This tart is stunning. And so you think, okay, it’s beautiful, and that’s it’s main offering. Wrong. It’s more delicious than it is beautiful.
The creamy and thick vanilla bean custard with a hint of cinnamon steals the show. It’s worthy of being its own dessert. When I was 19 years old, my Mom and I went on an international trip. We started in the English countryside, in the same city that Shakespeare was born, Stratford-Upon-Avon before heading to Paris. We strolled in the nearby meadows, visited the small English villages and farms, and most importantly, we made and ate tapioca pudding with freshly halved grapes on top. My family has a long obsession with tapioca pudding but this was the first time we’d thought to add grapes instead of your typical summer berries. This custard reminds me of all those bowls of pudding we ate.
And it’s doesn’t stop there. The crust is a simple olive oil crust, with touches of cinnamon and orange. It pairs perfectly with the vanilla pastry cream. And it’s easy — just a matter of stirring the ingredients together in a bowl and pressing them into the tart pan. There will be extra crust, which you can make cookies (that are really good!!) to serve with the tart. I was planning to plate the cookies along side the tart, or even place a few poking out of the tart but as soon I pulled them from the oven, Fabien and I ate all six of them right then in there. The smell is so tempting, you’ll understand when it’s wafting through your kitchen.
And finally the grapes. The design is entirely up to you. I had a vision in my head of the sliced grapes but whole grapes would be beautiful too. Green grapes would be even better! Or a mixture of fresh seasonal fruit like figs and grapes or peaches and nectarines.
A Bee Bakes 
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