This easy pistachio tart is made with a sweet pistachio cookie crust and a pistachio cream filling. You can serve it as is, or garnish it with fruit, like peaches and raspberries.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter with the icing sugar, and the ground pistachios.
Add the egg and beat it in, then mix in the flour and salt on low. Mix until the dough clumps together.
Gather the dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
You will be using a 9-inch (23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. Slice the disk of chilled dough into thin, equal strips, roughly ¼ inch thick. Line the bottom and sides of the tart pan with the strips, pressing them together to flatten the surface so there are no holes or gaps. You will use all the dough to line the pan in this way.
Place the pan on a baking sheet and chill the unbaked pastry shell for about 1 hour until it is cold and firm. You can speed this step up by freezing teh tart shell for 15–20 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). When the pastry is very cold, remove the baking sheet with the tart from the fridge. Using a fork, poke holes all over the crust.
Bake the tart shell on the middle rack of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and have pulled away from the sides just a little. As the tart shell bakes, check on it every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure there aren't any air pockets forming. If you see a lump of air, just poke it with a tooth pick, a fork, or a wooden skewer to release the air. Press the pastry gently to smooth it out.
When the tart shell is completely baked, remove the sheet pan from the oven.
Allow the baked tart to cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding. Check out my trick for unmolding a tart for this step. Cool completely on a wire rack. Place the unmolded baked tart shell on a serving plate.
Garnish options
Decorate the cooled tart with fruit (like fresh raspberries and sliced fresh or canned peaches) and sprinkle with ground pistachios and/or slivered pistachios.
Alternatively, you can also simply dust the top with powdered sugar and ground pistachios for a simpler look.
Notes
Please read about how to use a tart pan if you have never baked with one before, especially if you are nervous about unmoulding the tart.
There are many other ways to make this pistachio tart differently. Here are a few other options:
Pear—top this pistachio tart with poached pears instead of canned peaches
Plum or pluot—I've topped this pistachio tart with sliced fresh plums or pluots in season. Apricots would also be great (fresh or canned).
Lemon—skip the fruit and top the tart with a generous smear of homemade lemon curd from edge to edge
Bakewell style—spread a layer of homemade jam over the entire surface of the par-baked tart shell before spreading the pistachio cream
À la mode—skip the fruit on top and instead dust with icing sugar and ground pistachios to decorate the top, and serve with vanilla ice cream or either this cardamom ice cream or lemon custard ice cream!