The Key to Easy Summer Baking Is in the Freezer Aisle

The best, most adaptable tarts start with a store-bought puff pastry, to be topped with any fruits or vegetables you like.

There are few culinary joys equal to biting into the still-warm crust of a puff pastry tart. The way those crisp yet airy layers shatter into crumbs always makes me giddy with wonder: How can butter be so light and feathery? How can air be this rich and crunchy? If you have an exacting nature, plenty of patience and loads of time, making your own puff pastry is ideal. But for the improvisational cook, a box of good, all-butter puff pastry kept in the freezer is a perfectly legitimate alternative, baking up as ethereal and burnished as anything I’ve been able to make from scratch. They make whipping up impressive fruit and vegetable tarts a feat you can do on the fly. And, once you’ve learned a few simple rules, the possibilities are vast and easy to riff on. First, though, you’ll need to track down a good brand of puff pastry, preferably one made with butter. Some supermarkets stock it only around the winter holidays, so if you see it then, consider buying a few extra packages. In doing so, you can bake something with asparagus or strawberries for Mother’s Day, or have your way with tomatoes and peaches come summer. When properly stored in the freezer, it can last for eight to 10 months.