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Bakery Fruit Tart

"This gorgeous pie is incredibly easy but looks like it's from a fancy bakery -- and tastes even better! Use 3 fresh apricots instead of canned."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 608 recipes mention both. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

The recipe

2 9-inch pies
Prep30 min
Cook25 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Prick the unbaked pie crusts all over with a fork and bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly golden. Cool completely.

  2. Whisk the instant vanilla pudding mix with the milk and half-and-half for about 2 minutes until thickened. Stir in the vanilla extract, spread the pudding evenly into the cooled crusts, and refrigerate.

  3. Pour the reserved mandarin orange liquid and the water into a saucepan. Add the sugar and lime juice and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

  4. In a small bowl, stir the cornstarch into the 1 tablespoon of water until smooth. Stir it into the simmering liquid and cook 1 to 2 minutes until thick and glossy. Let the glaze cool slightly.

  5. Arrange the drained mandarin segments, strawberries, kiwi slices and drained apricot halves over the chilled pudding in each tart.

  6. Brush the fruit with the cooled glaze. Chill the tarts for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Vanilla + apricottop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together608 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Lime + mandarin orangetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Mandarin orange + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together57 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the lime

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, mandarin orange, milk, cream, vanilla, apricot):

  1. Strawberrybetter flavor fit
  2. Peachbetter flavor fit
  3. Raspberrybetter flavor fit
  4. Limethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, mandarin orange, milk, cream, vanilla, apricot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).