Peaches and Cream Tart

5 from 11 votes

Peaches and cream tart is a rich summer-time fruit dessert with a shortbread crust and a cream cheese filling. It gets topped with peach jam, sweet, juicy peaches, and garnished with mint sprigs.

Prep Time1

Cook Time1

Total Time2

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Keyword: baking, dessert, peach, peach desserts, peach pie, peach tart, peaches, peaches and cream tart, sweets

Servings: servings

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

One par-baked recipe for easy shortbread pastry crust in an 11-inch tart pan

For the Cream Cheese Filling:

16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
3 eggs
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract

For the Peach Topping:

8 ounces peach jam divided
4-5 fresh peaches peeled and sliced
1 whole lemon juiced

Instructions

For the Cream Cheese Custard:

In a large mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, add the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, mix on medium speed until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition to a creamy consistency.
Pour the custard into the cooled tart crust. Carefully place the filled tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and transfer to the middle rack of a preheated 350°F oven.
Bake the tart for 25-30 minutes, until firm. Transfer the tart to a wire rack and cool completely before adding the topping.

For the Peach Topping:

In a small saucepan over low heat, add the peach jam and allow to melt into a thick syrup. Remove from the heat and cool. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooled jam for later.
Bring a large saucepan filled with water to a boil and dip each peach into the boiling water for 5-10 seconds, scalding the peach to loosen the skins, and then immerse them into a pan of ice-water. The peach skins slip off easily.
Cut the peaches in half, remove the pits and cut uniformly into 1/2-inch slices placing them in a large shallow bowl and gently toss with the lemon juice.

To Assemble the Tart:

Tip ¾ of the peach jam on the cooled tart filling, spreading to cover the top.
Arrange the peach slices in a concentric circles, beginning at the crust edge and working to the center.
Reheat the remaining ¼ cup of peach jam and with a pastry brush, coat the peaches.
Refrigerate the tart for 6-8 hours before serving.

Notes

The shortbread crust can be substituted with your favorite double-crust pastry.

Look for a Freestone peach or other cling-free peach variety as they will be easy to remove their pits.

The lemon juice will prevent the peach slices from discoloring.

Consider leaving the peaches unpeeled, their rosy peels will make a beautiful version of this tart.

Alternative to scalding the peaches you can peel them with a vegetable peeler.

After filling the tart crust with the custard, place strips of foil on the edge of the crust to prevent over-browning.

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