- Hey, guys, today I am gonna show you
how to make a really impressive appetizer
for the holiday season that 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 how to make this tart two ways,
one a savory version
which is great for any holiday cocktail parties,
and then a sweet one which would be great for a dessert
or even Christmas morning brunch.
Let me show you how to put it together.
So first up we're gonna tackle 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 wanna do is go to the supermarket
and find some store-brought puff pastry sheets.
Now, this works really well
when you can get the puff pastry that isn't scored
but is actually just a flat rectangle.
The Trader Joe's brand comes as a rectangular sheet,
so if you live in the U.S. you'll find it there.
Then you wanna transfer that 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 you can 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 slide right off once it's done
and you don't have to move it.
Then you can go ahead and spread three to four tablespoons
of the pesto in the center of the circle.
And then you do wanna leave about 1/2 an inch
to an inch border all the way around the circle.
This will prevent the pesto from spilling out
when we go to cut our little sun rays.
Then you can take the second sheet of puff pastry,
cut your circle, put it on top of your rolling pin,
and that will be easy,
'cause then you can line up the circles and plop it on top.
Then to create our sun, we are going to take a glass.
I find a little juice glass tends to work best.
Then you can remove the glass,
and you'll see it'll make a little indentation.
And then I think the easiest way
to get kind of roughly equal sun rays
is to quarter the puff pastry at this point.
So you just wanna cut the sides and then the top,
and you'll have almost like a clock.
Then you can go ahead and, using your knife,
cut each quadrant in half and 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 your little 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 snap it off from the center,
and giving it a good twist 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 all the way around the tart,
and you'll see how beautiful it starts to look.
And then once you're done,
I do like to put it in the freezer at this point
just to firm up,
because we're going to put an egg wash on top.
And I find if the puff pastry's too 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 little decorative flourish in the center.
Totally optional, but I do think it looks pretty,
some little sesame seeds.
Then it starts to kinda look like a sunflower too.
And we're gonna bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.
You can check on it, and you'll see,
it'll start to turn really nice and golden brown.
At that point, let it go for like another two minutes,
because that will just help 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 and won't hold its shape as well.
So 20 minutes, check on it,
and then if it looks like it needs another two minutes,
go another two.
And the way that people eat it
is you just grab a little sun 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 I really pull out all the stops
and I go with the linen cocktail napkins. (laughs)
There's nothing more elegant than offering your guest
a linen cocktail napkin.
And I found these online
through a company called Bumblebee Linens,
so I'll leave you a link in the description
on where you can get them.
I was really impressed with the 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 having around the holidays.
And all we're gonna do is fill it
with a little bit of chocolate 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 do the same exact thing.
We're gonna put our glass on top, cut our rays,
and then wash it with a little bit of egg wash.
Pop it in the oven for the same amount of time.
And if you wanted to gild the lily,
you could just add a little bit 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 crazy and insane, as we all know,
so this could be completely prepped ahead of time.
You could even put the egg wash on it and everything
and just let it sit like this,
covered with maybe a little bit
of parchment paper or plastic wrap in your freezer.
And then all you have to do is get up on Christmas morning
and put it in the oven, and people 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 here next week with another one.
Until then, bye.