In Cookie Haven: Honey Autumn Plum and Almond Tart

Thursday, 24 September 2015

Honey Autumn Plum and Almond Tart

I know that autumn have arrived in the northern hemisphere when I see plums, nectarines and peaches in the supermarkets.

It reminded me of the autumn season during my stay in America. The change in daylight have drastic, artistic effects on plants. Leaves on trees start to change into amazing hues of yellow and orange and the air turns cooler. I remembered the times we would go fruit picking. Picking for apples (I have never seen so many varieties of apples in my life), peaches, nectarines, conquering corn mazes where the field beside them littered with big huge pumpkins and watching the fields of sunflowers.

I thank God for those days where he showed me that He is my Creator God!

I am not a pluots or plums eating person. I find most pluots or plums too tart to my liking. My the other half likes plums and pluots and this is how I get to know these. These autumn honey pluots are sweet and very juicy when ripen.

Autumn Honey Pluots And Almond Tart

(make 1, 18 cm round tart)
Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients:

135g organic unbleached all purpose flour (ordinary all purpose flour will work too)

1 1/2 Tbsp icing sugar

68g unsalted butter, cold

1/8 tsp salt
1 - 2 Tbsp cold water

Steps to pastry:

Place flour, sugar and butter into a mixing bowl, using a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until mixture resembles breadcrumb. (work fast in our humid Singapore weather)
Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time until the mixture, when pressed in your hand, is able to just hold together.
Pour the mixture onto a cling wrap and press the mixture to form a round disc. Wrap it in the cling wrap and chill for 30 min.
Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius.
Roll out the dough a little bigger than pie ring/pan and place the dough into the pie ring/pan. Using your finger to press the dough into the flute of the pan. Using a fork, dork the base of the tart.
Line the inside of the tart with a baking paper and pour some beans on paper to weigh down the pastry.
Bake for 15 - 20 min with the weights
Remove the beans and baking paper and bake the tart for another 10 min.

For the Frangipane
Ingredients
80g butter, room temperature
80g sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk, room temprature
2 Tbsp Cointreau liqueur (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
80g ground almond
33g unbleached all purpose flour

Steps to frangipane:

Whisk the egg and the yolk using a fork in a bowl and set aside.
Beat butter until very soft (not melted) and pale, then beat in sugar, in 4 to 5 additions, until fully incorporated. Gradually add the beaten eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir in liqueur, if using, and vanilla extract. Add the ground almond and flour and stir well to combine.

Steps to assembling the tart:
Ingredients
2 autumn honey pluots
1 Tbsp apricot jam + 1 tsp water

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Spread the frangipane evenly over the base of the cooled pastry case. Halve and core the pluots, then thinly slice across the width of the pluot (not the length), keeping slices together.
Take a sliced section of pluot, fan it out a little and place it on the frangipane so the top end of the pluot is at the middle of the tart and the plum extends to the edge of the tart in fanned out slices, radiating from the centre like the spokes of a wheel, making 4 spokes.
Press the sliced pluot gently into the frangipane a little. Bake in the middle of the oven for 25 - 30 minutes until the frangipane has risen a little, is golden and set. To check, insert a skewer into the middle; it should come out clean.
Leave to cool slightly on the baking sheet, then remove the side of the baking ring/pan and slide the tart onto a wire rack.
While the tart is still warm, brush only the pluots with the warm apricot glaze (warm the apricot jam with water in the microwave oven for 10 seconds). The tart is best served warm or at room temperature.