Peach Tart with Honey and Black Pepper
If you’ve been following my blog, then I’m sure you’ve noticed it’s gotten a major facelift. My shop and classes are growing, and I’m trying to accommodate my business with this website as well. I will still be sharing recipes here at least twice a week, so I hope you’ll continue tuning in for renditions of my favorite French foods, like this peach tart with honey and black pepper.
I was inspired to make this peach tart after I found some incredibly beautiful peaches from my local farm stand. I brought them home and their fragrant scent was wafting through the kitchen, tempting me to bake something with them. I decided on this tart recipe that I had stumbled upon in a Bon Appetit article. The original tart utilized plums, but I decided peaches were an equally delicious stone fruit to use, especially the peaches I had on hand. I made the peach tart with my own puff pastry, which I shared how to do in last week’s post. You can see the recipe and video tutorial for that here.
Using puff pastry to create fruit tarts is as classic as it gets when it comes to French desserts, but what I particularly love about this peach tart is the addition of fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper. The fleur de sel creates the whole sweet and salty combination that we’ve come to know and love, while the ground pepper adds just the slightest bit of heat to the pastry. It’s not overwhelmingly noticeable like, say, red pepper or jalapeno; it adds the slightest, most subtle bit of heat, which is lovely with the sweet peaches and honey that’s drizzled on at the end. This is also an incredibly simple summer dessert to create, even if you decide to make your own pastry dough. I recommend enjoying this peach tart with a scoop of freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Peach Tart with Honey and Black Pepper
Ingredients
for the puff pastry
- 125 grams all-purpose flour, approx. 1 c, plus more for dusting
- 140 grams unsalted butter, approx. 1/2 c + 2 tbsp, chilled and cubed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 c to 1/2 c cold water
for the fruit topping
- 1 1/2 slices peaches, cut into 1/8” thin
- 2-3 teaspoons of granulated sugar
- pinch of sea salt flakes
- small pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- honey to drizzle
Instructions
- Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add in the cubes of butter and use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. You want to end up with clumps of flour that are no bigger than the size of a pea. Stream in the cold water and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together into a large clump.
- Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough. Roll the dough out into a rectangular strip of dough. Fold the dough into thirds. Turn the dough so that the open ends are facing you and roll out again into a long strip. Fold into thirds. Repeat one last time, rolling the dough out into a strip, then folding into thirds. Place the dough on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out the puff pastry into a 10 inch by 8inch rectangle. Place peach slices onto puff pastry, very slightly spacing them out from each other and leaving a 1/2 inch border all along the perimeter of the rectangle.
- Sprinkle the sugar all over the tart, including the puff pastry edges. Grind a light layer of black pepper all over the tart.
- Bake the tart for approx. 20 to 25 minutes, until the tart is golden throughout. Before serving, sprinkle a pinch of sea salt flakes all over the tart and a drizzle of honey.
I love the new platform!!! The layout looks so professional and gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful.
Such a great recipe, too 🙂 I’m going to a peach farm in Llona in a few days to talk to some farmer’s about their growing practices. I would have never thought of adding salt and pepper but I really love the idea. Especially with some vanilla bean.
Thank you, Amanda!! Will you be writing about your experience? I would be so interested in reading! 🙂 XO
It’s becoming a habit, with me and your posts; by the time I reach the end I find that I have stopped breathing, momentarily. I believe this is the act of having one’s breath taken away and all I can say is bravo! First, I love your selection of peaches for this tart. We have such a relatively short season of good peaches here in the mid-west that I find myself contemplating (daily) ideas for which I can use them; perfect timing for this recipe! Second, that puff pastry – WOW. Just spectacular but something I feel certain would be very challenging not to consume all at once. I completely understand the added taste and interest imparted by the peppercorn, I get it! Very, very nicely done, again (as Forest Gump would say.) Your site is as beautiful as your food; I’m so happy with the direction that mom petit four is going and really admire the creative force behind it. Nice job, Beeta!
Dan, your comments are always such a joy to read, and truly encouraging. Most of the time I am my harshest critic, so reading uplifting and kind words from readers like you is always a pleasure. I can only hope to continue and take your breath away, as that’s every blogger’s dream! <3
Beeta, I moved over to SquareSpace a few months ago from blogger and I love it too! Their designs are so clean and fresh! Your new website looks truly fabulous – super professional. If you are anything like me, you’ll be glad the move is over. What a pain in the butt! But it is so so worth it! Meanwhile this tart, how gorgeous! Your photography is as stunning as always!
Thank you so much, Jess! Yes, this move has been exhausting, and I’m not even done. Transferring the recipes has been the hardest as I used to use a plugin to share my recipes, and now I must copy and paste all the old recipes, reformat them, and save them in individual pdfs to link to on here. I’m only a quarter way done doing that – I have to take breaks or I just start going through directions like "just mix the darn ingredients together and voila!" haha! 😉 But thanks so much for your encouragement and kind words, deary <3
I love the new look, Beeta! si belle!
On my editorial calendar I have grilled peaches with black pepper ice cream coming up in a couple of weeks – but now you have me scheming. Just look at this beautiful thing you’ve done with peaches and black pepper. Now I’m thinking of sweetening the ice cream with honey. And really, why grill peaches when you can make this luscious tart. 🙂
Marissa, that sounds amazing! I’ve never had black pepper ice cream. I have had grilled peaches which are amazing, so I am totally looking forward to your recipe! Thanks so much, love! XO
Beeta,
This is truly beautiful.
I am a huge fan of sprinkling desserts (especially chocolate-y ones) with fleur de sel. I am going to have to try this combination soon.
Cheers!
Thank you Aysegul! I, too, love adding fleur de sel to desserts (like chocolate covered caramels..mmm). I’m so glad we’ve found each other’s blogs! 🙂
Beeta – this is beautiful! Peaches are one of my favorite summer fruits, and you’re so right how their scent can grab you from across the room. Love the new face lift – it’s so airy and bright, just like your photos and recipes. Love 🙂
Thank you, Jessica! I really appreciate it <3
Wow Beeta!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (I could put a lot more exclamation marks, but I don’t want to fill up your beautiful page). OMG!! Your new layout is soooooooooooooo stunning, I am so lost for words. It’s so stylish and clean and modern and beautiful – ahhhh! So amazing, seriously. I loved your old layout too of course! This looks so amazing, and I’m so pleased for you :). This recipe is gorgeous, and peach tart is a perfect, light and summery dessert. The black pepper sounds like a divine addition too. Yum!
Still totally in awe of your new blog design – wwowowowowow!
Thank you, Harriet!! That is so nice to hear <3 It’s been such a process changing platforms that it feels all worth it when I hear the kind compliments about the new site! XO
BEEEEETA! I just came to your website and I was like wait… wut… is going on here!? Is this the same Mon Petit Four!? This new site is gorgeous (not that I didn’t also love your old website!!). I love the clean feel and image banner above each post. Good on you!
Black pepper is something I’ve been wanting to experiment with in baking lately. It seems like it sits alongside berries so well and I can only imagine it’d be stellar in this peach tart! And the puff pastry + fruit combo is such a classic! <3
Thank you, Hannah! I know the site looks completely different!! Thank you for the kind words, love! XO