A delicious and light apricot tart with an intense flavor of apricots. It combines well with an old-time favorite – baked custard. A traditional recipe from the Provence, Tarte aux Abricots à la Crème d’Amande. Doing your own pastry adds 1 hour to the preparation. A good quality store-bought pastry will shorten the time.
Yield: 8 servings
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 sweet shortcrust pastry for a 10 inch (24 cm) tart pan with removable bottom, for ingredients click here
- 3/4 cups (95 g) dried apricots
- 1 strip of lemon rind
- 3/4 cups (180 ml) heavy cream
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 3 Tbsp sliced almonds, lightly toasted
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
Preparation:
In case you decide to prepare the shortcrust pastry and let it rest in the fridge while you do the rest. – Find the recipe here.
Place dried apricots and lemon rind in a small bowl. Add boiling water to cover apricots and let them soak for at least 30 minutes.
Filling:
Start by making the custard. Put cream and cinnamon in a small saucepan and bring it to an almost boil. Remove from the heat and let cinnamon infuse for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, toast almonds over medium-high heat until they are lightly golden. Remove from the heat and scatter almonds on paper towels to cool.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes.
Roll out the pastry onto the bottom and sides of a 10 inch (25 cm) pie pan with removable bottom. Line it with parchment paper and weigh it down with ceramic pastry weights or beans. Bake it blind on the oven’s middle shelf for about 20-25 minutes or until the pastry starts to look golden brown all over. When done remove from oven and set aside. Remove parchment paper and weights right away. Be careful, they are very hot. Allow cooling.to cool
While the pastry is baking, beat the eggs with the sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Pour the cinnamon-cream infusion through a sieve and discard cinnamon. Add infusion to the egg-sugar mix. Add the vanilla. Whip it gently a couple of times until smooth. Set aside.
Assembly:
Remove apricots from water and drain them well. Pat them dry with paper towels. Discard lemon rind. Chop apricots coarsely and scatter them over the baked shortcrust pastry. Pour the egg-cream mixture gently over the apricots. Sprinkle almonds on top.
Reduce the heat to 375°F (190°C) oven for about 30 minutes or until the custard is set.
Let apricot custard tart cool for at least 30 minutes. When you are ready to serve you remove the tart pan rim.
