Tart Vaudoise (Sour Cream Tart)

Anyone who doesn’t like simple recipes, close this tab immediately, because today I’m going to share with you a recipe for the most basic nart I’ve ever seen. It comes from the Swiss canton of Vaud, hence the name.

Normally, tarts are complicated. Not the ultimate math, but the base often has to be baked separately, pressed down with a bean or coin weight, then cooled, long to make the filling, baked again, cooled again, and so on. You won’t find anything like that in this recipe.

If you have a food processor (a food processor in other words) the dough will be ready in minutes, if not – you will have to work a little longer by hand. The dough itself is very simple, no eggs, extra yolks, or anything else.

The filling is as easy as it gets: sour cream and sugar. All you have to do is mix and stir.

And bake the dough base at the same time as the filling. Perfect? That’s what I’m talking about.

I offer a basic recipe, but you can improve it and, if you want, further decorate the ready tart with your favorite fruits and berries (to my taste – here is ideal for raspberries), as well as nuts. You can add mint leaves or one of this substitutes.

Recipe from the book “Simple to Spectacular“.

⏱ Cooking time — 90 minutes overall. Includes 25 minutes of preparation and cooking + 65 minutes unattended.

🥣 Ingredients

🍽 For 8 servings:

• 140 g (4,9 oz) flour
• 110 g (3,9 oz) sugar
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 45 g butter (1,6 oz) (soft, get it out of the fridge 30 minutes beforehand)
• 30-60 g (1,1-2,2 oz) milk
• 360 g (12,7 oz) sour cream (30% fat content is preferable, but not less than 20%)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt

🔪Step by step Directions

Prepare dough

In a bowl add 140 g (4,9 oz) of flour, 1 tbsp of sugar, a pinch of salt, and 1/4 tsp of baking powder. Mix well.

Add 45 g (1,6 oz) of butter to the resulting mixture. The butter must necessarily be at room temperature, soft, so that it can be easily mixed with the dry flour mixture. Therefore, half an hour before cooking, take the butter out of the refrigerator.

Mix the butter with the flour mixture until crumbly. I used a fork for this. If you have a food processor, this can all be done quickly and easily with it. Load all of the above ingredients into it and turn it on for 20-30 seconds.

Now add half of the total amount of milk, i.e. 30 ml (1,1 oz), to the butter and flour mixture. Stir until homogeneous, assess the resulting consistency.

If the dough is still dry and crumbly, does not hold its shape, pour more milk. My dough took all the milk, i.e. 60 ml (2,2 oz).

Mix, roll the dough into a ball and put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to let the butter harden.

Form the dough

After 30 minutes, remove the dough from the fridge. Sprinkle flour over the work surface and place the dough. Using a rolling pin, dust it with flour and roll out the dough to the diameter of the baking tin. I have a 22 cm (10 inch) diameter mold. The thickness of the rolled out dough should be about 0.5 cm (1/4 inch). If you have a larger diameter, roll out the dough thinner accordingly.

To make the tarts I use this form with a removable bottom. In my opinion, these molds are the most convenient for baking tarts, because thanks to the removable bottom, you can easily get the finished tart out of them without damaging it.

Roll out the dough gently onto a rolling pin to transfer it to the tart mold. Place the dough, flatten into the mold, press the edges together and press to the bottom. Use a knife to cut off the excess, working from the inside out.

If in some place suddenly there was not enough dough – take from the scraps and stick on the desired place.

Then send the prepared form with the dough to the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

Turn on the preheat oven to 230 °C / 450 °F.

Prepare filling

While the dough cools in the refrigerator, prepare the filling.

Take 100 g (3,5 oz) of sugar, add 360 g (12,7 oz) of sour cream and a pinch of flour. Mix well until homogeneous. The filling is ready.

Assemble the tart

After 15 minutes, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Prick the bottom of the dough all over with a fork.

Pour the filling. Spoon the filling evenly over the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and send to the oven.

Bake the tart for 13-15 minutes in the oven at 230 °C / 450 °F, until golden crust forms on the surface. It took me 15 minutes.

After baking, do not hurry to take the cake out of the mold. Allow it to cool slightly in the mold. Otherwise, the cake may still be very fragile and may break. After cooling, take out the tart, put it on a plate, garnish with fruit (if desired) and serve.