Bourbon Brown Butter Cashew Tart

Name: Bourbon Brown Butter Cashew Tart
Yield: 10
Cuisine: American

RECIPE: Excerpted with permission from Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes From My Half-Filipino Kitchen by Arlyn Osborne published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, March 2024

Photo: Linda Xiao

January 12, 2024

The Philippines meets the South in this sweet treat.

In author and professional recipe developer Arlyn Osborne‘s dessert book, Sugarcane: Sweet Recipes From My Half-Filipino Kitchen, she calls on her Filipino and American upbringing to create unique treats. For this bourbon tart, Osborne pairs elements of the Filipino cashew boat tart with those of the American South’s bourbon pecan pie. Instead of corn syrup, she uses golden syrup. “Here, browned butter deepens all the flavors at play, while sticky golden syrup adds a luscious buttery sweetness unmatched by honey or corn syrup,” she writes. Golden syrup, a British import, can be found online if not at your local grocer.

Ingredients

Yield:1 9-inch tart

Pastry Crust
1 1/3 cups plus 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed
4 Tbsp. ice water
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Filling
2 large eggs, at room temperature
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. golden syrup
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. bourbon
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups lightly salted roasted cashews, coarsely chopped

Preparation

For the Pastry CrustIn a food processor, add the flour, salt, and butter and pulse until the butter is broken up into small bits. Add the water and pulse until the mixture looks like crumbled dough.

Transfer to an unfloured work surface. Gather and shape into a flat disc. Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out the dough into a 12-inch (30.5 cm) round.

Transfer to a 9-inch (23 cm) tart tin with a removable bottom. Roll a rolling pin over the dough to trim away the excess and create clean edges. Prick the dough all over with a fork. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Set the tart tin on a sheet pan and line the pastry with foil so it covers the dough entirely. Fill with dried beans or pie weights.

Bake until the dough starts to look dry with a matte finish around the inner perimeter, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and continue to bake (on the sheet pan) until the crust perimeter is light golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Note:After you remove the foil and beans and return the pastry to the oven, it should not balloon in the center. If it does, put the foil and beans back and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes before continuing.

Transfer the tart tin (on the sheet pan) to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Leave the oven on.

For the FillingMeanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Set beside the stovetop.

In a large saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and it turns toasty and brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl.

In the same large saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, golden syrup, heavy cream, and salt. Have an instant-read thermometer ready. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil, whisking constantly, until the thermometer registers 235°F (113°C), about 1 minute (this can happen fast).

Remove from the heat and whisk in the brown butter, bourbon, and vanilla. Gradually whisk about half of the warm syrup mixture into the eggs. Then whisk the egg mixture back into the saucepan.

To Assemble the PieSpread the cashews over the bottom of the cooled crust and pour the syrup mixture over top. Return to the oven and bake until the filling is puffed (it will settle as it cools) and set, about 30 minutes. Transfer the tart tin to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.