Piña Colada Tart?

This month over at ‘You Want Pies With That?‘, the theme is “Summery Drinks”, chosen by Suz of You Can’t Eat What? and Sara of Cupcake Muffin. We were supposed to create a pie or a tart inspired by our favorite drink to sip by the pool during the summertime. My kind of theme!! It didn’t take long for me to figure out what kind of drink I’d be inspired by….I *love* piña coladas!! Creamy, smooth and “coconut-y” with a hint of dark rum. Bliss. I knew immediately that I’d use Dorie Greenspan’s recipe for Toasted Coconut Cream Tart as a base- that filling is insanely delicious!!! I sort of played around for awhile, then eventually came up with a delicious piña colada tart; the only thing I’d change for next time is topping it with whipped cream instead of meringue, as well as using canned crushed pineapple instead of fresh, since it’s a little sweeter. My custard was a little runny (I think I probably put in too much rum- oops!) but it still tasted amazing!

Piña Colada Tart

-adapted from Dorie Greenspan

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup sugar

6 large egg yolks

1/3 cup cornstarch

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons dark rum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon pineapple juice

3 1/2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup shredded sweetened coconut

2 cups chopped pineapple (fresh or canned- I used fresh, but next time I’ll probably use canned because it’s a little sweeter)

1 9-inch sweet tart shell, baked and cooled (recipe below)

Bring milk to a boil. In a large saucepan, whisk together sugar, yolks, cornstarch and salt until well blended. Whisk in 1/4 cup of hot milk to temper the yolks, then whisk in the rest of the milk. Continue whisking over medium heat and bring to a boil. Whisk an additional 1 or 2 minutes then remove from heat. Whisk in rum, pineapple juice and vanilla and let sit for 5 minutes. Then whisk in the butter, stirring until custard is smooth. Stir in the coconut. Transfer to a container, cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold.

Sweet Tart Dough

(makes one 9-inch crust)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioners? sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick plus 1 tablespoon very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

To make the dough:  Put the flour, confectioners? sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine.  Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely ? you?ll have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pea-size pieces and that?s just fine.  Stir the egg, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition.  When the egg is in, process in long pulses ? about 10 seconds each ? until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds.  Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change ? heads up.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface.

Very lightly and sparingly ? make that very, very lightly and sparingly ? knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

To make a press-in crust:  Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  Don?t be stingy ? you want a crust with a little heft because you want to be able to both taste and feel it.  Also, don?t be too heavy-handed ? you want to press the crust in so that the pieces cling to one another and knit together when baked, but you don?t want to press so hard that the crust loses its crumbly shortbreadish texture.  Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To bake the crust:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil tightly against the crust.  Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil.  If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon.  Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan.

To assemble: Spread the chopped pineapple on the cooled crust and top with custard. Top with meringue or whipped cream. Chill until ready to serve.