Patriotic Fruit Tart with Greek Yogurt Pastry Cream and a Chobani Giveaway!

According to my calendar, next week is July 4th. I say according to my calendar, because according to me, there's no way we are already halfway through this year. I just cannot fathom how fast the time has flown. But I guess the calendar is always right. So, here I am, sharing a red, white, and blue treat for the occasion.


When thinking about what red, white, and blue treat to make for you guys, I really wanted to avoid any and all food coloring. Especially RED because I loathe it and basically every graduation cake order this year required copious amounts of red so I'm one hundred percent over it. I thought about making natural dyes but who wants to do all that extra work? I'll take some readily available, naturally colored seasonal fruits, please and thank you.


After all my thinking, a fruit tart was the best idea I could come up with. And it was tough to stick with it because basically everyone on the face of the earth makes a red, white, and blue fruit tart for the Fourth of July. So how do I make mine different? By making a greek yogurt pastry cream, that's how.


When it comes to greek yogurt, Chobani is always my number one pick. I used their vanilla flavored one and it worked wonders in my pastry cream. I didn't tell my family about my little secret ingredient to get their honest opinion and they had nothing but rave reviews. Even my pickiest of brothers said it was amazing. And the flaky, crisp crust was the perfect complement.

To give you a head start on making this tart, Chobani is giving away a case of assorted yogurt cups to one lucky reader! Enter the giveaway via the widget below. Good luck!

Patriotic Fruit Tart with Greek Yogurt Pastry Cream

Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients:

For the greek yogurt pastry cream:
1 cup whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch of vanilla powder (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup vanilla-flavored greek yogurt 

For the pastry crust:
1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup powdered (confectioners) sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg yolk

Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, for garnish

Directions:

For the greek yogurt pastry cream:
Heat milk in a small saucepan until simmering. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together egg yolks, cornstarch, and sugar until well-combined. Mixture will be thick at first, but will loosen up and turn a pale yellow color. Gradually pour in the heated milk into the egg yolk mixture, swiftly whisking as you pour to quickly incorporate the milk. When you've fully combined the two mixtures, return the entire mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium low heat, whisking constantly until it starts to thicken. Immediately remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Transfer pastry cream to a heatproof bowl, and whisk in the greek yogurt. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap directly against the surface of the cream. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until chilled.

Meanwhile, prepare the pastry crust. Add all-purpose flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Add butter and egg yolk and pulse until a soft dough starts to form. Turn dough out onto your 9 or 10-inch tart pan*. Press it evenly onto the bottom of the pan and up the sides. Freeze for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover the crust with foil and fill with beans or pie weights. Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until light golden brown. (If the edges of the crust start to brown too much, cover them with aluminum foil.) Remove from oven and allow it to cool down completely.

Fill the cooled tart shell with chilled pastry cream. Garnish with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Best if served the same day; cover and refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days.

Note:* I used an 11 inch tart pan and though it worked, I think this recipe caters better to a smaller diameter tart pan. 

Check out these other awesome recipes using Chobani greek yogurt!