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Sugar Tart Crust

(recipe, Caroline Cummins)

Ingredients

  1. ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature, cut into small pieces
  2. 5 Tbsp. sugar
  3. 1 large egg yolk
  4. 1¼ cups sifted cake flour

Steps

  1. Coat a 10-inch loose-bottomed fluted tart pan with nonstick spray; set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter with the flat paddle attachment on medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar gradually and continue to beat on medium-high speed until lightened and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk until well combined. Add the flour and pulse the mixer on and off until it begins to combine, and then run the mixer on medium-low speed just until the dough begins to form. Scrape out onto plastic wrap and use the wrap to help press the dough into a flat disk shape. Wrap the dough thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
  3. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round and fit into the pan, pressing into corners and trimming the top. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or freeze for 15 minutes while the oven preheats. At this point, you can double-wrap the tart shell very well in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 2 days before baking, or freeze for up to 1 week.
  4. If not using the crust to make Deep-Dish Sour Cream–Apple Pie with Lemon-Cardamom Streusel, position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For a partially baked tart shell, bake directly on the oven rack for 8 to 12 minutes, or until dry to the touch and beginning to color around the edges. For a fully baked tart shell, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, just until it is very light golden brown. If crust puffs up during baking, gently press back down with the back of a fork. Cool the tart pan set on a rack.