Tarte aux Abricots

This recipe was originally published in the Daily Telegraph by one of my favourite food writers, Xanthe Clay.   I adore her recipes!   I've hung onto it, lusting gently over the lovely photo of the apricots peeping out of the tart, dusted thickly with icing sugar... and now, finally, I've made it.

As now seems usual in my house, I had the additional problem of a peckish husband to deal with, who snaffled a few of the apricots at just the wrong moment.  As you can see from the photo, this is more tart than abricot, but it still tasted great.   Xanthe comments that no one makes a better tart than the French.  Vive les tartes!

Xanthe's original recipe was for a 10" flan tin, and she suggested halving the quantities for a 7" tin. Just to be inconvenient, I used an 8" tin (somewhere between 8" and 9" to be accurate), and used 2/3 of the quantity, which I have reproduced below, as a 7" tin is too small.   The quantities divide up and down very easily.

Tarte aux Abricots or French Apricot Tart 

Tarte aux Abricots/French Apricot Tart

Sweet shortcrust:

8oz/225g plain flour, sifted
4oz/110g butter, diced
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 large egg yolk and 2-3 tablespoons cold water

Filling:
9 ripe apricots

3oz/75g ground almonds

6 fl oz/170ml crème fraiche (approx)

2 egg yolks
3 tbsp sugar

Make the pastry by hand or in the processor (mix the flour with the sugar, add the fat and mix until it looks like breadcrumbs.  Next add the egg.  Don’t add all the water until you are sure you need it.  Rest the dough in the fridge for 20 minutes.   Line an 8-8 ½ ” loose base flan tin with the pastry and prick the base with a fork before putting it back into the fridge for 20 minutes.    Heat the oven to 200 deg C and put in a baking tray to heat.  

Halve the apricots and remove the stones.  Put the stones into a plastic bag and hit them with a hammer so that you can remove the inner kernels.   Sprinkle the ground almonds over the base of the tart, then add the halved apricots, cut side down, packing them tightly (as I didn’t!).  

Put the tart onto the hot baking tray and bake for 15 minutes.  After 10 minutes, check that the tart isn’t getting too browned and, if so, cover the pastry edge with a strip of foil.  

Now chop up the apricot kernels and mix them with the crème fraiche, egg yolks and sugar.  Pour this mixture into the gaps between the apricots, so that the tops are just peeping out of the sea of custard. 

Return the tart to the oven for 10-15 minutes until the custard is just set.  Cool before serving (I didn’t manage that bit either!).  Dust with caster sugar.