Peach Almond Tart by Barbara
It is the first tart I have ever made! For years, I have saved a recipe in a book by Pim Techamuanvivit called The Foodie Handbook from 2009. She writes about making tarts all summer long, using fruit in season and this recipe for pâte sablée for the tart dough. Pâte sablée is a classic French shortcrust pastry dough.
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| Dee's tart pans -- I don't remember her using them though |
I also been saving Tom's mother's set of tart pans from the estate sale when they were cleaning out her house. Never used, until now.
Frangipane is a pastry custard filling made of almond flour, egg, sugar and butter. I adapted a box of almond paste to make mine. It was pretty successful!
So, this was a lot of firsts for me. And I was kind of stressed about it, but Tom says he loved it, so here it is my version of a Peach Almond Tart.
---Barbara
Peach Almond Tart
(adapted from Pim Techamuanvivit's book, The Foodie Handbook)
Makes one 9-inch tart shell
For the tart dough:
1 cup plus 2 T. all-purpose flour
2 T. sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into tiny cubes
1/2 t. sea salt
1-2 T. cold whole milk (I used 2% mixed with half'n'half)
For the almond filling:
1 8 oz. box of Solo almond paste (without corn syrup)
1 egg
1 T. sugar
3 T. soft butter, unsalted
pinch of salt
For the fruit:
4 large peaches, peeled and cut into wedges
Early in the day, or the day before, make the tart dough and refrigerate. See directions below.
Remove it about 1/2 hour before rolling it out, then put the shell back in the fridge to stay cold and rest before filling and baking.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the almond filling (see below) and peel the peaches.
Remove the tart shell from the refrigerator and place it on a cookie sheet.
Using an small off-set spatula, spread the filling evenly over the tart shell.
Place the peaches in a pretty circular pattern around the top, overlapping each slice.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. It will be slightly springy, but firm, if you press down on top of the fruit.
Cool completely.
Removed the tart from its pan, by pushing up the center, then sliding the tart off the base plate, on to a pretty cake stand or flat plate.
Cut into wedges and serve.
Distinct layers of fruit, almond filling, toasted crust --- all in one delicious bite!
---Barbara
For the Pâte Sablée:
You will need a food processor for making the dough this way.
First, cut the butter into tiny cubes, about 1/8- ich, and refrigerate until very cold. Or put them in the freezer for a few minutes.
Be sure that your milk is very cold, too. Measure out 2 T. Put it in the freezer for a few minutes, if needed, too.
In the food processor, add the flour, salt and sugar, and pulse a few times until well combined.
Add the butter. Then, pulse a few times until the mixture looks like coarse grainy sand. About 10-12 pulses.
Sprinkle the milk over the top and then pulse a few times until it just starts to come together as a dough.
On a clean work surface, sprinkle some flour, then turn the contents of the food processor onto the counter. Using your hands, bring the ingredients together into a ball and knead it a few times with the heel of your hand until it becomes a smooth dough.
Press it into a nice flat round 5 inch disk, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator to rest for at least one hour, preferably longer, or overnight. The dough needs to rest or it will shrink in the oven. And the butter needs to be very cold when you bake it.
You can freeze the dough at this point and thaw it overnight in the fridge before using.
When it is time to roll out the dough, use a standard rolling pin on a floured surface, turning it and rolling it out until you have a 10 inch circle.
Place it in tart pan, press it into the corners, up the sides, then roll your rolling pin across the top firmly and remove the excess dough. Excess dough can be used for patching any thin or holes in your dough.
Return it to the fridge to keep it cold until time to bake.
For the almond paste filling:
Here's what I did. I nearly burnt up the motor on my mini-Cuisinart, so I am recommending that you add the ingredients in a slightly different order to obtain a smooth filling faster.
Break the almond paste into small chunks. The smaller the better so you don't end up with any lumps in your filling.
Add a few to a mini-Cuisinart. Then add the egg, sugar, a pinch of salt and soft butter. Pulse it a few times until smooth. Continue adding the chunks of almond paste until they are all incorporated and the filling is smooth.
Add to the pastry shell, and smooth out with a small off-set spatula until it is about 2/3 the way up the pastry shell.
Add fruit on top in a pretty layer.
Then bake for 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven until golden brown.
B
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