Apricot Almond Tartlets Recipes

ALMOND-APRICOT TART

Steps:

• Place apricots and whisky in a saucepan, bring to a simmer and set aside. Turn apricots in warm whisky from time to time while continuing with preparation.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Combine flour, 1/4 cup ground almonds, salt and granulated sugar in a bowl or food processor. Whisk to combine. By hand or machine, add butter, pulsing or using a pastry blender to make a crumbly mixture. Beat egg yolk with 4 tablespoons cold water and add, mixing or pulsing until ingredients come together to form a dough. Add a little more water as needed.
• Shape pastry into a flattened disk on a floured surface and roll to fit a 9-inch straight-sided tart pan. Prick the bottom. Line with foil and pastry weights and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake 10 minutes more, until lightly golden. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
• Drain apricots, reserving any whisky. Tightly line pastry shell with apricots. Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup ground almonds and confectioners' sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk mascarpone until smooth. Beat 2 remaining eggs and add to mascarpone along with reserved whisky and almond extract. Mix into combined almonds and confectioners' sugar. Pour over apricots in pastry shell.
• Place tart in oven and bake 20 minutes. Sprinkle sliced almonds around the outside edge of the tart filling to form a border about an inch wide. Return to oven and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the filling is puffed and lightly browned. Remove from oven, place on a rack and let cool to room temperature before serving.

APRICOT AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• For the pastry, put the sugar and butter in a bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon (cream) until combined. Sift over the flour and gently mix until incorporated. Stir in the egg, then lightly bring together with your hands. Tip onto a work surface, then lightly knead a few times to make a smooth dough. Divide in half, wrap each piece well in cling film, then leave to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
• Gently knead one piece of pastry to make it more pliable, then gently shape into a ball and squash down slightly on an unfloured surface. Gently roll the pastry with a rolling pin as quickly as possible, repeatedly turning it about 45 degrees to keep the circle shape.
• When you feel the pastry softening slightly, add a little flour to the work surface and the top of the pastry, then keep rolling until you have a rough circle about 6cm wider than your tin and 3mm thick. Trim the edges a little to make an even circle about 3-4cm wider than your tin.
• Carefully roll the pastry up around the rolling pin, then lay it over the tart case and unroll it from the pin with the floured underside facing up and the more buttery side against the metal tin. Press evenly into the base and sides of the tin, folding the excess back over the outside of the tin. Trim the edge slightly so about 5mm of the tin's outside is showing. Bring the trimmings together and use to help press the pastry into the corners and flutes of the tin, then cover with cling film and chill again for 30 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Fill the pastry case with baking paper and ceramic baking beans or uncooked rice. Put on a baking sheet, cook for 15 minutes, then remove the beans/rice and paper. Bake for 5 minutes more until sandy to the touch. Set aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, make the frangipane filling. Using a wooden spoon or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with the vanilla, nutmeg and orange zest. Add the ground, whole and flaked almonds and flour, then mix well. Beat in the egg and rum until smooth.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/150°C fan/gas 3½. Fill the tart case with the frangipane mix and use a dessert spoon or spatula to level the top. Top with the apricot halves or quarters and bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and slightly springy.
• Once out of the oven, use a small, sharp serrated knife to cut around the edges of the tart to remove the excess overhang and create super-sharp edges.
• Gently warm the apricot jam, brandy and a splash of water in a pan or the microwave and brush all over the tart while still warm, brushing first the frangipane, then the apricots, then the frangipane again. Serve warm in slices, topped with crème fraîche.

APRICOT-ALMOND TARTLETS

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine flour and confectioners' sugar; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg yolk and water; stir until dough forms a ball. Roll into twenty-four 1-in. balls. Press onto the bottoms and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups., In a small bowl, beat almond paste and butter until blended; beat in egg white and almond extract. Spoon into tart shells, about 2 teaspoons in each., Bake at 350° until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Top with apricot preserves.

ALMOND APRICOT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• To make the frangipane, place the almonds and the sugar in a food processor and grind until sandy. Add the butter and continue mixing then add the egg, vanilla, and the flour and mix until smooth.
• To make the tart, on a floured work surface pass your rolling pin over the pastry just to flatten any ridges.
• Place it on a parchment paper lined sheet pan and cut out a 9-inch disk. Spread the almond frangipane in the center of the tart leaving a 1-inch border. Firmly place the apricot halves into the frangipane spacing them evenly around the tart. Dot the spaces between the apricots with the whole almonds.
• Bake until golden brown on the top and puffy, about 30 to 40 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

APRICOT & ALMOND BISTRO TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7/fan 200C. Unroll the pastry on to a lightly dampened baking sheet (this creates steam which helps puff up the pastry), then sprinkle over the ground almonds. Lay the apricot halves over the top, nestling them closely together, right up to the edge of the pastry.
• Dust with the icing sugar and bake for 20-25 minutes until the sugar starts to caramelise a little. If you like, drizzle with maple syrup and serve hot, warm or cold. If you really want to indulge, serve with a spoonful of clotted cream or a pouring of single cream.

APRICOT ALMOND TARTLETS

Steps:

• To make dough, in the bowl of a food processor, pulse flour, granulated sugar, and orange zest together until just blended.
• Scatter butter over flour mixture and pulse until mixture has the consistency of cornmeal.
• While pulsing, pour egg white through feed tube.
• Process until dough forms a ball.
• Transfer to a lightly floured surface and, with the heel of your hand, press dough together until it is smooth and cohesive.
• Position rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 350° degrees F.
• Have a 12-well mini-tart plaque nearby.
• Use 1 level tablespoon of dough for each tartlet.
• Roll dough between your palms to form a smooth ball.
• With index finger, press center of dough ball into well, then press dough up the sides to distribute evenly.
• To make almond filling, in the bowl of a food processor, pulse almond paste, butter, confectioners' sugar, egg, egg yolk, vanilla and orange zest together until smooth.
• Spoon about 2 level tablespoons of filling into each shell.
• (I just use a heaping tablespoon) Then spoon about 1/2 teaspoon apricot preserves in the center of each filled tartlet.
• Bake until filling and edges of crusts are golden, 22-25 minutes.
• Transfer plaque to a wire rack and cool about 10 minutes, then remove tartlets and place on rack to cool completely.
• Repeat with remaining dough, filling and preserves.
• Before serving sprinkle tartlets with confectioners sugar.

APRICOT ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Make tart shell:
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 14-inch round and fit into bottom and side of tart pan, then trim flush with top of rim. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Lightly prick bottom of shell all over with a fork, then line with foil and fill with weights. Bake until pastry is pale golden along rim, and set underneath weights, 18 to 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and weights and bake shell until bottom and side are golden, about 10 minutes more. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 30 minutes. Leave oven on.
• Fill and bake tart:
• While shell cools, roast apricots in 1 layer, cut sides up, in a 13- by 9-inch baking dish 30 minutes, then set aside.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
• Pulse almonds with 2 tablespoons sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor until finely ground.
• Beat together butter and 1/4 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in almond mixture, vanilla, and almond extract until just combined.
• Spread frangipane evenly in tart shell. Arrange apricots, cut sides up, on top of frangipane. (Frangipane will puff up around apricots when baked.) Bake until frangipane is golden brown and just firm to the touch, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat broiler.
• Sprinkle top of tart with remaining 2 teaspoons sugar and broil about 6 inches from heat until sugar is melted and top of tart is browned, 1 to 2 minutes (watch carefully). Cool to warm or room temperature in pan on a rack, at least 30 minutes.