Pumpkin Caramel Tart

Pumpkin season is upon us, friends! Well, to be fair it started about a month ago, but I feel like October is truly fall, and therefore, we need all the pumpkin flavors right now. I have been BUSY. But things are finally starting to ease up for me. Not only have I been working full-time at the restaurant (days and night shifts), I recently completed two new books! That’s right! Not just one, but two! I can’t say too much about them at the moment, but don’t worry, details will be coming soon! I am so excited to get back to posting recipes on here more often, and with good timing too! Holiday’s are right around the corner and it’s probably the busiest baking time of the year. 

It’s been a really hectic time for me. So much so that I decided to ease back on my full time job. Instead of going full force day and night I’m only going to be working only day shifts from now on. The nights have just been rough for me. I’m a morning person through and through, and I decided I needed to take care of myself a little bit more. Self care is important, and with these crazy times right now we need to make sure to keep ourselves happy, and make uncomfortable moves sometimes to achieve that. It was a really difficult decision for me to cut back, but I believe it’ll be better for me in the long run. 

Back to the recipe. This tart is a baked tart, and a fancy twist you can try out for all your (socially-distant) fall gatherings. First, you make the dough. It’s a simple pie dough made easily in a food processor. You roll it out and blind bake it in a tart pan. Then the filling is made by making an easy caramel, then cooling that down and mixing with the pumpkin ingredients. It’s then baked in the blind baked shell and let me tell you friends, it’s WORTH the effort. Pumpkin, spices, and caramel are what we all need this fall. Oh and don’t forget the flakey tart shell crust, it’s an all-butter dough (of course) and perfectly compliments the filling. I made some candied cranberries as a cute garnish, along with some fresh rosemary. Instructions for the candied cranberries are at the end of the recipe instructions. I hope you all get a chance to try this one! It’s truly a fall treat. Happy baking friends!

Pumpkin Caramel Tart

Yield 1 9-inch tart

Pie Dough

Flour ¾ cup

Butter 5 Tbsp., Cold

Brown Sugar 1 tsp

Salt ¼ tsp

Ice Water 2 Tbsp.

Pumpkin Caramel Filling

Sugar ¾ cup

Water 2 Tbsp.

Cream ¾ cup

Pumpkin puree ¾ cup

Brown Sugar 2 Tbsp.

Flour 1 Tbsp.

Cinnamon 1 tsp

Ginger 1 tsp

Salt ½ tsp

Eggs 3

Directions:

Place flour, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add in cold butter and process for 20 seconds. While processing, drop in 1 Tbsp. of ice water, then process for 20 seconds longer. Drop in the last Tbsp. of ice water and process until the dough resembles wet crumbles. Turn dough out onto a clean worksurface. Form dough into a disk, wrap with plastic and chill for a minimum of 30 minutes before using.

Lightly spray a 9-inch tart pan and place onto a sheet tray. Roll out dough onto a floured worksurface. Roll onto a rolling pin then off onto the tart pan. Press into the edges and sides. Use a pairing knife to cut the edges to the tart pan and discard the scraps. Chill sheet tray with tart pan until ready to bake.

To prepare the filling, heat sugar and water in a small sauce pan on high heat. Cook down until sugar has caramelized and turned an amber color. Turn heat off and slowly and carefully drizzle in cream. Cream will bubble up rapidly so be careful. If caramel hardens then just turn the heat back on until all caramel has dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool for 10 minutes in the pot. Meanwhile, whisk pumpkin puree, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and ginger together in a large bowl. Drizzle caramel into pumpkin and whisk until smooth. Whisk in eggs. Set filling aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Place parchment over the dough and fill with dried rice or beans. Blind bake tart shell for 15 minutes. Remove weights and pour in pumpkin caramel filling. Reduce heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for another 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is set and does not jiggle.

Chill for 4+ hours or overnight and serve.

** To create candied cranberry garnish:

Heat ¼ cup of water and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a microwave for 1 minute, or until sugar has fully dissolved. Place another ½ cup of sugar in a separate small bowl. Dunk each cranberry into simple syrup then roll it into the sugar. Place it on a cooling rack and let it dry for 1 hour.