allowing you to easily remove it, which makes peeling and slicing much easier.
- Avoid using clingstone peaches, in which the fruit's flesh is attached to the pit. They make prep work far more difficult and time consuming.
- Pastry: Use any homemade or premade pie dough for the tart shell. (Our Sweet Pie Crust is perfect!)
- Lemon juice: Use fresh or bottled lemon juice.
- Peach jam: Use any peach jam or preserves.
- Milk: We use whole milk for this recipe. 2% will also work, but we do not recommend using skim milk or alternative milks.
- Cornstarch: This acts as a thickener.
- Sugar: Use plain, granulated sugar.
- Cardamom: The secret ingredient!
- Eggs: We use USDA large eggs (EU size medium).
- Butter: Use salted or unsalted butter.
- Vanilla
- Demerara sugar: Often misnomered as raw sugar, demerara sugar is a minimumly processed, light brown-colored sugar with large crystals and a coarse texture.
See recipe card for amounts.
How to Make a Peach Custard Tart
Tart Shell
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).
Roll out pastry dough and lay it in a shallow pie dish or tart pan. Crimp or trim edges.
Use a fork to prick a few holes in the bottom of the pastry shell. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.
The crust should be bubbly but not yet browned. Set aside.
Cardamom Cream
Pastry cream, or custard, is basically a thick cooked pudding that is a little less sweet than a traditional cooked pudding.
In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and egg. Set aside.
In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch, sugar, and cardamom.
In a heavy saucepan, add cornstarch mixture to milk and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until the mixture begins to thicken.
To avoid making scrambled eggs, temper the eggs by adding ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture to the eggs in the small bowl, one tablespoon at a time.
When the entire ¼ cup of hot milk mixture has been added to the eggs, slowly pour the egg mixture into the milk mixture in the saucepan, whisking constantly.
Continue stirring until the mixture simmers and thickens. Remove from heat, and whisk in the butter and vanilla.
Pour this mixture into a heat-proof container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate the prepared pastry cream for 15 minutes.
Carefully pour the vanilla cream into the prepared tart shell.
HINT: Typically when you prepare a cooked pudding or cream pie filling, you cover it with plastic wrap for the entire time that it is cooling to avoid a skin from forming on the top. However, for this tart, the skin is helpful for keeping the peaches from sinking into the tart, so do not cover it once you pour it into the crust in the tart pan.
Peach Prep
Fill a medium bowl with cold water and add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. (Orange juice works too!)
Peel peaches. (I prefer to use a quick boiling water bath to remove the skins.) Slice the peeled peaches into thin slices.
Submerge peach slices in prepared lemon-water for a few minutes, and then remove and pat dry with paper towels.
Arrange peach slices on top of the tart. Sprinkle with two tablespoons of Demerara sugar.
Finish
Return tart to 375°F (190°C) oven and bake 35-45 minutes, until the edges of the peaches are just barely turning light brown.
Remove the baked tart from oven and allow it to cool for about 30 minutes.
Using a mixer, blender, food processor or hand blender, puree the peach preserves.
Use a pastry brush to brush the pureed peach preserves over the top of the warm peaches on top of tart.
Variations
Apricot Tart: Substitute sliced fresh apricots for the peaches.
Equipment
A good tart pan is essential to make this peach tart recipe properly.
Pies are usually served directly from their baking pan, but tarts are meant to be displayed without a pan. Most tart pans (like the one we use to make this peach tart) have two parts: a detachable base and a ring edge. This allows you to form and bake the tart in the pan, and then lift it out on the base just before serving.
Storage
Custard Tarts should be refrigerated, can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.
Top Tip
Generally, when blind-baking pastries, it is standard practice to use a circle of parchment filled with pie weights (or dried beans) to hold down the pastry as it bakes. That said, I don't usually use pie weights for this tart because it seems to bake up fine without them.
If you'd like to use pie weights when you blind bake the tart shell, bake it for 8 minutes, and then remove the pie weights and bake an additional 5 minutes before moving on.
FAQ
Look for a deep yellow peach that gives slightly to a firm but gentle squeeze. A ripe peach will feel heavy and have just a few wrinkles in the skin near the stem.
If there is very little give when you squeeze it, give the peach a few more days on the counter to ripen.
Avoid using overly ripe peaches for this recipe, as they will be too soft to withstand the cooking process.
Serve this peach tart as is, or add a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a next level treat!
More Fruit Pies & Tarts
Peaches aren't just for sweets! Check out our collection of savory peach recipes!
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Fresh Peach Custard Tart
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet pie crust homemade or store-bought
- 3 large peaches
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Demerara sugar or turbinado
- ¼ cup peach jam preserves, or jelly
Instructions
Prepare Tart Pastry
- Preheat oven to 375° F | 190°C.Roll out pie crust and lay in a shallow pie dish or tart pan. Crimp or trim edges.
- Use a fork to prick a few holes in the bottom of the pastry shell.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes. The crust should be bubbly but not yet browned. Set aside.(See Blind Baking NOTES for more info.)
Prepare Vanilla Cream
- In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks and egg. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together cornstarch, sugar, and cardamom.In a heavy saucepan, add cornstarch mixture to milk and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until the mixture begins to thicken.
- To avoid cooking the eggs, temper them by adding ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture to the eggs in the small bowl, one tablespoon at a time.
- When the entire ¼ cup of hot milk mixture has been added to the eggs, slowly pour the egg mixture into the milk mixture in the saucepan, whisking constantly. Continue stirring until the mixture simmers and thickens.
- Remove from heat. Whisk in butter and vanilla.Pour into a heat-proof container and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
- Pour cooled pastry cream into prepared pie crust.
Prepare Peaches
- Fill a medium bowl with cold water and add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. (Orange juice works too!)Peel the peaches. (I prefer to use a quick boiling water bath to remove the skins.) Slice the peeled peaches into thin slices.
- Submerge peach slices in prepared lemon-water for a few minutes, and then remove and pat dry with paper towels.
- Arrange peach slices on top of the tart, and sprinkle with two tablespoons of raw sugar.
Finish Tart
- Place tart in a 375° F | 190°C oven and bake 35-45 minutes, until the edges of the peaches are just barely turning light brown.Remove the baked tart from oven and allow to cool for about 30 minutes.
- Using a mixer, blender, food processor or hand blender, puree peach preserves.Use a pastry brush to brush the pureed peach preserves over the top of the warm peaches on top of tart.
Notes
Typically when you prepare a cooked pudding or cream pie filling, you cover it with plastic wrap for the entire time that it is cooling to avoid a skin from forming on the top. However, for this tart, the skin is helpful for keeping the peaches from sinking into the tart, so do not cover it once you pour it into the crust in the tart pan.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
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Lindsay Ingalls (@RunWithTongs) says
What a beautiful recipe! I'll have to try cardamom with my peaches sometime!
Louise says
What a peach season it has been Renée! I can see why you're in love with your new tart pan. Your Fresh Peach Tart looks heavenly! And that cream, oh my word! Thank you so much for sharing Renée. I will be pinning!!!
Erin @ Platings and Pairings says
This sounds amazing Reneé! I love the addition of the cardamom - Yum!
Bill Volckening says
Looks amazing!