APRICOT FRANGIPANE TART

Not to be mistaken for these frangipani flower

 

Around my former school, there were these frangipani plants bordering the school field.  Every morning these beautiful blooms could be scattered on the ground and  some of the girls would picked up these flowers and tie them in a bunch and play  game with it.   You are to keep flipping it in the air with your feet trying without dropping it to the ground.  The person with the most flips would be the winner- sounds similar? Who needs electronic gadgets to keep us happy? These flowers smelled heavenly in the morning and by noon, the scent would have disappered. 

Frangipane tart does not make use of these flowers but the main ingredient is ground almonds. 

    

 First make the tart shell: Sift together 150 gm plain flour and 25 gm icing sugar.  I could grate 90 gm cold butter into the flour, mixing them up together to resembled breadcrumbs with some bits.  Add about  3-4 tablespoon cold milk gradually to form a soft dough. Wrap with cling wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll dough to a rectangle and slowly fit into the tart mould.  Remember to dock the base with a fork.  

Bake blind for 10-15 minutes till golden brown around the sides and base is no longer soft. Set aside to cool .

 Preheat oven 180C.   Prepare the filling: cream together 50gm butter (soft at room temperature) with 50 gm brown sugar (I have reduced from 60gm since I am using dried apricots instead of fresh apricots) and 70gm ground almonds till smooth. I worked some muscles here as the quantity is small!    Add 1 beaten egg and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Mix until well combined.   Lastly stir in 1 tablespoon plain flour.  

Filled the tart shell with the almond pastry cream.  Arrange the fresh apricots on top ( I used dried apricots).

Bake for 20-30 minutes till set or golden brown. Cool before removing from mould.

The pastry is crispy while the cake is moist and soft with the nutty almond flavour, very nice combination.  Definitely reducing the sugar make it not too overly sweet.