Swiss Peach and Vanilla Cream Wahe Tart with Farmers-Market Stone Fruit

Make the pastry: rub the cold butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips until you have a coarse, uneven crumb with some pea-sized pieces of butter still visible. Sprinkle over the ice water and bring it together into a disc without kneading. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 3 tablespoons ice water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 lb ripe farmers-market peaches (about 6), pitted and sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 2 tablespoons ground almonds or fine breadcrumbs
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for the top
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or seeds of 1 vanilla bean
• Pinch of ground cinnamon
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions

1. Make the pastry: rub the cold butter into the flour and salt with your fingertips until you have a coarse, uneven crumb with some pea-sized pieces of butter still visible. Sprinkle over the ice water and bring it together into a disc without kneading. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch and line an 11-inch tart tin, pressing it well into the corners. Trim the edge, prick the base all over with a fork, and chill again for 15 minutes while the oven heats to 400F.
3. Blind-bake the shell with parchment and weights for 15 minutes, then remove the weights and bake 5 minutes more until the base is dry and pale gold. This step is not optional — the custard is wet, and an unbaked base will steam into sogginess.
4. Scatter the ground almonds over the hot base. They act as an insulating layer, soaking up peach juice before it can reach the pastry.
5. Arrange the peach slices over the base in tight overlapping circles, working from the outside in. Pack them closer than feels necessary; they shrink considerably as they bake.
6. Whisk the eggs, cream, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon until just combined but not foamy, then pour the custard slowly over the fruit, letting it settle into the gaps. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar over the top.
7. Lower the oven to 350F and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the custard is set with only the faintest wobble at the center and the peach edges have caught a little color.
8. Cool the tart in the tin for at least 30 minutes before slicing — the custard needs that time to firm up. Dust with powdered sugar and serve barely warm or at room temperature.
9. A wahe is Switzerland's answer to the question of what to do with a glut of fruit, and every canton has its own version — the German-speaking regions bake them with plums and apples in autumn, the west with apricots and cherries in high summer. What unites them is the thin, almost austere crust and the custard binding known as the guss, a technique that lets fruit stay the star rather than drowning it in sweetness. Late summer peaches, picked ripe enough that they perfume the whole kitchen, need very little sugar and repay this restrained treatment better than almost any other fruit.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 380 kcal
• Protein: 6g
• Fat: 22g
• Carbohydrates: 42g
• Fiber: 3g
• Sugar: 24g
• Sodium: 180mg