The Apricots Are Coming! The Apricots Are Coming!!! Time To Make This Apricot Fragipane Tart

 

   I love apricots and we're right on the verge of that delightfully tasty, heavenly scented, albeit super-duper, extra short season. Apricot season NEVER lasts long enough, at least for me. So every year when Apricot time rolls around I've got to make this tart, you should too!

Unfortunately two of my favorite fruits have very short shelf lives, apricots and loquats. They're sensitive, bruise easily and go bad if you look at them sideways. But damn! They are delicious.

There are a lot of loquat trees in Santa Monica ,and every year I'd make loquat chutney. I'd glean the fruit from people who had no idea what they had and weren't interested, plus I recruited friends to turn in their unwanted loquats. Apricots were a little fancier. More expensive and they didn't just grow on trees. Well, they do, but you know what I mean, not on trees in my neighborhood. Also when one is making chutney or jam the fruit is not participating in a beauty contest, everything just gets smushed together, and a small bruise is no big deal. 

This tart on the other hand requires the glamor girls of the apricot world, no bruises, no dents. It's not hard looking for a sort of perfection, it just involves selecting your fruit carefully. I'm not talking about an apricot fetish, just giving stuff a second look. So  if you're up for a great apricot season treat, check this out.

Apricot Frangipane Tart

Here's What You Need:

Crust:

1 and 1/4 cups flour, plus a bit more for dusting. This recipe works with both gluten free and  regular flour.

3 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon zest

7 Tbs unsalted butter chopped up

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

3 Tbs ice water

 

Here's What To Do:

Preheat the oven 375 degrees, with the rack in the middle.

 

Blend your flour, sugar, butter, and salt in a bowl with a pastry blender, or do as I do and mix it together with a couple of pulses of a food processor. (much easier)

Blend it until you have a mealy mix. Set it aside.

In a small bowl mix together the egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice and ice water.

Drizzle this mixture over the flour mixture and pulse it until you have dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 5 times.

Shape it into a 5 inch disc and put it in the center of your tart pan.

Cover it with plastic wrap, and then using your fingers, push and spread the dough around the bottom and sides of the pan until they're covered.

Take a fork and prick the dough all over with a fork  through the plastic wrap, then stick the whole thing in the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes. You can also keep it in the freezer, for baking another day.

Blind Baking:

Blind Baking means, you are going to partially bake the crust before you fill it and bake again.

Take a big piece of tin foil. Take your pie crust out of the freezer. Remove the saran wrap, place the foil in the pie crust and up the sides.

Fill the shell with rice, beans, or pie weights.

Pop the tart pan onto a baking sheet and bake in a 375 degree oven for 6 minutes.

Take the crust out of the oven, Take the foil and pie weights out of the crust, and put your naked crust back in the oven for another 6 minutes.  After 6 minutes take it out and set it aside. You are done with this part.

Lower your oven heat to 350.

 

Time to make The Filling!!

The filling has 3 parts

Frangipane Cream:

 Here's What You Need:

1/3 cup caster sugar

6 Tbs unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup of flour

3/4 cup of almond flour

2 eggs

1 tsp almond extract

Apricots:

Here's What You Need:

12 ripe yet firm apricots

1 cup + 2 Tbs water

1 cup caster sugar

2 tsp almond extract

The Glaze:

Here's What You Need:

3 Tbs apricot jam

1 Tbs water 

 

Here's What To Do: 

1: Put all the Frangipane Cream Ingredients into a food processor and mix them together. You will get a thick yet spreadable paste.

2: Top prepare the apricots, mix the sugar and water in a wide saucepan and heat it gently until all the sugar is dissolved and it comes to a boil.

3: Cut the apricots in half. When the water starts to boil, place them cut side down in a single layer in the sugar water mix. Turn the heat down to a simmer, and place a cover on the pan.

4: Cook them gently for 4 minutes. Keep an eye on them as they can turn mushy fast. After 4 minutes they should be tender yet still whole. If they are still too firm let them cook a minute or two longer.

5: Remove the apricots gently from the syrup with a slotted spoon and let them drain on a plate.

6: Remember that tart crust you set aside? Fill it with the Frangipane Cream. Arrange the apricot halves cut side down, in circles on the surface of the tart, until it's covered with apricot halves. 

7: Bake the tart for another 40 to 45 minutes until the frangipane has set and the crust is nice and golden.

8: Take the tart out of the oven. 

 

The Glaze!

Heat the glaze ingredients in a microwave for about 20 seconds them mix and brush the hot tart surface (apricots and all) with the glaze. Set the tart on a cooling rack and let it cool before unmolding.

 When it's cooled, unmold, and enjoy!!!!!

 

 This is great with a bit of whipped cream, and if you really want to go crazy, try a scoop of vanilla ice cream.....just a hint. Anyway,  coming up next  I'll be firing up my Tandoor oven again since fire season hasn't started yet....I'll be cooking some Tikka Kandahari with fixings!!  So come on back, and follow along on Twitter @kathygori