Loquat Tarts

I made loquat tarts for Terry and Peggy - does this mean I may be loquatious?
(The fruit here is loquat - not kumquat!)

Ingredients:

Pie Crust (you will only need half of this, save the rest for another pie)

• 2 1/2 cups (315 grams) flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 grams) sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt
• 2 sticks (8 ounces, 225 grams tablespoons or 1 cup) unsalted butter, very cold and diced into very 1/4” or so pieces
• 1/2 to 3/4 ice water

Filling

• 4+ cups of loquats
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/3  cup water
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/16 tsp. salt)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  
  Optional spices (These mask the flavor, I skipped them the second time I baked loquats):
• 1/8 tsp. allspice
• 1/8 tsp. ginger
• 1/8 tsp. cloves

Instructions:

1. Make up pie dough in advance!! 
2. Whisk together flour, sugar & salt in food processor.
3. Sprinkle the butter cubes over the flour mix 
4. Cut in the butter with a couple of bursts of a food processor until the butter pieces are the size of tiny peas
5. Dump flour mix in a large bowl.
6. Drizzle in 1/2 cup of the ice-cold water.
7. Using a wooden spoon, paddle the dough together into a clump
   (Add the last 1/4 cup of water as needed, a tablespoon as a time.)
8. Press and fold the dough a couple of times.
9. Wrap each disk snugly in plastic wrap, let chill in the refrigerator at least an hour.
10. Wrap snugly in plastic wrap, let chill in the refrigerator at least an hour
     
11. Wash and quarter loquats, removing seeds.
    (This can take a while...)
12. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
13. Combine loquats and water on stovetop and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes until loquats are tender.
    (Or 5 minutes, if they feel soft to start)
14. Combine dry ingredients in small bowl, then stir into loquats. Add vanilla as well. 
15. Cook until thickened (about 10 to 15 minutes); remove from heat and cool.
16. While filling is cooling, divide pie crust dough into quarters, roll out each in about 6 inch circle, and press into 4 wells in a tart pan
17. Pour filling into pastry-lined pan, add top crust if desired, and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Carole's Notes:

In case you wanted to know - the loquat tree has been in cultivation for thousands of years. They are planted as an ornamental tree in Florida, and bear some of the first fruit of the season. Until this year, the birds ate all our loquats. We decided to try them this year.

Loquats taste sort of like an apple/apricot/peach/plum cross.

The picture below shows almost ripe loquats - they do get softer and more orange. If you start with this type, you will probably need the extra sugar in the recipe.



The recipe is a hodge podge of apple/peach pie recipes, with some flavoring from loquat jelly.
The pie crust is lightly adapted from http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/11/pie-crust-102-all-butter-really-flaky-pie-dough/