Cooking, Recipes channel
- hey, guys, today i am gonna show you how to make a really impressive appetizer for the holiday seasonthat is so easy to make. it is like ridiculous. (laughs) it's called a tart au soleil,which is a french appetizer, and the literal translation is sun tart. and it's easy to see why it has that name, because when you look at it, it looks like a big rising sun,or sunflower sometimes too.
so i'm gonna show you howto make this tart two ways, one a savory version which is great for anyholiday cocktail parties, and then a sweet one whichwould be great for a dessert or even christmas morning brunch. let me show you how to put it together. so first up we're gonnatackle the savory variety, and all we're gonna do is fill it with some store-bought pesto,
which is quite delicious and easy. so the first thing you wannado is go to the supermarket and find some store-broughtpuff pastry sheets. now, this works really well when you can get the puffpastry that isn't scored but is actually just a flat rectangle. the trader joe's brand comesas a rectangular sheet, so if you live in theu.s. you'll find it there. then you wanna transferthat to a baking sheet
that's lined with parchment paper. then you're gonna roll it out. you don't have to do much. puff pastry can be kinda hard to roll out, so you don't have to go far with it. just far enough so that youcan take a dinner size plate and cut out a circle. so i'm using a 10-inch plate. this works really well on a baking sheet
that doesn't have any rims so that it can just slideright off once it's done and you don't have to move it. then you can go ahead andspread three to four tablespoons of the pesto in the center of the circle. and then you do wannaleave about 1/2 an inch to an inch border all theway around the circle. this will prevent thepesto from spilling out when we go to cut our little sun rays.
then you can take thesecond sheet of puff pastry, cut your circle, put it ontop of your rolling pin, and that will be easy, 'cause then you can line upthe circles and plop it on top. then to create our sun, weare going to take a glass. i find a little juiceglass tends to work best. then you can remove the glass, and you'll see it'll makea little indentation. and then i think the easiest way
to get kind of roughly equal sun rays is to quarter the puffpastry at this point. so you just wanna cut thesides and then the top, and you'll have almost like a clock. then you can go aheadand, using your knife, cut each quadrant in halfand then in quarters. and then you'll have equal little rays. so you wanna do that all the wanna around. and at this point if your puff pastry
has gotten pretty soft on you and it's hard to kinda cut it, just pop it in the freezer to firm up. it'll make it easier to work with. then once all yourlittle sun rays are cut, here's the fun part. you're gonna take the end of it and give it a full two turn twist, being careful not to snapit off from the center,
and giving it a goodtwist so that you'll see you'll have some dimension to it. and then you wanna take that tail and make sure that it's just laying flat. and you can do that allthe way around the tart, and you'll see howbeautiful it starts to look. and then once you're done, i do like to put it inthe freezer at this point just to firm up,
because we're going toput an egg wash on top. and i find if the puff pastry'stoo soft when you do that, it'll have a tendency to kind of deflate and get a little mushy on you. then after the egg wash, i do like to add a littledecorative flourish in the center. totally optional, but ido think it looks pretty, some little sesame seeds. then it starts to kindalook like a sunflower too.
and we're gonna bake at 400degrees for about 20 minutes. you can check on it, and you'll see, it'll start to turn reallynice and golden brown. at that point, let it go forlike another two minutes, because that will justhelp that puff pastry get really crisped up. if you take it out too soon and it's still a little doughy, it'll start to deflate andwon't hold its shape as well.
so 20 minutes, check on it, and then if it looks like itneeds another two minutes, go another two. and the way that people eat it is you just grab a littlesun ray and pull it off. and puff pastry can be a little bit messy, so i do make sure that i serve these with some cocktail napkins. and this time of year ireally pull out all the stops
and i go with the linencocktail napkins. (laughs) there's nothing more elegantthan offering your guest a linen cocktail napkin. and i found these online through a company called bumblebee linens, so i'll leave you alink in the description on where you can get them. i was really impressed withthe quality, i have to say. okay, so now for the dessert variety.
this would be really fun to make for a dessert buffet or an open house that you might be havingaround the holidays. and all we're gonna do is fill it with a little bit ofchocolate hazelnut spread, about three tablespoons or so. and you can go ahead and just make sure that it's all well-distributed. and we're just gonna dothe same exact thing.
we're gonna put our glasson top, cut our rays, and then wash it with alittle bit of egg wash. pop it in the oven forthe same amount of time. and if you wanted to gild the lily, you could just add a littlebit of powdered sugar on top. (laughs) it is a bit sweet,but it does look so pretty, especially for christmas. so now, christmas day is crazyand insane, as we all know, so this could be completelyprepped ahead of time.
you could even put the eggwash on it and everything and just let it sit like this, covered with maybe a little bit of parchment paper orplastic wrap in your freezer. and then all you have to dois get up on christmas morning and put it in the oven, andpeople will be so impressed when you get it to the table. all right, you guys, be sure to subscribe for more holiday recipes,
and i will see you back herenext week with another one. until then, bye.
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