Sweet and buttery tart dough that does double duty.
Dessert like a fruit or custard tart requires a great classic pâte sucrée recipe. Pâte sucrée is a French pastry dough that can be used to make a sweet pastry tart shell, or sliced and baked into cookies. Here’s the recipe.
What Is Pâte Sucrée?
Primarily, a pâte sucrée recipe is used to make tart dough. French for “sweet dough,” pâte sucrée gets mixed, rolled, and chilled before it is “blind” baked in a tart shell, then filled with something like custards or ganache.
Pâte sucrée tastes buttery and tender, stays crisp, and makes a stable, tender base for custard and fruit tarts.
Why Is This Pâte Sucrée Recipe Different From Pie Dough?
Pâte sucrée does differ from regular pie dough in several key ways.
1. The texture. Pie dough should be very flaky. To this end, the best pie dough method retains pea-sized bits of butter. This creates flakiness when baking.
2. How it’s made. American-style flaky pie dough (or pâte brisée) should be flaky and light. That style works great for apple pie and the like, but less effectively for custards, since custards would make pie dough soggy and bland.
But pâte sucrée breaks the butter down much further, effectively coating the flour in fat. I use a food processor for this. The pâte sucrée method (more below) allows the finished tart shell retain its crispness even after a wet element, like pastry cream, is added.
Using This Pâte Sucrée Recipe for a Tart
Here’s a shorthand on how to make this pâte sucrée recipe:
- After mixing the dough, roll the dough out into a round, wrap it, and chill fully.
- Roll it out further to line a tart pan, and blind bake the shell.
- Fill with your custard of choice, and serve!
What Is “Blind Baking” a Pastry or Pie Crust?
Blind baking is a term that simply means to pre-bake a pie or tart dough. After mixing and chilling the tart dough, line the tart pan, dock the dough with a fork, then line it with parchment, fill with beans or pie weights, and bake.
You should blind bake the shell with with pie weights because doing so:
- Props up the dough, preventing the dough from slumping, and
- Weighs down the dough, preventing it from puffing or forming bubbles.
How to Bake Pâte Sucrée as a Cookie
Same principal as the tart, different result.
- Roll the pâte sucrée into a log about 1.5″ in diameter.
- Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill the dough fully for at least two hours, or overnight.
- Then, slice and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes. Or, dress the cookies up by lightly egg washing the outside, then rolling them in sanding sugar or sprinkles before slicing and baking.
Any way you slice it, this fundamental dessert recipe works again and again.
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Pâte Sucrée
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 ¼ cups confectioner's sugar (10x)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) cool unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon water
- zest of one lemon, optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt. Add the cubed butter and process until crumbly. The texture will be like lightly-moistened sand.
- Add the egg yolk, water, and lemon zest (if using). Mix in the food processor until the dough comes together in a large ball. It is ok if there is a little loose dough, but it will basically be a whole ball.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly-floured surface. Knead it a few times into a smooth ball. Do not overwork the dough.
As a Tart Shell
- Using the palm of your hand or a rolling pin, flatten the dough into a flat, even disk about eight inches in diameter. Wrap and chill the dough for a least one hour, or up to two days.
- After the dough has rested and chilled, unwrap it and lightly dust both sides with flour. Roll the dough to about 11" diameter, so that there is enough dough to lay into the tart shell and cover the sides, plus a little overlap.
- Run the rolling pin or a paring knife over the rim of the tart shell to remove the excess dough, leaving a neat and clean rim. Dock the bottom of the crust all over with the tines of a fork. Loosely wrap and chill the shell for at least 30 minutes, or one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Unwrap the tart shell. Line the tart dough shell with parchment or two layers of foil. (I prefer parchment.) Fill the shell with dried beans or pie weights, and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the beans or weights, and continue baking for 5 minutes more or so, until the tart shell is golden brown. Let cool fully before removing from the tart pan. Use a paring knife to gently pry away any stuck parts, but it should remove easily.PRO TIP: If you are making mini tarts, follow the same method, but bake without pie weights. Mini tart shells will take about 15 to 18 minutes to bake to a light golden brown.
As Cookies
- Follow steps 1 - 3, above. Shape the dough into a log about 1.5" in diameter and 10" to 11" in length. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill fully, at least two hours or up to two days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two cookie sheets with parchment. Remove the plastic wrap from the chilled dough. If you'd like, lightly brush the outside of the log with egg and roll the log in sugar or colored sprinkles of your choice. If you want to use a variety of sprinkles (or make the log less unwieldy), just subdivide it into smaller logs.
- Slice the dough into 1/4" rounds. Place each slice on the cookie sheets, leaving about an inch of space between each.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until very light golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack. The cookies will keep in an airtight container for a couple of weeks.
Thanks! These are really good. Made them as cookies but will keep it in mind if I ever make a tart!
Thanks, Casey! Butter makes everything better. Check back in if you make the tart and let us know how it turns out 🙂
very good. I had trouble making them perfectly round but will try again.
Happy Monday Morning Lisa!
I have a question: I do not own a food processor, but have a Cuisinart mixer (very similar to traditional Kitchen Aide Mixer). Can I use my mixer for this recipe?
Thank you
Hi! Thanks for the good question. Yes, you can use a mixer, but make the butter room temperature. It will be hard to work the butter in well enough otherwise, without the blades of a food processor to help! Also, add the flour last, after you’ve mixed all the other ingredients together.
Lisa
thank you
thank you
thank you for responding so quickly! And thank goodness for instincts, “something “ told me to put my butter out, so I did.
It’s room temperature now, so I’m about to make the cookies.
I’ll let you know how they come out ?
Thanks again!
Good instincts! And yes! Definitely let me know how they turn out 🙂
OMG!!! If you’re wondering whether or not to try out this recipe, do it!!! You won’t regret it!!!
This cookie recipe is so good , so buttery , it melts in your mouth. And it’s so EASY ?!
Lisa, thank you for answering back this morning. I did what you suggested, and added the flour last. The cookies are just what I hoped they would be. And my boyfriend “inhaled “ about 5 of them! LOL –
Thank you again!
Yea!!! That makes me so happy, and I am glad you and your boyfriend enjoyed them!