tarte d'amande d'abricot

Why is it that everything sounds better when you say it in French? Especially food. One can take even the most mundane things; say it in French; VOILA! You have a culinary masterpiece. "Le poulet frit avec les pommes Chantilly et haricots vert avec beurre blanc" sounds a WHOLE lot more appetizing and snooty patutie than "Fried chicken, mashed taters and green beans with butter".

So, tonight I got a wild hair (or it that hare?) when my mom plopped 3 cans of canned apricots on my dining room table. What does one do with canned apricots? I mean...I LIKE apricots, but canned? And then I remembered a WONDERFUL dessert I had when I was in Paris. It was a tart with a shortbread crust topped with a decadent almond custard and laden with fresh apricot halves. It was TDF (to die for, for all you acronym-challenged folks).

That's when I decided I would try my hand at making my own--with canned apricots. Why not? So, after perusing the internet, I came up with my own version and  added  "Torrey flair". Here is the result.

 Torrey's Apricot Almond Tart

Yeah, it's as good as it looks. SOOOOoooooo yummo. But looking at it now, the apricots look surprisingly like egg yolks. I promise they aren't. I served this, warm, to my family. They each had more than one piece, so I'm guessing it was a success!


Torrey's Apricot Almond Tart
 
Equipment:

• 1 tart pan with fluted sides and removable bottom (see pic below
• parchment paper
• softened butter to grease pan

Ingredients:
 
Crust:
8 Tbs (1 stick) melted butter, cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 c finely ground almonds (yay food processor) divided in half.

Filling:
1/2 cup half and half (can use heavy cream)
1 large egg (slightly beaten)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs honey
1 1/2 Tbs Wondra flour (can use regular flour if you don't have Wondra)
2- 15 oz cans canned apricots--drained

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
• Butter sides and bottom of tart pan generously. I put parchment paper on the bottom of mine cut in a circle to the size of the pan. I've come to learn how invaluable parchment paper is for baking.
• For crust: In bowl, combine melted butter and sugar until blended. Add remaining ingredients (only half the ground nuts), and stir to form a cookie-like dough.
• Press dough into tart pan evenly covering bottom and up sides--about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. NOTE* You'll probably have some left over. I just made cookies out of my left-over dough.
• Bake crust for 15 min until light golden brown. 
• Let crust cool COMPLETELY. Important note: to ensure a crisp crust your crust and filling must be the same temp when adding them together...i.e. hot crust + hot filling....cooled crust + cooled filling. If you mix hot crust and cold filling (or vice versa) you get a soggy crust.
• In separate bowl, combine filling ingredients (except apricots) and whisk until smooth.
• Sprinkle remaining ground nuts evenly over cooled, baked crust (this will help prevent crust from getting soggy too)
• Arrange apricot halves, cut side DOWN, on tart crust. I started with a circle around the outside and worked inward.
• Carefully pour filling over arranged apricots.
• Bake the filled tart for 55-60 minutes until edges are browned, custard is set and apricots are soft.

Serves: 12 (yeah right). I sliced mine into 12 pieces. It's a very rich tart, but I KNOW people will want seconds!

Bon appetit, y'all!

SIDE NOTE: We had this for breakfast, cold out of the fridge. It was WONDERFUL.