Let’s say you’re interested in making a certain dessert, a dessert that sounds so delicious there’s no way you could possibly wait until next weekend to prepare it. Let’s also say you don’t have the tart pan specified in the recipe, but are able to find mini tart pans at a local store. You’d try to make the recipe, anyway, wouldn’t you? Don’t leave me hanging, here. You would, right?

Well, I did, anyway. Perhaps I should’ve done the math to make sure I was using the proper number of tart pans. Or perhaps I should’ve eyeballed it better and realized the dough could stretch to five pans instead of the four I decided to use. Perhaps, schmerhaps. What’s done is done. This is the tale of my peach and thyme polenta tarts.

I started with the crust and things seemed to go well. The texture felt right and tasted like a good combination of savory and sweet, so I separated the dough into three sections before chilling them in the fridge. I realized a short time later that the dough would probably stretch into four tart pans, so I made adjustments on the fly when the time came to press the it into the pans. And still, everything looked ok to me.

So I baked them … and disaster ensued. The dough rose in the oven until it was nearly level across the pan, so I had to excavate the centers a bit for the filling. Once that was done, I noticed the peach slices would be far too big to arrange decoratively in the mini pans, so I trimmed them down and arranged and rearranged until I got a result almost pleasing to the eye.

That left filling the tarts with custard before baking, but with my track record on this dessert, I was worried. Would the custard leak through the tarts? Would they burn? Would they taste awful, making all of my work for naught? Oh, with the hand-wringing!

And then I pulled the tarts from the oven. Aaaahhh…

They weren’t the disaster I’d imagined and they smelled pretty good, too! But still, the test is in the tasting. After what seemed like a longer-than-average hour, we had the opportunity to take our first tentative bites of a tart andmadeshortworkofit.

I guess the moral of this story is to always follow directions, unless you really know what you’re doing. Of course, the corollary is if I can’t screw up this recipe, no one can (though I think I’ll look for the full-sized tart pan next time, just the same).

recipe after the jump

Peach and Thyme Polenta Tart, from Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen

Polenta Pastry Shell
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup polenta (cornmeal)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter (11 tablespoons), chilled and diced
1 egg, beaten

Filling
1 cup heavy whipping cream
10 fresh thyme sprigs
1 lemon
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
5 firm-ripe peaches, pitted and cut into very thin slices

Topping
5 fresh thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons tablespoons cornmeal
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix the flour, polenta, salt and sugar. Using your fingers or a food processor, work the flour mixture into the butter until the texture is coarse and crumbly, like small peas. Mix in the egg. Mix lightly until smooth, then form into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the yellow peel from the lemon, trying to avoid the white pith. Bring the cream to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Add the thyme sprigs and lemon peel. Cover and steep for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 400ºF. When the dough has chilled, work into a greased 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Let it rest for a few minutes, then bake for about 8 minutes or just until golden. Let cool. Lower the oven heat to 325ºF.

Strain the cream and discard the thyme and lemon peel. Whisk in the egg yolks, sugar and pinch of salt.

Take the remaining 5 sprigs of thyme, and using your index finger and thumb, peel off the tiny leaves. Mix with the cornmeal and sugar. Add a splash of water and mix until loose and crumbly.

Starting from the center, arrange the peach slices in an overlapping pattern in the baked tart shell. Pour the prepared custard over them and sprinkle the top with the cornmeal and thyme mixture. Bake at 325ºF for about 35-40 minutes or until the peaches are tender and custard is set and slightly browned. Let cool and set for at least an hour before slicing.