Sweet Crisp Pastry Dough

The traditional French sweet pastry dough called pâte sucrée used for fruit tarts with tart fillings (in both senses of the word) such as lemon curd, is made differently from most pie and tart pastry dough. The butter is not cut into small pieces with the flour; instead, it is creamed with sugar before beaten egg is added, a little at a time. The flour is then added all at once and mixed in just long enough for the whole thing to pull together.