Recipe 99: Nectarine and Mascarpone Tart in a Sugar Cookie Crust

The challenge: Locating Peach Jam. I should have made the recipe at the back of the book. I found peach preserves and used them.

The picture of this tart looks so good, I was excited to see peaches and nectarines begin to come into season. The recipe was pretty easy, overall.

Next time, I would use better or homemade sugar cookies in this recipe, or more likely, I'll use graham crackers or oreos. I still wonder how this recipe will taste with chocolate drizzled over it.

It went together rather easy, the toughest part was almost the waiting-but we all know by now that I'm really good at distracted cooking or capable of making it happen. Once I crumbled the sugar cookies and processed them to make crumbs and mixed them with butter, I pressed them into the bottom of the pan. I crumbled a few extra to make sure the bottom was covered. I baked this for about 9 minutes, or hoped I was close, and was glad to pull it out of the oven before it was over-cooked. I allowed the crust to cool while I did some dishes and created the filling.

Then, I creamed together the mascarpone and cream cheeses and added the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla and almond extract. I spread this over the sugar cookie crust and refridgerated for two hours(up to one day). Later, after taking a walk, and visiting James before he went to work, I sliced the nectarines and arranged them on the chilled crust and filling.

Once the nectarines were arranged prettily, I warmed the peach preserves and brushed them over the nectarines. Then I got a knife, spatula and fork, and dug in.
It was good, but I honestly think it would be better as the peaches and cream it is supposed to be a play off of. I think I would rather have rasperries top the cream cheese and mascarpone filling than nectarines. But this is my opinion. If you love nectarines, you will be in heaven. If you do not love nectarines, my suggestion is to find a tart fruit you will love and use that. If you do not like tart fruit, well, I'm not sure what to advise. You might pull off a sweet one, like peaches, but I'm afraid you'll still be left with something to be desired.

In addition, I realized by the next day, this dish is meant to be served the day it is finished, not any later. The nectarines begin to ooze juice and it runs into the sugar cookie crust. Its not bad like this, but its better if there aren't going to be many leftovers for this dish, which makes it great for a potluck or sunday picnic or family gathering. Not for a single woman with only so much time and a sweet tooth;-).

If I make this recipe again, it will be done differently. It was still good enough my nieces might talk me into it, but the raspberries should be ready by the time they visit;-).